CUE Primer

The Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) is a standing subcommittee of the Academic Coordinating Commission (ACC) of the Faculty Senate. CUE has oversight of Western Washington University’s general education curriculum, under the guidance of the ACC and the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs. CUE is responsible for:

• Advising the ACC on all curriculum matters related to General Education, including the acceptance of courses for listing as fulfilling General University Requirements (GURs), first-year academic programs and all courses bearing the seminar (SMNR) prefix, and oversight of the Writing Proficiency (WP) requirement
• Promoting the goals of the university’s general education requirements and writing expectations that are part of a liberal arts education
• Reviewing and assessing the degree to which the university’s general education and writing goals have been achieved
• Communicating assessment findings, recognition, and recommendations for improvement to the ACC, university colleges, and appropriate departments
• Consulting and collaborating with the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, the University Writing Program, and the First-Year Math Steering Committee
• Reporting to the ACC

Voting Members 

In accordance with the ACC, unless otherwise specified, the term of appointment for voting members is two consecutive years. Committee members may stand for reappointment for two additional two-year terms. If a voting member serves for three consecutive terms (6 years), they must remain off of CUE for one year before becoming eligible for reappointment. 

• One faculty representative from each of the following colleges/areas:
  • College of Business and Economics
  • College of the Environment
  • College of Fine and Performing Arts
  • College of Humanities and Social Sciences – Humanities
  • College of Humanities and Social Sciences – Social Sciences
  • College of Science and Engineering
  • Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies
  • Western Libraries
  • Woodring College of Education
• Designee from ACC (one-year term)
• Head of Writing Instruction Support
• Student who has taken GURs at Western (one-year term, appointed by ASWWU Senate)
• CUE Chair (elected by CUE members, serves as at-large member) 

Advisory Members

• Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
• Director of Advising (or designee)
• Designee from Registrar’s Office
• Student who has taken GURs at Western (one-year term, appointed by ASWWU Senate)

CUE meets approximately five times per quarter, usually on biweekly Thursdays from 4:00 – 5:30. The academic year meeting schedule is posted to the Faculty Senate website prior to the start of the Fall Quarter.

At least three days before each meeting, a meeting agenda and related materials are emailed to CUE members and posted to the Faculty Senate website. Typically, Winter Quarter meetings include the bulk of curricular proposals for review. CUE members, faculty, and university administrators may suggest agenda items which they would like CUE to consider.

A quorum of CUE members (over 50% of voting members) must be present at a meeting for any agenda item requiring a vote. Members who are unable to attend a meeting may submit a proxy vote to the CUE chair in advance of the meeting. These proxy votes are counted toward the quorum.

CUE members should review proposals on the Curriculum agenda prior to the meeting. If there are a particularly large number of proposals, CUE members may be divided into subgroups which will be responsible for thoroughly reviewing a subset of the course proposals. During the meeting, each subgroup shares any issues, comments, or concerns they identified during this review. 

Based on these reviews, course proposals may be divided into two groups: those for which no issues or concerns were identified, and those where issues or concerns were identified. The course proposals for which no issues were identified are voted on as a block, with the remaining course proposals discussed and voted on separately.

Meeting minutes are taken and distributed by the Faculty Senate office to CUE members for review. Minutes may be approved by electronic vote. An electronic copy of the approved minutes is forwarded to the ACC for approval. Once approved by the ACC, they are sent to the Faculty Senate for approval as part of the ACC minutes package. Approved minutes are posted to the Faculty Senate website.

Course proposals submitted via Curriculum must be approved by CUE if any of the following conditions apply: 

New Course

• A GUR attribute is sought for the course.
• Course is a General Education and First-Year Programs course. 

Course Revision

• Course currently has a GUR attribute or is a General Education and First-Year Programs course. The proposal form must be reviewed by CUE even if the proposed change does not directly relate to that attribute, e.g., a change in title, prerequisites, credit hours, etc.
• A GUR attribute is requested for an existing course.
• The removal of a GUR attribute from an existing course is requested.
• Course is a General Education and First-Year Programs course. 

Course Cancellation

• Course has a GUR attribute or is a General Education and First-Year Programs course. 

Experimental/Temporary Course (X97) 

While primary approval authority for temporary courses is delegated to departments, all subsequent approval steps must be completed in Curriculum in order to facilitate the efficient operation and registration systems. The ACC retains oversight of temporary courses for the purpose of ensuring that departments are using them in compliance with ACC policy. As such, temporary courses must be included in curriculum committee agendas and minutes as information items, and all approval steps must be completed in Curriculum prior to the date on which registration for the temporary course is scheduled to begin. 

The Committee on Undergraduate Education must review all temporary courses for which a GUR attribute is sought, and CUE retains responsibility for determining whether or not a course is appropriate for inclusion in the GUR program. CUE must also review any temporary course proposals under General Education and First-Year Programs.

