Mission Statement and Charter for the Core Curriculum Oversight Committee

Mission Statement

The primary mission of the Core Curriculum Oversight Committee (CCOC) is to consider all matters relating to The Citadel's core curriculum. Most importantly in accomplishing this mission is for the CCOC to maintain focus on what our students learn from the core curriculum courses.

Charter

I. Membership

A. Representation

The Committee on Committees selects one faculty member to represent each of the core curricular areas of study (English, Mathematics, History, the Sciences, the Social Sciences, and Modern Languages) and one representative from each of the schools that does not offer core courses (Education, Engineering, and Business) to serve on the committee. Academic faculty membership is restricted to tenured faculty members who have been employed at The Citadel for at least one full academic year at the time they begin committee service. In addition to the academic faculty members, the committee shall include without voting privileges the current chairperson of the Faculty Committee on Curriculum & Instruction and a designate of the Provost as an administrative liaison.

B. Tenure

Academic faculty members serve three-year rotating terms, staggered so that at all times two-thirds of the committee have a collective memory of past decisions. All other members of the committee serve one-year terms. An academic faculty may request a second consecutive term; no faculty member may serve on the committee for more than six years consecutively. If a faculty member cannot complete a term, the Committee on Committees will select another member to fill the un-expired term. Time spent filling a term of another faculty member will not count toward the "six-year" rule outlined above.

II. Structure

A. Chair

The committee shall have a chair selected by committee vote at an organizational meeting held before September 30 of each year. The term of the chair continues until the next committee chair election. A member may not serve as chair for more than three consecutive years. The chair is responsible for scheduling and presiding over committee meetings, representing the committee, and producing an annual report of committee activities.

B. Subcommittees

The committee may form subcommittees to perform specific tasks.

C. Meetings

The committee must meet at least twice during each academic year, once each in the fall and spring semesters. The chair must call a meeting if requested in writing by a minimum of one-third of the members. A quorum consists of one-half of the membership.

III. Activities

III.1. General Activities of Standing Committees

A. Information

1. The CCOC gathers, analyzes, and disseminates information relevant to The Citadel's core curriculum.

It is authorized to perform these activities by:

1. Direct requests to college administrators or activity heads; academic department heads or Deans; and/or any group or association of Citadel faculty, staff, or students.
2. Development and utilization of questionnaires and surveys.
3. Use of previously published information or data.

2.The CCOC analyzes information and data through statistical summaries, compilation of written materials, or other established methods. Analyses may provide the College with information pertinent to specific issues, or it may substantiate recommendations for administrative actions.

3.The CCOC disseminates information by means of:

1. Responses or reports to departments, activities, or committees based upon requests for information.
2. Reports generated from within the CCOC.
3. Periodic status reports to the College as specified in its charter.

B. Annual Report

The CCOC will prepare an annual report summarizing its activities for the most recent academic year. The report should include all decisions of the committee. Copies of this report should be made available in hardcopy and electronic format for Citadel faculty, staff, and students.

C. Other Reports

The CCOC is responsible for the timely dissemination of all reports to Citadel faculty, staff, and students.CCOC reports should be made available through the Daniel Library and ITS network. Reports may contain observations, recommendations, and proposals. For the purposes of information gathering, all reports are considered published information.

D. Tasks

The work of the CCOC consists of a series of tasks, or units of work involving the gathering, analysis, and dissemination of information and data. These tasks are accomplished by:

1. Completing tasks as articulated in the "Specific Activities" section of this charter.
2. Completing reports that include information requested by administrative activities or departments, academic departments, other committees, Faculty Council, or Academic Board. Students or other individuals may not assign tasks to the CCOC except through one of the aforementioned bodies.
3. Generating tasks within the CCOC. Any committee member may request that the committee study a relevant topic or issue. The CCOC may also develop long-range projects or studies as part of its mission.

III.2. Specific Activities of the Core Curriculum Oversight Committee

The primary mission of the Core Curriculum Oversight Committee (CCOC) is to consider all matters relating to The Citadel's core curriculum. Most importantly in accomplishing this mission is for the CCOC to maintain focus on what our students learn from the core curriculum courses. This is achieved by:

1. Study of all proposed changes to the core curriculum to include addition of core courses, deletion of core courses, and changes in semester/contact hours for core courses.
2. Study the effectiveness of each core curriculum course in terms of the College Catalog's expected learner outcomes.
3. Make recommendations on any proposed changes to the core curriculum to the appropriate academic departments and/or the Academic Board/Provost.
4. In consultation with academic departments involved and the designate of the Provost, review and evaluate the effectiveness of annual assessment plans and annual assessment reports of each core course or core course sequence, as well as make appropriate recommendations for change. These evaluations and recommendations will be performed within the context of the statements of purpose and defined learner outcomes as presented in the College Catalog.
5. Acting as a "trigger mechanism" to recommend that The Citadel formally review its core curriculum, or formally study specific sections.

IV. Autonomy

To ensure the efficiency and quality of committee work, the CCOC is granted a degree of autonomy over its own operations. Upon receipt of a request from another college body, the CCOC will vote to decide upon the request, which may be rejected because

1. the request is unclear (the chair may ask for clarification and resubmission of the request);
2. the CCOC workload is too great to perform the task within the necessary timeframe (the chair may return the request and suggest another timeframe);
3. the task falls outside the mission/objectives of the CCOC; the chair will ask the requesting body to either submit the request to another committee or (if the task falls within the scope of more than one committee) divide the task between the committeesor; or
4. the resources and/or authority to complete the task are not available within the CCOC (the chair may explain how the request can be modified in order that the CCOC can reconsider).

V. Amending the Charter

The CCOC may modify its charter in consultation with the Committee on Committees. Proposals for changes to the committee charter go to the Committee on Committees, which negotiates suggested changes with the CCOC and any affected administrative bodies.Consensus requests are forwarded to Faculty Council for approval. In case of lack of consensus, competing proposals are sent to Faculty Council for consideration.