Section 3.4

Each Chair/Director is charged with the responsibility to assure that the curriculum of his/her unit is developed according to the following principles:

1. Tenured and tenure track faculty should routinely teach required courses at all levels of the curriculum, especially in courses that serve as gateway courses for majors. To the greatest possible extent, therefore, Chairs should assure significant senior faculty presence in lower division classes.
2. In putting together academic schedules, no temporary staff funding will be approved until it is established that full-time faculty are unable to cover all of the required courses in general education, honors sections, required major courses, and essential graduate courses. In short, no electives taught by full-time faculty should be scheduled until such time as the required curriculum has been covered and/or it is demonstrated that the unit has adequate faculty resources to do so.
3. Allocation of temporary resources from the Dean's Office will proceed only after student demand for courses has been fully demonstrated during the registration process. Priority must go to meeting undergraduate general education and required course demand. Departments should be prepared to amend their fall schedules during the summer to respond to course requests from incoming first year and transfer students. Deans will be responsible for opening new sections as warranted.
4. To assist in planning, schedules in all units should be built around the following priorities: undergraduate courses before graduate courses; within undergraduate courses, general education courses should have higher priority than required courses in the major and honors sections, which should have higher priority than elective courses. Chairs and directors are to meet the demand at each level before moving to the next level of priority. Allocation of temporary dollars will be done in the context of solving problems that arise from our efforts to schedule according to these principles.
5. The time grid as established by campus policy must be observed by all units. Three hour courses must stay within the published three hour grids; four and five hour courses must follow the combinations in the published grids. Unusual time patterns such as Monday/Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. and Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. classes, or three hour courses that use two grid blocks, are not permissible.
6. The classroom allotment, excluding those in large lecture rooms or labs, must be observed. Large lecture rooms need to be assigned on a priority basis by the Registrar, but only after discussion with and approval of the Dean. The goal is to maximize the number of seats available for general education classes and for required major classes. Full utilization of large classrooms should be a key priority in determining whether a unit continues to have access to the room in subsequent semesters.
7. No fewer than 60% of a department's three-credit hour courses may be scheduled on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; No more than 40% of a department's three-credit hour courses may be scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday.
8. No more than 60% of any department's courses may be scheduled between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. It is imperative to make full utilization of our classroom space both throughout the day and throughout the week.

While exceptions to these principles are possible, they will be driven by academic considerations of the campus, the college, and/or the program and not by individual preferences of faculty members and/or students.

In preparing the schedule of courses, the Registrar's Office will deal primarily with Dean's office. The Registrar may not make any exceptions to these policies without the written authorization of the Dean and/or a designee. Units may not deal directly with the Registrar in order to address concerns involving these Campus-wide policies, unless authorized to do so in writing for specific purposes by the Dean.

  PLANNING COURSE OFFERINGS

The actual schedule of classes for each semester is initiated by the Office of Registration and Records and sent directly to the departments/schools for recommendations.  The departments/schools/ programs may suggest changes in course offerings, meeting times, and capacities, and indicate staff assignments.  The amended schedules are then returned to the college office, for review and approval. The following factors should guide consideration of changes:

1. Course changes and new courses cannot be added to the schedule until the formal approval process has been completed.  This includes changes in credit hours, level, prerequisites, or title.  The Registrar will not accept such changes without formal approval.
2. Departments/schools are expected to maintain the same quantity of spaces at each level of instruction in adjusting the schedules, unless justification for reduced offerings is made.
3. Time grids and utilization of classrooms as recommended by the Registrar should be followed as much as possible.  The scheduling office of the Registrar should be consulted if any substantial departures from the grid or room quota are contemplated. It is the policy of this university that classes be offered during the times they are originally scheduled and advertised; to do otherwise penalizes students. Chairs and Directors are asked to inform faculty of this policy and to encourage their adherence to it. This issue becomes especially critical during summer sessions.
4. At the same time that schedules are submitted to the college, staffing needs and tentative staff loads should be stated, and if possible, staff assignments indicated on the returned schedule.  Sections for which no staffing is available should not be included in the schedule without explicit approval of the college.  It is assumed that departments/schools are prepared to staff all the sections indicated on an in-load basis, without additional staff.
5. Deadlines are important to allow the registration process to function smoothly.  Every effort should be made to submit schedules promptly.
6. In cases where large scale revision of the schedule has been proposed, a summary of changes will help expedite approval and may insure against errors in building the schedule.
7. All adjustments and additional offerings that can be anticipated should be included in the schedule at the time the schedule is built.

Student demand for seats through enrollment and wait lists is the determining factor in requests for added sections or additional staff. Departments/schools are required to establish some form of "wait listing" for courses. It is important that as many students, including graduate students, register as early as possible. 

If the continuing student registration indicates need for more spaces, the college will:

1. ask the department/school to provide more spaces or more teaching time, or
2. ask the department/school to cancel sections with low demand, and reassign staff, or
3. seek funds to provide for additional sections.

For your information, the minimum course enrollments as established by the SVPFA (9/23/91).

Cooperation in meeting demand is important since credit hours completed are a critical factor in obtaining funds for the college. 

Late additions and deletions from the schedule should be made in writing to the Registrar and a copy of this correspondence sent to the college.  If staff is required, approval of the college is necessary.

Section size control is largely up to the department/school. Admission to closed sections is obtained only by approval from appropriate departmental/school personnel.  The college office does not grant permission to students making this request.

Special courses, such as A & S 1000, 2000, 2500, 3000, 4000, coordinated programs, workshops or field courses are to be approved by the college, and the necessary budgets established, before the courses are included in the schedule.  Special arrangements for registration may be established with the Registrar.

If special approved fees are to be collected for a course, the department should check with the Bursar's office to confirm that the fees will be billed.