University-Wide Undergraduate Curriculum Handbook
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Liberal Studies Approval for Courses

Courses that are intended for the Liberal Studies program must be approved by the Liberal Studies Committee as well as by the UWUCC. This section of the handbook provides instructions and forms needed for Liberal Studies approval of a course.

Departments may apply for Liberal Studies approval at the same time they are submitting new course proposals or course revision proposals to the UWUCC. To do so, they complete the Liberal Studies form, attach it to the proposal prepared for the UWUCC, and send one (1) copy to the Liberal Studies Office, 110 Gordon Hall.

Departments may also apply for Liberal Studies approval of an existing course that already has Senate approval. In this case, (1) the original signed curriculum proposal cover sheet, (2) catalog description, (3) syllabus in UWUCC format, and (4) Liberal Studies course approval form are submitted. Assemble these parts and send the original copy to the Liberal Studies Office, 110 Gordon Hall.

When the Liberal Studies Committee has taken action, it will forward its recommendation to the UWUCC, which will act on the proposal and submit the course for Senate approval.

Note: Proposals for writing-intensive courses or for sections of the Liberal Studies synthesis course are prepared on different forms. See separate sections of this handbook.

Before writing a proposal, the Liberal Studies Committee suggests that you consult the following material, available from the Liberal Studies Office or on the LS website:

Criteria for Liberal Studies Courses at IUP--the guidelines for courses in each category for the Liberal Studies curriculum, as adopted by the University Senate in April 1988. (http://old.www.iup.edu/liberal/policies/criteria.shtm)

Inclusion of Gender and Minority Issues in Liberal Studies Courses--suggestions from Liberal Studies, Women's Studies, and Minority Affairs on ways to include the perspectives and contributions of women and minorities. (http://old.www.iup.edu/liberal/policies/minority-gender-in-ls.html)

Copies of all Liberal Studies forms and check-lists are included in the appendix of this handbook.

Liberal Studies Course Approval Form Instruction Sheet

Use this form only if you wish to have a course included in a Liberal Studies Learning Skill or Knowledge Area category. Do not use this form for synthesis or writing-intensive sections; different forms are available for these. If you have questions, contact the Liberal Studies Office, 110 Gordon Hall, telephone 357-5715.

This form is intended to assist you in developing your course to meet IUP's Criteria for Liberal Studies and to arrange your proposal in a standard order for consideration by the Liberal Studies Committee (LSC) and the University-wide Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. When you have finished, your proposal will have these parts:

____ Standard UWUCC Course Proposal Cover Sheet, with signatures (one page)

____ Completed copy of LS General Information Check-List--Parts I-III of this form (one page)

____ One sheet of paper for your answers to the four questions in Part IV of this form (one page)

____ Completed check-list for each curriculum category in which your course is to be listed--e.g. Non-Western Cultures, Fine Arts, etc. (one page each) [Check-lists are found in the appendix to this Handbook.]

____ Course syllabus in UWUCC format.

Note: If this is a new course not previously approved by the University Senate, you need to provide answers to the UWUCC Course Analysis Questionnaire. These are not considered by the LSC but will be forwarded to the UWUCC along with the rest of the proposal after the LSC completes its review. For information on UWUCC procedures for new courses or course revisions, see appropriate sections of this Handbook.

Submit the original of the completed proposal to the Liberal Studies Office (110 Gordon Hall.) The Liberal Studies Committee will make its own copies from your original; the committee does reserve the right to return excessively long proposals for editing before they are duplicated. (If you happen to have extra copies of the proposal, you are invited to send multiple copies to the LSC to save unnecessary copying.)

In addition to the signed hard copy, email the proposal as a Word or Rich Text Format file attachment to Liberal-Studies@iup.edu,  or send a disk with the hard copy of the proposal.

Please Number All Pages

LEARNING SKILLS:

KNOWLEDGE AREAS:

II. Please use check marks to indicate which LS goals are primary, secondary, incidental, or not applicable. When you meet with the LSC to discuss the course, you may be asked to explain how these will be achieved.

	Prim	Sec	Incid	N/A
					A. Intellectual Skills and Modes of Thinking:
	_____	_____	_____	_____		1. Inquiry, abstract logical thinking, critical analysis, synthesis, decision making, and other aspects of the critical process.
	_____	_____	_____	_____		2. Literacy--writing, reading, speaking, listening.
	_____	_____	_____	_____		3. Understanding numerical data.
	_____	_____	_____	_____		4. Historical consciousness.
	_____	_____	_____	_____		5. Scientific Inquiry.
	_____	_____	_____	_____		6. Values (Ethical mode of thinking or application of ethical perception).
	_____	_____	_____	_____		7. Aesthetic mode of thinking.
	_____	_____	_____	_____	B. Acquiring a Body of Knowledge or Understanding Essential to an Educated Person
	_____	_____	_____	_____	C. Understanding the Physical Nature of Human Beings
					D. Collateral Skills:
	_____	_____	_____	_____		1. Use of the library.
	_____	_____	_____	_____		2. Use of computing technology.

