3.4.1  

The institution demonstrates that each educational program for which academic credit is awarded is approved by the faculty and the administration.

RATIONALE FOR COMPLIANCE JUDGMENT

The establishment of new instructional programs at Nashville State Technical Community College (NSCC) complies with Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) [1][2] and Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) [3][4] policies and guidelines related to academic proposals and program approval as reflected in the NSCC Curriculum Committee Manual [5] as well as the Faculty and Staff Handbook [6].

The Curriculum Committee is composed of faculty members from each academic division, program coordinators, Faculty Senate representatives, academic deans, registrar, representatives from the Learning Resource Center, Computer Services, and the Workforce Training Center, directors from Developmental Studies, Extended Programs and off-campus sites, Assistant to the President, campus representative to the Regents Online Degree Program, the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs.  All voting members of the Curriculum Committee are full-time faculty members, including two Faculty Senate representatives and 15 faculty members selected from the five instructional divisions. The Committee’s responsibilities are to determine the direction and procedures for curriculum development, to review and act on curriculum proposals, and to review assessment results and Performance Funding information.

All proposals begin at the level of the faculty in cooperation with the program coordinator and academic dean in the program area. Proposals requiring only campus-level approval are those mainly associated with courses and include course additions or deletions, change in course title or description, changes in career advancement certificates or areas of emphasis in the Associate of Science or Associate of Arts degrees, and changes in pre- or co-requisites. Those proposals requiring campus and external approval from TBR and/or THEC are associated with programs. Items requiring external action include new degree or certificate programs as well as termination of degree or certificate programs, consolidation of programs, extending programs to off-campus sites, adding a new concentration, or a substantive curriculum revision to an existing program [7].  To ensure both faculty and administrative approval of programs, administrators must approve the proposal before it is submitted to Curriculum Committee for consideration. The members of the Curriculum Committee discuss and take action on the proposal [8] and, if approved and appropriate, the proposal is sent to Faculty Senate for consideration [9]. The final administrative approvals by the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the President are obtained before program approvals are forwarded to TBR and THEC.