The primary responsibilities of the Committee on Academic Programs (CAP) are to "(1) review the functioning of academic programs as needed, taking into consideration the academic plan of the institution; and to bring recommendations to the Faculty regarding: (a) changes in course offerings, including temporary, permanent, summer, and online courses; (b) changes to a major or minor; (c) University wide requirements and policies including competency and distribution requirements; (d) changes in the academic program structure of the University, including the creation or termination of academic programs"; and (2) "[t]o collect program reviews from all academic programs and to work with the Provost's office to ensure that all program reviews are stored securely and accessible to the Faculty."
What follows are time frames, forms, policies and procedures, and curricular information related to CAP's responsibilities. If faculty have questions about any items on this site, please email cap@owu.edu for further information.
The following are typical time frames for CAP business. Consult CAP's email announcements for specific deadlines in a given semester.
Course Proposals: By the end of the third full week of classes of the semester prior to the semester in which the course would be offered
Core Competency Proposals: Shortly before Fall Break and Spring Break.
Curricular Change & Departmental Curricular Change Memos: On a rolling basis
Travel-Learning Course Proposals: Shortly before the start of Spring semester
Fall 2025
Course Proposals due: Friday, September 12, 2025
Course Competency Submissions due: Friday, September 26, 2025
Curricular changes, minors, majors: rolling
Spring 2026
Travel-Learning Course Proposals: Monday, January 12, 2026
Course Proposals due: Friday, January 30, 2026
Course Competency Submissions due: Friday, February 13, 2026
Curricular changes, minors, majors: rolling
: Use this form to propose a core competency designation for an existing course.
: Use this form to propose new courses. Sign in by clicking on the OWU logo, and choose 'Course Proposal Form' under 'Forms.'
: This form is ONLY to be used if you have a previously approved temporary course that you want to transition to a permanent course. (Please note that the course should be taught at least two (2) times on a temporary basis before being proposed for permanent addition to the curriculum.)
: Use this form to submit curricular changes, including changes to pre-requisites and individual courses, as well as changes to majors and minors.
: CAP urges all faculty and students who are considering an independent study or directed readings (course numbered 490/491) to adhere to these guidelines
: Use this form to propose a travel-learning course. Proposals will be reviewed and ranked by the committee; final approvals will be made by the administration. Consult the Travel Learning Courses Faculty Resources page for further information.
: This guide includes the descriptions of each Core Competency along with their learning outcomes, guidelines around what courses will fulfill the competency, and sample assignments.
General Education Implementation (GECI) website: This website, maintained by Academic Affairs, provides an overview of the new General Education curriculum.
: This is the official motion to reform the General Education curriculum that was voted on by the faculty on January 10, 2022.
: These are FAQs that were circulated by CAP in advance of the approval of the new General Education Curriculum.
General Education Reform
The following are materials that were shared with the faculty as part of the process of General Education reform from Spring 2021 to Spring 2022.