Curriculum

This section of the CAS Faculty & Staff Handbook contains information related to the administration and management of CAS educational programs and curriculum, including planning and staffing issues.

Maintaining the best educational programs possible requires an annual and constant process of long-term and short-term planning of curriculum, course scheduling and teaching assignments. These processes should be begun well in advance because they require the participation of the whole faculty.

Annual Academic Planning Exercise

The Annual Academic Planning Exercise gives departments, programs, and the College the opportunity to determine which courses should be offered every semester, every year, and on other regular schedules in order to fulfill the obligations to our students implied by the existence of majors, minors, and general education and other requirements. Through the Annual Academic Planning Exercise CAS plans ahead on a rolling three-year basis to ensure that we cover necessary courses as much as possible with our core faculty.

• Annual Academic Planning Exercise Instructions
• Academic Planning Reports

Information about undergraduate education, including the College Program, degree requirements, and other matters, see this page. For information about the Graduate School and graduate education, including degrees, degree requirements, admissions and financial aid, and other student matters, see this page. Another valuable resource is the Center for Excellence & Innovation in Teaching.

Annual Class Scheduling and Teaching Assignment Process, and Supplemental Budget Requests

• Planning Course Offerings
• Guidelines for Class Scheduling, Teaching Assignments, and Supplemental Budget Request (annual memo)
• Manual for Course Scheduling and Faculty Load Forms
• Course Scheduling Form
• Faculty Load Form
• Honors/Core/Writing Assignment Form
• Time Block Schedule Form

Curriculum Development

The excellence of educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels requires long-term consideration of the mission and purposes of our programs and working to keep them fresh and updated as our fields of knowledge, the world our students will enter, and the composition of our faculty change. Curriculum planning also requires recognition that although academic planning occurs most obviously at the department and program level, all CAS units and faculty participate in serving not just of the majors for which they hold primary responsibility, but the broader educational needs of all students who are enrolled or take courses in CAS. CAS, uniquely among the schools and colleges of Boston University, has a primary responsibility to serve all Boston University undergraduates. Moreover, the interdisciplinary programs that add great distinction to the educational opportunities students find at BU depend on the participation of faculty from most departments in the College. Departments must address these needs in their curricular planning.

1. Reviewing and Revising the Department’s Curriculum
2. Proposing New Academic Programs
3. Proposing New Courses; Revising Existing Courses