Members:  The Associate Dean of the Faculty (chair), a representative of the Dean of the Conservatory, four members of the Faculty (one from each of the divisions of the University), two students, the Dean of Academic Success (ex officio), the Registrar (ex officio). Faculty members are appointed to two-year staggered terms.

Purpose: To serve as the primary agency of the Faculty in implementing the curriculum and rules governing student standards, and in that role to:

  1. Evaluate proposals for new courses and recommend to the Faculty those courses that the committee considers consistent with the University’s purposes and standards;
  2. Recommend to the Faculty changes in University policy for the creation and elimination of courses and non-traditional courses of study;
  3. Establish, monitor, and update regularly the list of courses satisfying the General Education Requirements;
  4. Evaluate proposals for individual non-traditional courses of study, including academic internships and student-designed majors, and approve those that the committee considers consistent with the University’s purposes and standards;
  5. Ensure that the rules governing students’ academic status are consistent with the University’s purposes and recommend changes in such rules to the Faculty;
  6. Set guidelines for exceptions to the rules that govern students’ academic status and ensure that the guidelines are in all cases applied reasonably;
  7. Monitor academic regulations and recommend changes where prudent;
  8. Encourage and facilitate faculty discussion, development, and dissemination of pedagogical methods and technologies;
  9. In conjunction with the Associate Dean of the Faculty, promote programs that enhance the development of teaching effectiveness;
  10. Serve when needed on the Subcommittee on Administration.

Subcommittee on Administration

Members: The Registrar, the Dean of Academic Success or delegate and, as needed, at least three faculty members from the Instruction Committee.

Purpose: To rule on student petitions for waivers of the rules that govern the academic status of students, and in that role to:

  1. Dispose of most petitions in accord with clear and well-established guidelines and precedents;
  2. Convene a meeting of faculty members on the Instruction Committee in unusual cases. The faculty members of the Instruction Committee will consider a student’s petition only when that student’s special circumstances are not clearly addressed either by the Faculty’s guidelines or by well-established precedent.