The Steering Committee on Curricular Governance is chaired by an A&S faculty member appointed by the Dean and Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences in consultation with the deans of Columbia College, the School of General Studies, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The Committee consists of representatives from the faculty, Policy and Planning Committee, and curricular bodies from Columbia College, the School of General Studies, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. It works closely with the PPC and the Dean and Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences, the Dean of Columbia College and Vice President for Undergraduate Education, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Vice President for Graduate Education, and Dean of the School of General Studies.
The Committee strives to serve as a locus for articulating, advocating and stewarding a broad vision of our educational mission. This committee operates on three levels:
1) to ensure the coordination and integration of curricular planning across the Arts and Sciences, and to integrate such planning with considerations of instructional staffing capacities and resource entailments;
2) to articulate and steward a collective vision for education in terms of which it will identify and prioritize ongoing needs and emerging opportunities for curricular functioning, enhancement and innovation. The Committee may take the opportunity to work with development and leadership to enlarge the resource base for such activity and ensure Diversity, Equity and Inclusion considerations are taken into account in high-level decision-making; and
3) to provide a mechanism for communicating among these bodies and ensure that the major proposals emanating from these bodies are sufficiently supported by broad consideration in other relevant planning bodies and brought to the Arts and Sciences faculty at large for discussion and, where appropriate, voting.
MEMBERS
Members of the Committee (2023-24)
Faculty Chair
Tian Zheng, Professor of Statistics and Department Chair - [email protected]
Policy and Planning Committee Delegate
Dima Amso, Professor of Psychology - [email protected]
A&S Tenured Faculty Representatives
Joseph Howley, Associate Professor of Classics - [email protected]
Abhay Pasupathy, Professor of Physics - [email protected]
Gregory Mann, Professor of History - [email protected]
A&S Lecturer Representative
Susan Elmes, Andrew Barth Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Economics - [email protected]
Committee on Instruction Faculty Representative
Valerie Purdy-Greenaway, Professor of Psychology - [email protected]
GSAS Executive Committee Faculty Representative
Claudia Breger, Villard Professor of German and Comparative Literature - [email protected]
Administrative Representatives
Amy Hungerford, Dean and Executive Vice President, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Ruth Fulton Benedict Professor of English and Comparative Literature - [email protected]
Carlos Alonso, Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Vice President for Graduate Education - [email protected]
Josef Sorett, Dean, Columbia College; Vice President for Undergraduate Education – [email protected]
Lisa Rosen-Metsch, Dean, School of General Studies; Professor of Sociomedical Sciences - [email protected]
Rose Razaghian, Dean of Academic Planning and Governance - [email protected]
Committee Mandate
Steering Committee on Curricular Governance
September 2023
The Steering Committee on Curricular Governance shall be chaired by a tenured faculty member, jointly appointed by the Dean of the Faculty and Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences, the Dean of the College, the Dean of the Graduate School, and the Dean of General Studies in consultation with the Policy and Planning Committee. Its mandate shall be to:
- identify and prioritize needs for curricular renewal and enhancement through consultation with curricular planning and oversight bodies within the several Schools of A&S*
- work with School-level curricular planning bodies to develop integrated approaches to curricular issues, problems, and opportunities affecting more than one School, or the Faculty in general;
- work with the Deans, relevant curricular oversight bodies, and PPC to bring significant curricular and instruction-related proposals to the faculty for input and, where appropriate, voting;
- ensure that resource considerations inform curricular and instructional planning;
- advocate for an inclusive climate for all instructors and students and ensure the incorporation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion considerations into high levels of planning and decision-making on the curriculum;
- facilitate reciprocal communication and coordination between curricular entities across A&S;
- enable and ensure efficient and timely reporting to the faculty about the activities of all curricular planning and oversight bodies.
- articulate, advocate for the shared values and goals that underlie the common educational mission of the several Schools in A&S.
SCCG shall be staffed with nine faculty members, serving staggered terms so as to ensure continuity of expertise. At least one faculty member should be at lecturer rank.
- Faculty Chair
- PPC delegate
- Three tenured faculty members (one from each division)
- One lecturer
- Faculty representative from COI
- Faculty representative from GSAS Executive Committee
- Faculty chair of Committee of Equity and Diversity (or faculty DEI advocate)
Nomination for faculty representatives shall be made in the following ways: self-nomination; nomination by faculty colleague(s); nomination by vote of the members of PPC, JFAB, or LAC; nomination by A&S departmental chairs; nomination by divisional deans; nomination by the Curricular Executive Committee. Appointments shall be made by joint agreement of the PPC and Curricular Executive Committee.
SCCG shall also have the following five administrative members:
- Dean of Faculty and EVP of A&S
- Co-Chair of CC/GS COI, Dean of CC. and VP for Undergraduate Education
- Co-Chair of CC/GS COI, Dean of GS
- Chair of GSAS Executive Committee, VP for Graduate Education and Dean of Graduate Education
- Dean of Academic Planning and Governance (non-voting)
All members have full voting rights, unless noted otherwise.
The above membership structure aims to bring maximal expertise into the discussions of the curriculum. In addition, the Steering Committee will need to draw periodically on the knowledge of the Divisional Deans; on the Academic Deans of the Colleges and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; on the Deans of SPS and SoA; and on leadership in SEAS and Barnard College. Nonetheless, the Committee’s membership is intended to embody the principle of faculty governance through a committee with majority membership of non-administrative faculty. The Chair may exercise discretion to convene Executive Sessions.
* In the first instance, we believe that these Schools should include Columbia College, General Studies, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. After the first year, and no later than the time of the first major review, the Steering Committee should consider extending its mandate to include the School of Professional Studies and the School of the Arts, with a possible enlargement of membership as appropriate.