Procedure for Approval of New Courses and Significant Changes to Existing courses

All new courses must be offered first as “special topics” after approval by the Graduate Academic Committee by simple majority vote. A course can be offered as special topics twice after which it must be approved (or dropped) as a permanent course by the Graduate Academic Committee (GAC).

Procedures for evaluation of proposed special topics courses:

The course must be approved by the division hosting the program in which the course will be offered. For RSMAS courses the “host division” is that of the main instructor.

A course approval form is to be submitted to GSO in advance of the October GAC meeting for approval of spring courses and in advance of the February GAC meeting for approval of fall courses. The instructor should present the course to the GAC at the meeting.

The course approval form must contain the following information:

• Instructor (If offered with instructor(s) not on the RSMAS faculty, instructor credentials must be submitted in the form of a detailed CV)
• Level (500 versus 600, divisional versus RSMAS)
• Prerequisites (if any)
• Detailed syllabus including teaching format (lecture, lab, field etc)
• Required resources in excess of what’s present in a normal class room (if any)
• Cost of supplies and source of funds for these supplies (course fees etc)
• Reading list (must be realistic)
• Marka
• ing/grading details

The credentials of the instructor(s), regardless of affiliation, must be evaluated along with the completed course approval form.

The extent to which the proposed course supplements existing courses/tracks should be evaluated

In addition to overall quality of the proposed course and qualifications of the instructor(s), potential overlap with existing courses must be considered (up to 50% overlap may be allowed).

Procedures for evaluation of permanent courses

In addition to the course approval form described above, student teaching evaluations and enrollment history (special topics), to be provided by GSO, must be considered for a course to receive permanent status.

Prior to approval as a permanent course, the intended frequency of the course must be considered.