This section is designed to assist faculty as they develop and submit course proposals via Curriculum to avoid common pitfalls during curricular review. It is also designed to provide CUE and college curriculum committee members with a checklist to clarify and guide their review processes. 

Checklist

• If the course has prerequisites, review the rationale for prerequisites since GURs should be accessible to all students.
• GUR Course Information section is completed (GUR attribute and literacies) and required comments/rationale are clearly articulated.
• Attached syllabus includes a statement of how it identifies as the proposed GUR attribute.
• GUR rosette image is included in the attached syllabus.
• The rationale clearly explains all changes and why they are being made.
• Required fields are completed as expected and include collegial communication.
• Proposals follow ACC-approved policy where appropriate.
• Course details (title, description, prerequisites, schedule type, etc.) are clear and accurate.
• Syllabus is reasonably complete and includes all requirements according to the policy on credit hours and syllabus requirements policy.
• Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) requirements have been met, particularly for courses that are seeking an alternate modality. 

Common Mistakes

• GUR Rosette image is missing in attached syllabi.
• Prerequisites
  • Prerequisites text field includes courses that must be completed or recommended, as well as other registration restrictions.
  • "Prerequisites with concurrency" field is filled out but is missing from the "Prerequisites" field. This field appears in the University Catalog and Browse Classes.
  • "Co-requisites" field is filled out but is missing from the "Prerequisites" field. This field appears in the University Catalog and Browse Classes.
• Collegial communication with other academic units missing in instances where a prerequisite is a course outside the department proposing the new course.
• If a course is repeatable, the repeatability isn't mentioned in the course description per ACC repeatability policy.
• If requesting online and/or hybrid modalities, additional syllabi and required attachments (as required by respective college modality policy) aren't attached to proposal under the "files" tab.
• If the new course will be equivalent (crosslisted), the Crosslisting function wasn’t used to create a duplicate proposal to create a primary and secondary proposal. It’s best practice to use Crosslisting so that the course data is identical and both proposals move through the workflow at the same time to ACC. 

Course Revisions

Checklist

• If the course is adding/removing prerequisites, review the rationale for prerequisites since GURs should be accessible to all students.
• If the course is changing GUR attribute, review the rationale to make sure the course is in line with the GUR attribute description.
• Attached syllabus includes a statement of how it identifies as the proposed GUR attribute and the rosette image.
• Make sure a syllabus is attached with the following exceptions: revision to prerequisite, course title, or other minor revisions.
• The rationale clearly explains all changes and why they are being made.
• The rationale matches the appropriate revision boxes selected.
• Required fields are completed as expected.
• All revisions are clearly made in the proposal when in User Tracking/Show Current with Markup View mode. Revisions must be in line with what was checked under “Please check all that will be changed” and included in the rationale.
• Impact report is completed (required in proposals if the revision is to credits).
• Attached syllabus (required if a change in credit hours or significant change in course content) is reasonably complete and includes all requirements according to the policy on credit hours and syllabus requirements policy.
• Proposals follow ACC-approved policy where appropriate. 

Common Mistakes

• All boxes aren't checked in the "Please check all that will be changed" section.
• Revisions that align with checked boxes when in "Show Current with Markup" mode are missing.
• Collegial communication with other academic units is missing in instances where a prerequisite is a course outside the department proposing the new course.
• Impact report copy/paste when the course credits are being revised is missing.
• If the course is equivalent ("also offered as" in the course description) and the Crosslisting function wasn't used to create a duplicate proposal, then both courses may not be revised. It’s best practice to use the Crosslisting function so both courses are revised and move through the approval workflow at the same time. 

Course Cancellation

Checklist

• The rationale clearly explains why the course is proposed to be cancelled.
• Collegial communication is completed and all communication with colleagues outside of the proposing department is documented.
• Impact report is completed. This is required for all course cancellation proposals. 

Common Mistakes

• Impact report copy/paste is missing.

The Registrar’s Office publishes relevant curricular review dates yearly. Most curriculum review occurs during the “review season” which goes (approximately) from October through February, depending on the overall amount and type of work ACC faces that year.

1. Academic unit member approves curriculum with GUR attribute and/or General Education and First-Year Programs to academic department/academic program for review and approval.
2. College curriculum committee approves curriculum to CUE via Curriculum and sends meeting minutes to ACC. CUE reviews curriculum proposal.
3. CUE approves curriculum proposal and sends meeting minutes to ACC, or, if additional information, revisions or clarification is needed, CUE returns curriculum proposal and CUE Chair contacts proposal originator after which it will be re-reviewed by CUE (following any needed departmental/college re-review).
4. ACC reviews curriculum via submitted CUE minutes and other related curriculum items.
5. Upon approval, ACC sends meeting minutes to Faculty Senate and curriculum maintenance occurs.