Section 400: Academic Affairs
403.2 Curriculum Proposals: Review and Approval
Effective: July 1, 1982

Policy

Montana State University-Northern in accordance with Board Policy, submits detailed proposals for all new major curricular changes. Approval of any major curricular change is subject to campus (MSU-Northern) assurance that financial support, qualified faculty, physical facilities and library holdings sufficient to establish and maintain the program will be available within reasonable budgetary support levels. Proposals must follow the following prescribed format and be submitted through appropriate campus review levels to the Chancellor of Montana State University-Northern.

Mission Statement

As one of the institutions in the Montana University System, the overall mission of Montana State University-Northern is reflected in the Mission Statement adopted January 26, 1996 by the Board of Regents.

Montana State University-Northern is a technology focused university with programs assuring each student and faculty both personal and technical assistance in the educational and training process.

Montana State University - Northern is a member of the Montana University system and is administratively affiliated with Montana State University - Bozeman. Northern is located in north central Montana with the main campus located in Havre. The institution was established by the 13th Montana Legislative Session and instruction began on September 24, 1929.

Montana State University - Northern:

• is a unique institution where technical and professional programs are emphasized and are supported by a strong liberal education
• provides high quality programs in applied and engineering technologies, professional teacher education, business, nursing, and the liberal arts leading to certificate, associate, baccalaureate, and masters degrees
• serves a large, rural area of Montana, including four Native American reservations along the northern Montana border, and many small towns and cities of the northwestern region of the country
• is an important resource for its service area, assisting employers, participating in economic development efforts, providing continuing education programs, and sponsoring cultural events
• encourages a variety of learning opportunities including intellectual, recreational, physical, lifelong learning, experiential, interpersonal, and specific career education

Montana State University - Northern focuses its primary efforts toward providing an appropriate array of quality instructional programs where students can meet the following goals:

• develop the skills and competencies needed to fulfill individual career objectives;
• gain a general education foundation that promotes continued personal growth, a basic knowledge of human beings, societies, governments, and the physical world and an ability to effectively communicate,understand and work with a variety of people from differing cultures;
• develop the ability to effectively cope with ambiguity and interact with the constantly changing world;
• assist and participate with others to examine, maintain, and improve the human existence;
• acquire lifelong skills and interests that continually develop aesthetic, cultural, and intellectual interests; and
• acquire an understanding of one's personal value system and its relationship to actions.

Montana State University - Northern is dedicated to maintaining strong ties with all units of the Montana University System to facilitate transfer of college-level work between institutions. The University provides educational opportunities throughout Montana through distance learning, interactive television, and the Internet. The University establishes and maintains linkage and partnerships with community agencies, business, and industry to ensure and enhance program viability and to develop the mutual support necessary to enhance institutional viability. The University maintains the highest level of accreditation available.

Program Authorizations

The following programs are authorized for Montana State University - Northern:

Montana State University-Northern
1997-1999 Degree Programs

Board of Regents' Policy for Curriculum Proposals

1. All new post-secondary educational programs: certificate programs, degrees, and addition of majors to existing degrees, options within majors, or minors where a major does not exist shall be submitted to the Commissioner of Higher Education who will formulate recommendations for the Board of Regents through the Academic Affairs Committee.
2. Changes in the names of degrees shall be approved by the Board of Regents.
3. Procedures. Programs shall be presented in the following manner:

   a. specify the objectives to be reached by the addition of this program:
   b. specify in detail present faculty, facilities and equipment, and library holdings in support of this program, and compare them to known or anticipated minimum standards for accreditations;
   c. additional faculty requirements should be detailed as to qualifications, salary, and recruitment;
   d. increased costs will be submitted in detail for the first year, for the biennium, and an estimate of the continuing costs of the program over a five-year period. These costs should reflect new faculty, increased library costs, space requirements, equipment, and other facilities needs;
   e. a new program will be carefully scrutinized as to the effect on enrollment, numbers of students (both graduate and undergraduate) with lower and upper division course breakdowns, and the number expected to graduate over a ten-year period;
   f. list the new courses this program will add to the curriculum and specify the course requirements for the degree;
   g. indicate the inter-departmental implications of additions to this program or supporting courses in departments which contribute to the new program of studies;
   h. explain how the recommendation to submit this proposal to the Board of Regents was made. Were faculty involved institution-wide in the decision?

   In all cases the Board of Regents may require an appropriate report from outside, objective consultants to assist the Board in analyzing the proposal and arriving at a just decision.

   A copy of every curriculum proposal shall be forwarded to the Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs and to the chief academic officers of the units of the Montana University System as soon as it has been approved by the unit concerned. Copies of all proposals for associate degree programs and vocational-technical programs shall also be forwarded to the chief academic officers of the community colleges. In addition, proposals for vocational-technical programs shall be forwarded to the Deputy Commissioner of Vocational-Technical Education and to the chief academic officers of the vocational-technical centers.

4. Definitions

   a. Degree - a specific designation of letters representing the words on the diploma indicating completion or attainment, e.g., B.A., B.S., B.Arch., B.B.A., M.A., M.F.A., Ed.D., D.A., DA, Ph.D.;
   b. Certificate - awarded upon successful completion of entry-level programs, a specialty within an occupational area, and/or upgrading skills and knowledge within an occupation. Usually, certificate programs are 45-60 semester hours in length;
   c. Major - the specific field of concentration for the degree;
   d. Minor - the supporting or complementary field undertaken along with a major for a degree;
   e. Option - one of at least two tracks, emphases, or areas of study within a major has a sequence of courses and/or requirements that are different from other available options. Usually, options share a common core of courses;
   f. New postsecondary educational programs - all proposals for a new series of courses arranged in a scope or sequence leading to a certificate, option, major, or minor where a major does not already exist.

Approval Process for Curriculum Proposals

The campus, in accordance with Board policy, submits detailed proposals for all curricular changes. Approval of any curricular change is subject to campus assurance that financial support, qualified faculty, physical facilities and library holdings sufficient to establish and maintain the program will be available within reasonable budgetary support levels. The proposal must follow the Curriculum Committee format and be submitted through appropriate campus review levels to the Chancellor of Montana State University-Northern.

See the MSU-N Academic Senate Constitution and the Board of Regents Handbook for the Chief Academic Officers of the Montana University System and the Montana Community College System: Guidelines for the Development, Titling, Retitling, Review, Suspension, and Termination of Degree Programs, Majors, Major Subsets, and Minors, December 1992.

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