IV. Academic Information

For the most part, the Faculty Handbook will not reprint information from the Colgate University Catalogue concerning the curriculum and academic rules and regulations. Faculty members are requested to consult the latest Catalogue for more detailed information on academic programs, concentration requirements, courses offered by various departments, and academic regulations.

A. Academic Program

1. Liberal Arts Core Curriculum The Liberal Arts Core Curriculum consists of four required courses plus optional Distinction and High Distinction courses. The four required courses include one Scientific Perspectives course (Core 110­149), the Western Traditions course (Core 151), the Challenge of Modernity course (Core 152), and one Cultures of Africa, Asia, and the Americas course (Core 160­199). Students normally take all four courses in their first two years, with no prescribed sequence. Students are also required to satisfy a distribution requirement. A fuller description of the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum Program may be found in the University Catalogue.

Colgate's Core Curriculum continues to be an important part of the liberal arts curriculum, and faculty members coming to Colgate can expect to be asked to participate in the program. The Liberal Arts Core Curriculum is administered by the Division of University Studies.

2. First-Year Seminars One of the courses every first-year student takes during the fall term is the first-year seminar, designed to combine exploration of an academic subject with the opportunity for developing a closer student-faculty relationship than would otherwise be possible for students beginning their first term at Colgate. The seminars range in size from 12 to 18 students. The first-year seminar instructor becomes the student's academic adviser for the first two years or until a student declares a concentration in the spring of the sophomore year (for more information on first year student and sophomore advising, see Section III.L.4). Each first-year seminar satisfies one of several University graduation requirements. Many first-year seminars are drawn from the Core curriculum and satisfy a requirement within the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum. Other seminars serve as introductory departmental courses and count for concentration requirements, and still others fulfill distribution requirements. Students receive a grade for the first-year seminar in the conventional manner.

Many members of the faculty teach in the First-year Seminar Program, since forty or so seminars are offered every fall. Because of the two-year advising responsibility, faculty members usually do not find it desirable to teach first-year seminars in consecutive years. Over a two- or three-year period, therefore, many continuing members of the faculty are involved in the First-year Seminar Program. Assignment of first-year seminar instructors is made by department chairs in consultation with members of their departments (see Section III.L.4(a)).

The First-year Seminar Program is administered by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty in coordination with the Universities Studies Division Director.

3. Concentration Programs Concentrations (majors and minors) at Colgate fall into one or two categories: departmental and topical. Departmental concentrations, as the name implies, are supervised by academic departments, with some departments, such as Philosophy and Religion and Romance Languages, having more than one such program. The Department of Physical Education does not offer a concentration. Specific requirements for each departmental concentration may be found in the chapter on "Courses of Study" in the University Catalogue.

Topical concentrations encompass more than one discipline. The various topical concentration programs are administered at the divisional level Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Social Sciences, and University Studies, although some topical concentrations cross divisional lines. Student topical concentration programs are approved by the respective division directors or, in the case of Peace Studies, by the program director. Descriptions of the individual topical concentration programs, including the requirements for each, may be found in the chapter on the "Undergraduate Program" in the University Catalogue.

A full description of University rules for all major and minor concentration programs is found in the Catalogue. The minor concentration is optional.

Students select an official concentration (major and minor) no later than April of the sophomore year (during Early Course Registration for the fall term). At that time, the department or topical concentration program assigns a new faculty adviser who will advise the student for the next two years. In order to declare concentrations officially, students must complete a Declaration of Concentration form (available from departmental offices), have it signed by the new faculty adviser and the department chair or concentration program supervisor, and submit it to the Registrar. (Students may elect to have a single major, a double major, or a major and a minor.)

4. Off-Campus Study Group Program Colgate's program of off-campus study includes groups which are offered annually or biennially. Each group is directed by a Colgate faculty member who assumes responsibility for the total program while away from campus. In addition to providing academic leadership, the director must act in the capacity of an administrative adviser with respect to the members of the group.

Faculty directors of study groups must submit proposals to the Off-Campus Study Group Committee for review of program and budget. The director is financially accountable to the University for all expenditures which must be supported by adequate documentation. Faculty members who cannot accept the responsibilities of providing sound academic leadership, student counseling, and financial accountability will not be permitted by the Dean of the Faculty to lead future study groups.

Student members of each study group are asked to fill out a form evaluating and giving comment on the content of the program and courses, and the director's leadership performance. Faculty directors distribute the evaluation forms to all students in the group with the request that one student take responsibility for returning all of the forms in one packet directly to the Office of the Dean of the Faculty.

