After approval by the Department and College faculty, proposed changes to Volunteer Core courses are submitted to the Undergraduate Council for review.
Revision Guidelines
Courses currently on one of the Volunteer Core course lists that undergo revision in content (e.g., a change in title, credit or contact hours, catalog description, student learning outcomes, or significant assignments used for assessment) are required to reaffirm Volunteer Core eligibility by submitting documentation to the appropriate Volunteer Core subcommittee as part of the curricular action for the revision.
Expectations for Phasing out a Volunteer Core Course
A course that is on the Volunteer Core list has the following expectations:
Any course that is to fulfill a Volunteer Core requirement must be proposed to, and approved by, the Volunteer Core Committee and subsequently approved by the Undergraduate Council and Faculty Senate.
Courses on the Volunteer Core list in one year are carried over to the next year’s catalog.
Once a course is approved for a Volunteer Core requirement, it must continue to be taught following the approved Volunteer Core characteristics whenever it is offered.
If a department wishes to drop the Volunteer Core designation for a course:
- The Coordinator of Curriculum and Catalog must be informed of the intent to drop the Volunteer Core designation by October 1.
- There will be a 6-year phase out period for all courses dropped from the Volunteer Core list.
- If still offered during the 6-year phase out period, a course must be taught following the approved Volunteer Core characteristics.
- The department may choose not to offer a course if it does not wish to continue teaching it as a Volunteer Core course during the 6-year phase out period.
- The Volunteer Core designation for a dropped course will be date-ranged in the Undergraduate Catalog (both on the Volunteer Core list and in the course description), on the list maintained on the web, and on students’ DARS reports.
Courses dropped from the Undergraduate Catalog will be dropped from the Volunteer Core list.
Archived courses (i.e., not listed in the UG Catalog but not dropped) will be temporarily dropped from the Volunteer Core list, but will be added back when the course is taught again. Once reinstated, the course must be taught following the originally approved Volunteer Core characteristics.
If a course is dropped from the UG Catalog but is reinstated with a new number through an equivalency table, it would need to be resubmitted to the Volunteer Core Committee for approval to retain the Volunteer Core designation.
If a department wants to change the Volunteer Core category/categories for a course, the old course number must be dropped and a new course must be proposed to the UG Council and to the Volunteer Core Committee.
Undergraduate Council Minutes – Page U3695 – September 13, 2016.