III. The LS criteria indicate six ways that courses should contribute to students' abilities. Please check all that apply. When you meet with the LSC, you may be asked to explain your check marks.

____ 1. Confront the major ethical issues which pertain to the subject matter; realize that although "suspended judgment" is a necessity of intellectual inquiry, one cannot live forever in suspension; and make ethical choices and take responsibility for them.

____ 2. Define and analyze problems, frame questions, evaluate available solutions and make choices.

____ 3. Communicate knowledge and exchange ideas by various forms of expression, in most cases writing and speaking.

____ 4. Recognize creativity and engage in creative thinking.

____ 5. Continue learning even after the completion of their formal education.

____ 6. Recognize relationships between what is being studied and current issues, thoughts, institutions, and/or events.

LIBERAL STUDIES COURSE APPROVAL, PARTS 4-6:

IV. On a separate sheet of paper, please answer these questions. (Do not include this sheet or copies of the questions in your proposal; submit only the answers.)

A. If this is a multiple-section, multiple-instructor course, there should be a basic equivalency (though not necessarily uniformity) among the sections in such things as objectives, content, assignments and evaluation. Note: this should not be interpreted to mean that all professors must make the same assignments or teach the same way; departments are encouraged to develop their courses to allow flexibility which contributes to imaginative, committed teaching and capitalizes on the strengths of individual faculty.

What are the strategies that your department will use to assure that basic equivalency exists? Examples might be the establishment of departmental guidelines, assignment of responsibility to a coordinating committee, exchange and discussion of individual instructor syllabi, periodic meetings among instructors, etc.

B. Liberal Studies courses must include the perspectives and contributions of ethnic and racial minorities and of women whenever appropriate to the subject matter. By explicit reference to specific items in the syllabus and/or by an explanation here, please describe how your course will meet this criterion.

If you would like suggestions or assistance in meeting this criterion, you may request a copy of "Including Gender and Minority Issues in Liberal Studies Courses," from the LS office, or at the LS website http://old.www.iup.edu/liberal/policies/minority-gender-in-ls.html.

C. Liberal Studies courses require the reading and use by students of at least one but preferably more substantial works of fiction or nonfiction (as distinguished from textbooks, anthologies, workbooks or manuals). By explicit reference to specific items in the syllabus and/or by an explanation here, please describe how your course will meet this criterion.

(The only exception is for courses whose primary purpose is the development of higher level quantitative skills; such courses are encouraged to include such reading but are not expected to do so at the expense of other course objectives. If you are exercising this exception, please justify.)

D. If this is an introductory course intended for a general student audience, it should be designed to reflect the reality that it may well be the only formal college instruction these students will have in that discipline, instead of being designed as the first course in a major sequence. That is, it should introduce the discipline to students rather than introduce students into the discipline. If this is such an introductory course, how is it different from what is provided for beginning majors?

V. Each curriculum category has its own set of specific criteria in addition to those generally applicable. The LSC provides copies of these criteria arranged in a convenient, check-list format. Select the one or more that apply, mark them appropriately, and include them with your proposal. These check-lists are available in the UWUCC Curriculum Handbook, from the LS Office, or the LS website at  http://old.www.iup.edu/liberal/uwucc/lschecklists.doc.

VI. Please provide a course syllabus in UWUCC format. (See UWUCC Curriculum Handbook for example.)

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Format for Course Approval in Liberal Studies

[All courses except synthesis and writing-intensive-- for those see separate section in this handbook]

Part I. Curriculum Proposal Cover Sheet

Part II. Description of Curricular Change

1. Syllabus of record, including catalog description with course title, number of credits, prerequisites and an appropriately written course description.

2. Liberal Studies Course Approval Form. Use this form and the appropriate check sheet(s) in the appendix to prepare the course proposal for the Liberal Studies Committee.

3. UWUCC course analysis questionnaire. (Needed only if this is a new course not previously approved by the University Senate.)

Part III. Letters of Support or Acknowledgement

Attach letters from interested or affected departments. (See page 3.)

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Procedures for the Approval of a Liberal Studies Course

	Department Approval (Curriculum Committee Chair  and Department Chair)
	College Curriculum Committee Approval
	College Dean Approval (in consultation with Provost)
	Liberal Studies Approval
	UWUCC Approval
	Senate Approval
	Catalog Change Implemented by Catalog Editor

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