Council on Academic Affairs (CAA)
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Suggested Guidelines for CAA Proposal Creation and Submissions For more information on CAA proposal creation and submission, please see OAA Academic Organization & Curriculum Manual or call the Office of Academic Affairs at 292-5881. The Council on Academic Affairs (CAA) is providing the following suggested guidelines to individuals, Programs, Departments, Schools, Colleges, Centers, Institutes and others, interested in submitting proposals to CAA for consideration. These guidelines were developed by CAA members with three (or more) years of experience on CAA reviewing a wide range of proposals. The accumulated knowledge of process and expectation is intended to facilitate your proposals’ review and to minimize the need for proposal revision. These guidelines are intended to provide you with a general sense of topics and formats for most proposals. It is NOT intended to be a comprehensive guide or replacement for the OAA Academic Organization & Curriculum Manual. We strongly urge those submitting proposals to review the appropriate sections of the manual prior to submission to CAA. The proposal should include the following parts: A cover or transmittal letter Sent from the body (College Office, Curriculum Committee, Etc.) submitting the proposal. Memo or letter format is fine. Address correspondence to the Provost Designee of CAA: Vice Provost W. Randy Smith In the body of the letter please indicate the origin of the proposal (which academic unit it came from) and 1-2 paragraphs briefly describing any action requested of CAA in the proposal. Indicate any attachments. Remember to cc any interested parties from the originating unit. The proposal itself. An executive summary or introductory paragraph describing the action you wish to initiate with your proposal. A section with background information describing the events, history or relevant actions that initiated the proposal and the steps taken in it's development. Sections describing, in detail, the rationale for the proposal. Many proposals benefit from inclusion of comparative data from other institutions with similar programs. A discussion of the specific action and any corollary issues(both positive & negative) that will arise from implementation. Detailed explanations of what precisely will happen if the proposal is approved. Some common issues addressed include but are not limited to;
If the content of your proposal includes, in substantive ways, topics and interests related to those in other units you will need to pursue concurrence from those units. This often takes the form of either a letter from the Dean, Department Chair or Director of the outside unit or a form (found on p.91 of the OAA Procedures Manual) that accompanies the proposal as an attachment. A discussion of the process that the proposal has moved through, prior to it’s arrival at CAA. Which committees; department, college and university level, have reviewed and approved the proposal. Often the standard of "broad consultation" is raised in the review of a proposal. In this section you may want to describe the forms and outcomes of seeking consultation with faculty, students, accrediting agencies, alumni and professional organizations and other interested parties. Minutes from meetings,faculty vote results, survey results, letters of support, etc. offer valuable insight into the nature of the consultative process. Some indication of the adequacy and availability of resources including but not limited to fiscal impact statements, commitments of funding from any sources, memorandum of understanding between collaborating units, are helpful. Additional supporting documentation referred to in the proposal (meeting minutes, memos, letters of concurrence).Any forms required for processing your proposal (course forms, concurrence forms, etc.) See OAA Academic Organization & Curriculum Manual for details. Statement about timeline expectations From the time a proposal is drafted to it's final approval often takes a substantive amount of time (see diagram below). Frequently, it depends upon how quickly your proposal moves through the appropriate channels in your local department and college. Once a proposal reaches CAA, it has had a significant amount of College and Department level review but minimal University level review. It is the charge of CAA to review and approve or deny all proposals. Timelines at the University level are constrained by a number of factors including, the comprehensive nature of your proposal's content, assuming the proposal includes all necessary sections and documentation, and the work load of each of the University wide committees and offices that it must pass through. A word about CAA workload: CAA approved over 50 proposals during the 1997-8 academic year. CAA meets and reviews proposals during the Autumn, Winter and Spring Quarters only, it does not meet during Summer Quarter. While Workload issues are beyond your control you can facilitate the movement of your proposal through CAA. The most successful proposals are well thought through and include all the required documents. CAA is composed of Faculty and currently enrolled Graduate, Professional and Undergraduate students, all who serve in addition to their regular responsibilities. Once a proposal reaches CAA it is reviewed by the Vice Provost and the Chair of CAA and then assigned to a Subcommittee of CAA for detailed review. The Council is divided into four subcommittees that review each proposal. Occasionally, questions are raised and additional documents are requested. The speed of your reply to questions and requests will either enhance or restrain the ability of the Subcommittee to make a recommendation on your proposal. Please remember that the Subcommittee is a partner in the approval process and can facilitate the movement of your proposal through the system by anticipating questions and problems that will result in proposal denial and providing the opportunity for proposors to address those issues. Often proposes are asked to respond to additional questions from the Subcommittee and occasionally proposors are asked to appear at a Subcommittee meeting to discuss their proposal. The Subcommittee is composed of a revolving chair and at least three voting members of CAA. The Subcommittee reviews your proposal and is then responsible for making recommendations to the Council as a whole. When your proposal completes the Subcommittee review process it will be added to the CAA agenda and you will be asked to appear to present your proposal.
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