Southside Virginia Community College Curriculum Committee Guide
Charge:
The Committee is charged with reviewing curriculum policies and procedures and approving proposed
modifications, deletions, and additions to the College’s credit courses and programs. Curriculum
structure, content, pedagogy, and instructional materials fall within the purview of this Committee,
ensuring faculty responsibility for the curriculum and its delivery. The Committee reviews all proposals
submitted by the academic divisions and ensures that they are consistent with VCCS and SCHEV
guidelines and standards for new programs and courses. As mandated by the VCCS Policy Manual, new
programs and new courses are forwarded for approval by the College’s Vice-President for Academic and
Student Affairs with the VCCS and the SCHEV, as well as the Commission on Colleges of the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools, if and when appropriate. This committee will also coordinate the
five year review of all degrees, career study certificates, and certificates.
Committee Members:
The committee will be composed of faculty and administrators representing the entire college paying
special consideration to representation from a variety of campuses and centers. Each year one faculty
member from each division shall have the option to rotate off of the committee at the faculty member’s
request. Additionally, the counselor from student services may rotate off after serving a two-year term.
Membership representation will be as follows:
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3 Faculty Members From the Division of Humanities, Social Science, and Business
3 Faculty Members From the Division of Career and Occupational Technology
3 Faculty Members from the Division of Nursing, Allied Health, and Natural Sciences
Dean of Humanities, Social Science, and Business
Dean of Career and Occupational Technology
Dean of Nursing, Allied Health, and Natural Sciences
1 Counselor from Student Services (Ex-Officio)
Dean of Enrollment Management (Ex-Officio)
Director of Financial Aid (Ex-Officio)
Dean of Institutional Effectiveness (Ex-Officio)
Vice-President for Academic and Student Affairs (Ex-Officio)
Ad Hoc Workforce Representative
Recorder ( Appointed by VP for Academic and Student Affairs)
**Please note that Ex-Officio members are non-voting members and serve in an advisory capacity to the
committee.
Committee Chair:
The committee will vote on or appoint a faculty member to serve at least two years as Chair.
Duties of the Chairperson:
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Conduct all meetings of the committee.
Set the agenda for all meetings of the committee two weeks in advance of each meeting.
Coordinate with the committee recorder room procurement for meetings, distribution of
agenda, and supporting documents for each meeting.
Review all minutes for accuracy.
Communicate with the Vice-President for Academic and Student Affairs all curriculum changes.
Ensure that all changes are submitted by the Vice-President for Academic and Student Affairs to
the Local Board, and VCCS.
Communicate with Dean of Institutional Effectiveness to ensure changes have been submitted
to SACSCOC when appropriate.
Report in the monthly meeting a tracking update for all outstanding curriculum changes.
Communicate with the appropriate Divisional Dean to ensure that the college student
information system and catalog are updated when curriculum approvals are complete.
Have full authority to call a special meeting outside of the normal meeting pattern to
accommodate emergency situations related to curriculum that should be addressed
immediately.
Faculty Members:
Faculty members appointed to the committee will serve at least 2 years on the committee.
Duties of Faculty Members:
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Review all curriculum proposals presented to the committee.
Provide feedback to the committee on all proposals.
Ensure all proposals are consistent with the VCCS, SCHEV and SACSCOC guidelines.
Act as resources for other faculty members who would like to develop new programs and
courses or revise existing programs.
It is the expectation that faculty members will attend at least 7 meetings during an academic
year and will be asked to resign from the committee if more than 2 meetings are missed
consecutively.
Recorder:
One recorder will be appointed at the beginning of each academic year by the Vice-President for
Academic and Student Affairs. The recorder will serve at least two years in this capacity.
Duties of the Recorder:
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Schedule meeting rooms for each meeting in coordination with the Chairperson.
Accurately record all minutes of each meeting and distribute in a timely manner (within 7 days
of the meeting date) to the members of the committee for review and revision.
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Send meeting invitations to all members, prepare the agendas for each meeting in cooperation
with the Chairperson, and track attendance at meetings.
Collect all proposals at least 2 weeks prior to the meeting and disseminate to committee
members in a timely manner.
Meeting Dates and Times:
The committee will meet monthly on the third Friday of each month via compressed video from 10:30
AM until Noon to discuss proposals. The committee will meet September-May of each academic year.
Committee Voting:
In order to have a valid committee vote at least two-thirds of voting members must be present. This
would be eight voting members.
Curriculum Proposal Guidelines:
New programs, courses, or revisions to existing programs will be presented to the committee by a
sponsoring faculty member. The sponsoring faculty member will work with the appropriate Divisional
Dean to develop the proposal and present it to the committee. In the case of a new program that does
not have a faculty sponsor, (Ex: New degree or program that will require additional qualified faculty be
hired to administer the program.), the proposal will come from the Divisional Dean to the committee.
Gainful employment information will be determined in collaboration with the Dean of Institutional
Effectiveness and the faculty sponsor.
Resources
Please go to the SVCC Curriculum Committee Website for forms and additional resources. It is located
at:
http://southside.edu/curriculum-committee
The Curriculum Process Flowchart is detailed on the following page.
Sponsoring
Faculty
Member
VP Academic
and Student
Affairs
Dean of
Institutional
Effectiveness
•Submits New Program Packet to Recorder two
weeks prior to Curriculum Committee meeting.
•Presents proposed program to Curriculum
Committee.
•Presents proposed program to President.
• Presents proposed program to Local Board.
• Notification letter to VCCS.
•Academic Plan Number from VCCS.
•Notification letter to SACSCOC and receives notification from
SACSCOC.
•DOE approval if Cert. or CSC.
Director of
Financial Aid
•Notifies Veterans Coordinator of proposal.
Director of
Counseling
People Soft
Administrator
•Updates SIS with Plan Number.
•FA/SAP Set-up.
•Sets up plan in Academic Advising.
Admissions
and Records
Admin Assistant
VP of Academic
and Student
Affairs
•Modification of the College catalog. (Paper and Online)