Helpful advice and assistance in planning and budgeting for a study group is available from the Director of Off-Campus Study and the Associate Dean of the Faculty in the Office of the Dean of the Faculty. Financial budgets are administered from that office.

Administration of the Off-Campus Study Group Program A faculty committee, responsible to the Dean of the Faculty, administers the Off-Campus Study Group Program. The chair of the committee also serves as Faculty Coordinator of Study Group Programs. The committee includes the Director of Off-Campus Study and several faculty members who have served as study group directors. All existing and proposed study groups must be reviewed by the Off-Campus Study Group Committee each year. This review concerns all aspects of study groups program, director, budget, etc. Matters of study group curriculum should be directed to the Chair of the Off-Campus Study Group Committee. The Dean's Advisory Council is ultimately responsible for the curriculum.

All study groups must have a clear educational purpose and be of demonstrable academic value to students. Groups must also demonstrate that they have continuity of leadership, whether they are sponsored by a department or by an interdisciplinary staff. All groups must be economically feasible to operate, and each must have a minimum enrollment of twelve qualified students 90 days before departure. These four considerations will help guide the Off-Campus Study Committee in making recommendations to the Dean of the Faculty.

Creation of New Study Groups Faculty members and departments interested in proposing new study groups should speak first with the Chair of the Off-Campus Study Committee. Written proposals should be sent to the Chair, who will review them with the Committee before sending them, with recommendations, to the Dean of the Faculty. No costs for a proposed study group may be incurred before the Dean has granted "approval in principle" to the group. Written proposals must:

a. Provide a clear statement of the educational goals of the proposed group.

b. List the sponsors of the proposed group and describe briefly the qualifications of potential group leaders. If departmentally-sponsored, the written proposal must describe how the department anticipates staffing the group in relation to its staffing requirements on campus. If the proposed group is not departmentally-sponsored, the written proposal must indicate how the sponsors plan to staff it and whether the concerned departments have approved the participation of their faculty members in such a group.

c. Describe fully the academic content of the proposed study group program: courses, methods of instruction, methods of evaluation, resources to be used on location. If non-Colgate personnel are to be used for instruction, a full description of the background and credentials of the instructors is required.

d. List the courses for which academic credit is to be given. Students are expected to enroll in four courses on study groups. Each course should be clearly distinguishable and is graded separately; students cannot receive a grade for the entire study group experience. University rules concerning S/U courses also apply to study groups. Study group courses are subject to same approval procedures as on-campus courses.

e. Describe the kinds of cultural and social activities planned for the group: lectures, visits to museums and other institutions, and other co-curricular or pertinent extracurricular activities.

f. Outline the calendar for the group, specifying the reasons for any deviations from the academic calendar in use on campus.

g. Describe the preparation which students must have to be eligible for the study group (e.g. prerequisite courses), the criteria and timetable for selection of members, and the plan for orientation of study group members to local customs and laws (which should take place before leaving the Colgate campus).

h. Submit a proposed budget for the new study group.

The Off-Campus Study Committee will not recommend a proposal for a new study group unless it is assured that the educational goals of the study group are clear and worthy of University support; that the group is departmentally-sponsored or has at least three interested faculty members as sponsors and potential leaders; and that the budget for the group is financially sound.

5. Extended Study Courses Extended Study programs provide a way to extend courses beyond the traditional semester, either in May, August, or January, with an off-campus component. Extended Study offers an intensive off-campus experience preceding or following the on-campus portion of a course (the full course model) or following one or more on-campus prerequisite courses (the half-course model). Three to five weeks in duration, Extended Study courses complement and/or supplement students' academic experience by providing access to sites and institutions not available on campus. The program offers students experiences, therefore, that are best explored off campus but do not warrant an entire semester away. Extended Study courses are approved by the Dean's Advisory Council. Guidelines for proposing Extended Study courses are available from the Off-Campus Study Office.

6. Summer Programs There are academic and non-academic programs conducted each summer at Colgate. They include the five-week summer session sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Studies/HEOP in which students take credit-bearing courses in writing, the humanities, or social sciences, science and mathematics, and physical education. They also participate in seminars and advising sessions designed to assist in the transition to college. Each University division sponsors numerous undergraduate research initiatives of up to ten weeks duration. The Chenango Valley Writers Conference attracts novelists, poets, screenwriters, and journalists of international renown for a week each June. Conferences and colloquia conducted by professional organizations are held at Colgate in the summer as time and facilities permit. Faculty interested in developing summer programs at Colgate University should contact the Dean of the Faculty.