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Rice University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee records

 Collection
Identifier: UA 0236
Finding aid note: Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of papers recording the work of the Rice Faculty Committee on the Undergraduate Curriculum. The timespan represented is 1966 through 1990, but not every year in the period is represented, and content varies from year to year.

There are Committee membership lists for the thirteen-year period 1966 to 1979 and meeting minutes for the eleven years 1967 to 1978. These records are also in the forms of reports, memoranda, and correspondence.

Topics covered include general graduation requirements for undergraduate degrees, such as the foreign language requirement, the English competency exam, distribution requirements, and construction of minors. Many particular departments are represented as issues arose concerning requirements involving their specific courses. Debate within the faculty about how Rice should treat presentation by incoming students of Advanced Placement courses is covered. There is information about recommendations for student advising. Results of evaluating particular programs are included, as are records of the major curriculum revision project that culminated in 1970.

Finally, the collection includes response forms from faculty to a survey concerning the number of hours judged appropriate for a Rice degree. The date of this survey is not apparent, but the names of faculty represented suggest that it took place in the sixties.

Dates

  • 1964 - 2017

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Conditions Governing Access

This material is restricted. Permission to use these papers must be obtained from the Faculty Senate.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Records must be obtained from the President’s Office and from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.

Biographical / Historical

The Committee on the Undergraduate Curriculum is one of fifteen committees of the faculty. During the years represented in the records comprising this collection, the members of the committee were appointed by the University president. The committee was made up of eight or nine members, some of whom served for multiple years. The records include committee membership lists.

There were three parts to the charge that determined the committee’s work. The primary one was “to review any matter relating to the structure or content of all the undergraduate curricula.” These matters could originate in “the University Council, any standing committee of the University, faculty and student groups, members of the administration and others.” It was stated that “the Committee will make appropriate recommendations concerning these matters to the University Council and the President.”

The second part of the charge was “to initiate, whenever appropriate, reviews of the general curriculum, any of the undergraduate major curricula, distribution requirements and the like, and make recommendations to the University Council and the President.”

The third part of the charge was “to prepare a brief, written report on the year’s activities of the Committee at the end of the academic year and to submit copies of this report to the President of the University and the University Council.”

In years subsequent to the creation of the records in this collection, the University Council has been replaced by the Faculty Senate.

Extent

4 Linear Feet ( (8 boxes))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

The collection consists of records of the work of the faculty Committee on the Undergraduate Curriculum over the period 1966 through 1990. There are membership lists, meeting minutes, reports, memoranda, and correspondence. Topics covered include general graduation requirements, specific requirements in particular departments, evaluation of particular programs, student advising, curriculum revision, and debate about credit for Advanced Placement courses.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transferred from the President’s Office, Rice University.

Subjects

Record Groups

Related Names

Creator

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Rice University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee records, 1964 -2017
Status
Completed
Author
Mary Tobin
Date
2019
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

https://library.rice.edu/woodson
Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA

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Harmful Content Statement
© 2023 Woodson Research Center
Fondren Library, Rice University
Physical Address: 6100 Main, Houston, Texas 77005-1827
Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892