Montana State University

Curriculum Committee

I . Preamble-The Curriculum Committee of the College of Business is charged with the responsibility of developing a comprehensive and cohesive curriculum for the College of Business (COB) and with updating that curriculum on a continuing basis. This curriculum should address the educational needs of the nation and the world, the educational needs of the state, the land-grant mission of Montana State University, the mission of our College, and the educational desires of our students.

The mission of MSUs College of Business is to prepare students for leadership roles in a diverse and global business world. Our students will.

    • Acquire knowledge of current business practices and theory and be conversant in the language of business,
    • Develop competencies in critical thinking and problem solving, rational and ethical decision making, communication and leadership skills, and current technology, and
    • Become lifelong, self-directed learners as demanded by the dynamic business environment of the future.
The College of Business is committed to serving the needs of its stakeholders who include students, faculty, staff, the University, employers, the citizens of Montana, families, the business community, and others providing support. The College supports faculty intellectual contributions emphasizing applied research and instructional development in furthering the College's primary mission for undergraduate teaching. Service activities will have an outreach component in keeping with the University's mission as a land grant institution.

Curriculum development is an on-going process and should be conducted in an orderly fashion, seeking continuous improvement. The COB curriculum is more than a collection of tabulated courses. It represents a sequence of education experiences designed to increase the knowledge, skill, interpersonal competence and professional judgement of our students. The curriculum should be designed to support the mission of the college and to meet specific developmental and educational objectives for 211 business students. Outcomes for these objectives should. be measured over time to demonstrate the effectiveness of the curriculum.

2. Curriculum Decisions: The final determination on all curriculum decisions shall be made by the faculty of College of Business and shall be implemented by a written vote of the faculty (see section 1 0).

3. Some Definitions:

    a. Faculty:  The faculty referred as used in this policy statement refers to all tenure track faculty members with appointments in the College of Business.

    b. Course changes:  All of the following are changes; a change in the number of credit hours, the addition or deletion of a course, the addition or deletion of a program, option or minor, a change in course content, a change in prerequisites, a change in course title, a change in course description and other changes in catalog content.

    c. The faculty in an option:  All faculty members who have taught one or more courses in the most recent two semesters and summer sessions (preceding the summer session and present semester) with that option's rubric.

    d. The Curriculum Committee of the College of Business:  Shall be refer to as the College Curriculum Committee (CCC).

4. Elections: Each faculty member of the CCC shall be elected for a two-year term by written ballot by a majority vote of the faculty voting. Each year the CCC shall determine which member shall serve as chair. Candidates shall be those persons who nominate themselves or who are nominated by another faculty member. If there are an insufficient number of candidates, the current members of the CCC may nominate two people for each position. Elections shall be conducted by the present members of CCC. If there are fewer than two (because of resignation or some standing for re-election), then CCC shall appoint an election committee. There shall be five faculty members on the committee and they shall be on tenure track. Faculty members cannot be elected for more than two terms without a break of one term. Elections will be held before the end of spring semester. New committee members will begin their term fall semester. Elections shall be staggered to provide for continuity, i.e., two elected in one year, three in the next. In addition, one adjunct and one student member may be selected as follows.

College of Business adjunct faculty members are encouraged to select a member to serve on the CCC.

The COB Student Advisory Council is encouraged to select a student member to serve on the CCC.

Should a member of the CCC leave the committee prior to the expiration of er/his term, the Associate Dean will appoint a replacement to serve the remainder of that term. The replacement will be selected in a manner which to the extent possible balances discipline representation (same as the person who left), gender and workload in the judgment of the Associate Dean.

5. General Schedule: The following general schedule for CCC activities is suggested.

Year 1 (Off catalog Year)

  • Spring - COB general curriculum plan developed after assessing educational outcomes and reviewing the COB mission
  • Summer - General curriculum plan distributed to faculty
  • Autumn - General curriculum plan discussed, modified, and adopted by the faculty
Year 2 (Catalog Year)
  • Spring - Specific curriculum change proposals generated by the faculty, the CCC and ad hoc curriculum groups
  • Summer - Specific curriculum change proposals distributed to faculty
  • Autumn - Specific curriculum change proposals discussed, modified and voted on by the faculty
At the beginning of each academic year, the CCC shall appoint two faculty members from the CCC, to serve on the University Undergraduate Studies Committee and Graduate Studies Committee. It will be the responsibility of those people to represent the COB at such meetings, to report relevant information to the COB Curriculum Committee and COB faculty, and to arrange for other people to attend such meetings in their absence.

6. Proposed Changes: Any tenure track faculty member or interest group of such faculty, any faculty area or discipline and/or ad hoc curriculum group appointed by the Dean or the Associate Dean may propose changes. The CCC itself may propose changes. All proposed changes are to be submitted to the CCC. The CCC shall notify the faculty as soon as possible of the content of all proposals It receives or generates (at a minimum proposals shall be posted on a bulletin board by faculty mailboxes).

7. Consideration of Changes: The CCC shall consider all additions, deletions and other changes in courses (pre-core, core and other courses), programs (i.e. Information Systems) and options in the curriculum of the COB. The CCC shall consider the addition of all new curriculum programs and the elimination of any existing programs. The CCC shall formulate recommendations and shall submit them to the faculty of the College of Business for discussion and vote.

8. Proposal Review: The CCC shall review all proposals and may amend or otherwise modify any proposals. The CCC shall prepare a report on each proposal that shall include at a minimum the vote, recorded, of each member and the basis for the recommendation. All proposals receiving a negative recommendation by the CCC may be submitted to the faculty for consideration under normal CCC procedures if requested by the originator(s).

9. Option Changes: Some proposed curriculum changes will turn out to be solely within an option (typically these will be in regards to courses that are not pre-core or core). Any such proposed change must be approved by a majority vote of faculty within the option before further consideration will be given to the proposal. If this proposal is approved by the option, a written review and recommendation should be prepared by the faculty in the option before it is forwarded to the CCC. The CCC will then conduct a review and present its recommendation to COB faculty for discussion and vote.

10. Faculty Approval: The process of COB faculty approval/disapproval shall be as follows. At least one week (meaning seven calendar days) prior to a general faculty meeting, each faculty member shall receive a written copy of the proposal and report from CCC. At this first general faculty meeting the proposed change should be presented as a motion and seconded by faculty for adoption. At a minimum there should be a brief explanation and discussion of the proposal. This is called the first reading.

At a second faculty meeting, to be held no sooner than one week after the first, the proposal shall again be brought to the floor for a second reading and discussion. At this time it is subject to amendment, etc. as would any motion. (For an amendment to qualify for the written ballot, to be described in the next paragraph, it must receive a majority vote by yea or nay in the faculty meeting as meriting consideration for the written ballot.)

After the faculty meeting the original motion and all qualifying amendments offered from the floor or elsewhere are to be voted on by written ballot distributed to the faculty. After the faculty meeting, but prior to this vote, the CCC may review amendments that were offered and circulate a report to the faculty with its assessment and committee vote on the amendments.

11. Catalog Copy: The CCC shall be responsible for reviewing and signing off on all original COB curriculum and catalog copy and galley proofs before they are processed by the Associate Dean.