Proposal to create a new major

A student’s major presents an opportunity to explore an area of interest in depth, develop knowledge and skills for that particular field of inquiry, and learn both the discipline and satisfaction of pursuing a rigorous course of study. A major normally constitutes approximately one-third of a student’s academic program.

INSTRUCTIONS

Please submit to the CAS Registrar and Chair of the Curriculum Committee a document addressing the following:

1. Rationale for adding the proposed major to our curriculum
2. Learning objectives
3. Requirements and courses
4. Staffing and resources
5. Program comparisons

More details on these components and key questions to answer follow.

Rationale

Please provide a rationale for why this subject is necessary to be taught at Lewis & Clark in concentration as a major program.

• • What evidence is there that Lewis & Clark students are interested in pursuing this subject to the level of a major?
  • How is this subject in keeping with the institutional mission and the liberal arts?
  • Why is it appropriate for undergraduate study?
  • Is this a discipline with graduate applications, i.e., is this a field defined beyond the College in such a way that it is a clear area of academic expertise that students can continue to pursue after graduation?

Explain how this major fits within the CAS’s current curricular ecosystem.

• • What existing programs does it have a family resemblance to? How is it significantly different from existing programs, majors and minors?
  • How might this major contribute to general education? What lower-level courses would be open to all students? Are there distribution requirements that a major might double-dip?

Learning Objectives

Please clearly state the learning objectives for this major and how objectives will be assessed for curricular improvement and accreditation.

Requirements and Courses

Provide a list of major requirements and courses, approximating what you anticipate will be included in the Overview and Requirements sections of the catalogue for this major.

Please include confirmation from relevant departments that they agree to allow their course(s) to count to the new program. For some departments or courses this may include confirmation of the staffing obligations discussed below. Confirmation can be made through the inclusion of a copy of an email to the proposers.

Generally, majors should consist of one third of the BA, or roughly 40-44 credits. If proposing a major that departs from this, please explain why your major does so. For the purposes of the vetting process with CC, when calculating how many credits your proposed major requires, please also include any prerequisites, even if you are not counting them to the major. If the addition of prerequisites expands your major beyond 44 credits, please explain why your major requires additional coursework.

• • Example – The French major requires 40 credits beyond French 201. For some students, this might mean that the major requires 52 credits, because they need to complete French 101, 102, and 201 in addition to the 40 credits for the major. However, since they would need to complete through 201 in any case for the WLL general education requirement, and several students may test into French 201 or beyond, this should not pose a burden.
  • Example – Environmental Studies requires 50 credits from their majors. In addition, there are another 8-12 credits required, since all of the social science requirements and some of the natural sciences requirements have pre-requisites. However, since students will potentially complete some general education requirements through their major (e.g., Natural Sciences, Global Perspectives, Historical Perspectives, BRW, Culture-Power-&-Identity) this should still allow for students to explore curricularly beyond their major.

A major also requires 28 discrete credits. Identify what combinations of major and minor may create challenges for this proposed major.

• • Example – A student majoring in Hispanic Studies and minoring in Latin American Studies needs to ensure that 12 credits of their minor are independent from their major. This can sometimes be difficult to achieve given current offerings.

A major should demonstrate a progression in a subject. Requirements generally should include

• • Lower-level course(s) to establish a foundation
  • Upper-level courses to provide more in-depth study of different aspects, methods, or subfields

Recommended, but not required, are

• • A requirement for a methods course
  • A capstone experience, which could be research or an internship
  • An opportunity to receive distinction through honors (e.g., achieving a certain GPA? Completion of a thesis?)

Questions to answer

• • How many credits will this major be?
  • What is the justification for the progression in coursework for your major? Why have the proposers identified these particular requirements?
  • How does the proposed structure aim to accomplish the learning objectives for this new major? How will the major be regularly assessed?
  • How many of the proposed courses already exist in the catalogue?
  • For existing courses, is the currently scheduled offering sufficient, or will creating this major require some existing courses to be offered more frequently than they are currently? You are encouraged to consult enrollment data to confirm historically how many empty seats have existed in these courses that could accommodate future majors.
  • How many new courses will need to be created?
  • How many departments are involved in contributing to this new major?
  • How will contributing departments absorb these new majors? Will creating this new major create difficulties for students of different majors to complete their studies?
  • While some students in this new major may have entered the College always intending to study this subject, and some students in this new major may double with an existing major, some students for this new program may come at the expense of existing programs. Are there concerns that creating this major will drain students from any existing programs? Have there been discussions with the potentially affected program(s) on how they might mitigate or adjust to this challenge?
  • Does completion of this proposed major depend upon study abroad? If so, how frequently is/are the program/s offered? Are there on-campus alternatives for completing this major should a student be unable to study abroad?

Staffing and Resources

Please explain what anticipated effects the introduction of this new major will have on existing staffing and resources:

• • Where will the faculty come from to teach any new courses?
  • If a contributing faculty member needs to adjust their teaching offerings in order to meet the needs of this new major (either through creating new courses or offering existing courses more frequently), how will this happen? What courses will no longer or less frequently be offered?
    • Please explain for each faculty member how this new commitment will affect their contributions to existing majors, minors, and general education.
  • If the development of this new program requires the addition of new faculty, has funding for permanent faculty already been secured?
  • Will the delivery of this major require access to certain facilities on campus (e.g., labs, performance spaces)? If so, please include correspondence from the chairs of departments that already use those facilities for instruction and research, indicating their agreement.
  • Will new equipment or resources need to be acquired?
  • Will the new major require additional support from Watzek Library?
  • Are there other non-faculty staff whose contributions are necessary for the delivery and support of the major? How will their current workload adjust or else how will they receive additional compensation?

Program Comparisons

Please provide context for the study of this subject in comparable schools, providing at least five comparisons. If there are not five identifiable comparison programs from appropriate peers (see below), please address why you believe that is: Is this a new growing field? Is our ability to offer this subject a unique situation due to Lewis & Clark’s current makeup of faculty expertise? (If so, how dependent is the health of this major on a single person?) Is this subject sometimes taught under the guise of a different disciplinary name or as a concentration in a different department? Is this a field that has commonly been taught at the graduate level or for a different kind of undergraduate degree?

Appropriate peer comparisons include

• • Northwest Five
  • Other schools included in our Carnegie Classification
  • Other liberal arts colleges – the context being how undergraduates in liberal arts settings encounter this subject
  • PNW schools – the context being where else in the region is this subject offered

Less valuable comparisons are with

• • Universities not in the PNW
  • Programs that are for degrees we do not offer (e.g., BS, B.F.A.)