The Core Curriculum Oversight Committee (CCOC) oversees the core curriculum’s implementation, interpreting it and making changes when necessary. It holds the authority to approve, deny or revoke designations for courses proposed by divisions as part of the core curriculum. The committee can appoint subcommittees for specific course categories and seek advice from faculty and students. Oversight committee decisions are subject to approval and can be appealed to the Office for Academic Affairs and the president.
For four decades, the CCOC has overseen the maintenance of the university’s core curriculum. Comprised of faculty from every undergraduate degree-granting college, the CCOC approves designations for courses submitted by divisions to be a part of the Built by Bama Core Curriculum. In conjunction with the Associate Provosts for General Education, the CCOC updates the core to comply with Alabama and SACSCOC requirements.
The CCOC is divided into subcommittees. Each faculty-led subcommittee plays a crucial role in the course approval process: reviewing submitted course materials, providing recommendations for core designations to the Associate Provost for General Education and working with programs and departments to bring core courses into compliance with state and SACSCOC regulations. The goal of the subcommittees is to make the Built by Bama Core Curriculum flexible, responsive to faculty and student needs, while meeting regulatory obligations.
The CCOC is divided into the following subcommittees:
- Mathematical and Natural Sciences
- Humanities, Foreign Language, Fine Arts, and Literature
- Social & Behavioral Sciences and History
- Advanced Writing
- U.S. and/or Global Citizenship
- Pathways
- Experiential Learning
CCOC Regulations
- The CCOC consists of the following voting members:
- At least twenty and no more than thirty faculty members. The faculty members will be chosen by OAA after consultation with the Academic Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate. For the sake of continuity, the faculty members appointed by the Office for Academic Affairs will serve three-year terms scheduled so that the terms of one-third of this group would end each year. CCOC members may be reappointed to consecutive terms. The faculty members must be selected so that each college conferring undergraduate degrees plus the Honors College is represented by at least one voting member.
- One representative of the Faculty Senate appointed by that body, plus a number of students equal to the number of CCOC subcommittees, to be appointed by the Student Government Association Academic Affairs Committee.
- The Associate Provost(s) of General Education or a designee from the Office of Academic Affairs and a representative of the University Registrar shall serve as non-voting members.
The CCOC will have two co-chairs who will serve three-year terms, which will be staggered. The co-chairs will be elected by the CCOC. The co-chairs must have served on CCOC for at least one year prior to being elected co-chair. If a co-chair’s term exceeds the length of their current appointment to the CCOC, they would agree to serve one additional term as a CCOC member.
Submission of core designation proposals by departments or divisions:
Courses being submitted for a new core designation will be proposed through the course submission process determined by the CCOC in conjunction with the University Registrar and OAA. All course proposals will require approval by the division chair/head and by the division’s dean or designate. Course proposals seeking a core designation will be routed by the Registrar to the CCOC for review. All core course proposals must include a syllabus that complies with the UA Syllabus Policy and responds to any specific requirements of the core designation templates. During submission of the core designation proposal, additional discursive comments of how the course meets the requirements of the designation will be requested in the course proposal. If the course is cross-listed by two or more departments or divisions then the proposal must be approved by the chair/head of each department or division offering the course. If the course is cross-listed across more than one college then the course must be additionally approved by the dean (or designate) of each college or division. In each case, the proposal must affirm that if multiple sections of a course are taught, each instructor and all sections will abide by the core eligibility requirements as outlined in the course approval templates.
To be considered for implementation in the catalog for the following academic year, core course proposals must be submitted by the first Monday of November.
