An officially designated minor program at Wright State University is a structured and coherent secondary concentration of study. It is intended to allow undergraduates the option of presenting a second field of specialization in addition to a major as part of their permanent record at the University.

Minor programs are designed by academic departments or program units. Any department or unit offering a major may offer a minor. A department or unit may establish one or more minors; a minor program will bear the unit name or the name of a recognized field within the discipline.

A formal proposal for a new minor program must be reviewed and approved by the appropriate college or school curriculum committee, the college or school faculty if required by that unit, the University Undergraduate Curriculum and Academic Policy Committee, and the Faculty Senate.

Upon approval, each minor program will be assigned a number by the registrar, and students who have completed the requirements for a minor will have that noted on their transcripts. Students may not major and minor in the same designated field.

The minor program is administered by the designing department or unit, which is responsible for formal admission, tracking, and final degree certification.

Minors will not be recognized or posted on the permanent record until the degree is conferred. The Degree Certification Form should be used to notify the Registrar's Office to post the minor and confer the degree.

Procedures and Guidelines for Preparing Minor Program Proposals

The requirements for minor programs may vary considerably across departments or program units. In order to ensure consistency from program to program, those preparing and approving proposals for a new program should observe the following format and guidelines:

I. Title of Program and college or school and department responsible for administering the program.

II. Objectives. Proposals should provide a clear statement of the objectives of the program.

III.. Description.  Proposals should include an undergraduate catalog description.

IV. Admission Requirements. Proposals should clearly indicate requirements for admission to the program, including, for example, prior admission to a major, credit hours completed, GPA, prerequisites, and  letter grade performance in specific classes.

V. Program Requirements. Proposals should clearly specify the program of study, including course requirements and course electives. For each course, include the course designation, number, title, credit hours and catalog description. Generally, with the exception of practica, courses should not be graded P/U. Proposals should identify and explain other requirements such as comprehensive examinations or oral presentations and include the total credit hours required for the minor.

When new courses or the modifications of existing courses are being proposed in conjunction with the program, the appropriate course inventory (Course Inventory Request Form) and course modification (Course Modification Request Form) requests and supporting documentation must accompany the proposal.

VI. Program Quality. Proposals should justify the level of difficulty of required courses in terms of program objectives and explain the balance between lower and upper division courses. A minor consisting entirely of introductory courses is unlikely to be approved. On the other hand, in some disciplines a minor consisting entirely of 300 or 400 level courses would be unreasonable.

VII. Student Performance. Proposals should indicate any requirements for maintaining the quality of student performance, including, for example, overall GPA or student performance in specific classes required for continuance in the program and for successful completion of the program.

VIII. Curriculum Coordination. Before proposals are sent forward for approval, they should be reviewed by all departments and program units that may be affected by the proposed program because of similar courses or course content, because of shared student clientele, or because the program of study, including course prerequisites, requirements, or electives carries scheduling or faculty and other resource implications.. Providing supporting letters or signed forms from potentially affected departments will facilitate the review. 

IX. Resource Coordination.  Proposals should assess needs pertaining to computer and library resources. In addressing the impact of those needs, the Director of Computing & Telecommunications Services and the University Librarian should be consulted, respectively. The results of this review should be included in the program proposal.

X. Program Staffing. Before program proposals are sent forward to the University Undergraduate Curriculum and Academic Policy Committee, a systematic review of program needs related to faculty, staff, and costs should be conducted by the appropriate College or School.  Faculty responsible for teaching in the program should be listed along with their academic rank and full-time or part-time status. Additional faculty, staff, and other resources required as part of the program proposal should be listed. The results of this review should be included in the program proposal.

Distance Education Programs

If the proposed program is to be offered through distance delivery methods as defined in the following procedures and guidelines, then it is required that additional documentation be submitted and requirements be adhered to as specified in:

A flowchart of the curriculum and academic policy review process for minor programs is contained in the following (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader):

Approved:

Undergraduate Curriculum and Academic Policy Committee, April 19, 2001
Faculty Senate, May 7, 2001
General Faculty, May 8, 2001