Membership
REPORTING CHANNEL: Associate Provost of General Education
| Member | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Gleason, Co-Chair | A&S | Professor, Math | 2026 |
| Amy Pardo, Co-Chair | A&S | Instructor, English | 2027 |
| Jan Jones | Business | Instructor, Management | 2026 |
| Nick Davis | A&S | Associate Professor, Political Science | 2027 |
| Patrick Kung | Engineering | Associate Professor, Assoc. Dept. Head for Undergraduate Programs, Electrical & Computer Engineering | 2027 |
| Nathan Chilcutt | Business | Senior Instructor, Operations Management | 2027 |
| Diana Gomez | Business | Senior Instructor, International Business | 2027 |
| Oleg Sinelnikov | Education | Professor, Kinesiology | 2027 |
| Alex Hainen | Engineering | Associate Professor, Dir. Center for Transportation Operations, Planning, & Safety Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering | 2026 |
| Sundar Krishnan | Engineering | Professor, Mechanical Engineering | 2027 |
| Morgan Milstead | HES | Instructor, Human Nutrition & Hospitality Management | 2027 |
| Staci Simmons | Nursing | Clinical Assistant Professor | 2028 |
| Sherron Wilkes | Social Work | Clinical Assistant Professor, BSW Program Director | 2027 |
| Margaret Peacock | A&S | Associate Professor, History | 2027 |
| John Burgess | C&IS | Assistant Professor, School of Library & Information Sciences | 2027 |
| Lizzie Elder | HES | Associate Professor & Athletic Training Program Director and Chair of UGC Curriculum Committee | 2027 |
| Amy Traylor | Social Work | Associate Professor, Washington D.C. Practicum Director | 2027 |
| Marissa Grayson | A&S | Assistant Professor, Director of Public Policy Studies, Political Science | 2027 |
| Annaliese Bolland | C&IS | Assistant Professor, Communication and Information Research Institute, Faculty Senate Representative | 2027 |
| John Ratliff | A&S | Senior Instructor, History | 2028 |
| Harold Selesky | A&S | Associate Professor, History | 2028 |
| Heather Kopelson | A&S | Associate Professor, History | 2028 |
| Jennifer Feltman | A&S | Associate Professor, Art & Art History | 2028 |
| Kun Lu | C&IS | Associate Professor, SLIS | 2028 |
| Deb Baxter | Education | Assistant Professor, Sport Pedagogy | 2028 |
| Cynthia Peacock | C&IS | Associate Professor, Comm. Studies | 2028 |
| Colleen Geary | Education | Clinical Associate Professor, Exercise Science | 2028 |
| Lucy Curzon | A&S | Professor, Art History | 2028 |
| Monika Wedgeworth | Nursing | Associate Professor | 2028 |
| Libba Woodruff | Education | Clinical Associate Professor, Sport Pedagogy | 2028 |
| Christopher Bishop | Honors | Assistant Professor, Honors College History and Religious Studies | 2028 |
| Kacie Duncan | Nursing | Assistant Professor, Nursing | 2028 |
| Stefania Marghitu | C&IS | Assistant Professor, Journalism and Creative Media | 2028 |
| SGA Representatives | |
|---|---|
| Alexander East | Math & Natural Science |
| John Lusk | Foreign Language, Fine Arts, and Literature |
| Cathy Stockstill | Social and Behavioral Sciences & History |
| Reagan Wells | Advanced Writing |
| Samantha Simmons | U.S. & Global Citizenship |
| Micah Adams | Pathways |
| Savannah Sempier |
| Ex Officio Members | |
|---|---|
| Chris Coleman | Interim Director, OIE |
| Mary Ellen Hanna | Associate University Registrar, OUR |
| Amanda Ingram | Executive Director, Online & Continuing Education, OTIDE |
| Katie Lupica-Ewsuk | Associate University Registrar, OUR |
| Chapman Greer | Associate Provost for General Education, OAA |
| Erik Peterson | Associate Provost for General Education, OAA |
CCOC Archives
Core Curriculum Clarification Memorandum (2016)
MEMORANDUM
To: All Faculty
From: Kevin W. Whitaker, Interim Provost
Subject: Core Curriculum Clarification
Date: January 25, 2016
In the 1994-97 time frame, the state’s Articulation and General Studies Committee (AGSC) was formed pursuant to Legislative Act 94-202 and charged with developing (1) a statewide freshman- and sophomore-level general studies curriculum, and (2) a statewide articulation agreement for the freshman and sophomore years addressing the transfer of credit among all public institutions of higher education in Alabama. The core areas developed by the AGSC for the general studies curriculum were: written composition; humanities and fine arts; natural sciences and mathematics and history, social and behavioral sciences.
In November 1997, UA faculty voted to add requirements to the AGSC-developed general studies curriculum for UA students. The two items approved by that vote were:
Since 1997, operational interpretation of the law creating the AGSC has changed. Although UA must accept for core credit those courses approved by the AGSC, UA is not prevented from offering campus-approved core-designated courses for its students. As a result of conversations with the Core Curriculum Oversight Committee and the Academic Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate, this memorandum seeks to clarify misunderstanding stemming from that 1997 ballot assumption and officially adopts the policy for UA that our core curriculum is not limited to only courses approved by the state’s Articulation and General Studies Committee. Furthermore, since courses not approved by the state’s AGSC have been approved for the UA core curriculum by either the UA Core Curriculum Oversight Committee or the Office for Academic Affairs for over 15 years, all such designation approvals are hereby retroactively made official.
However, an assumption stated on the 1997 ballot was that while UA was adding new campus-approved core designations, only courses approved by the AGSC would satisfy the core areas of written composition, humanities and fine arts, natural sciences and mathematics, and history, social and behavioral sciences.