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Creation of New MCRO Courses

  1. The director(s) of a proposed new course will prepare a syllabus that meets UNC requirements (see https://curricula.unc.edu/syllabus-guidelines/) and submit it to the Department Chair, the Chair of the Education & Training Committee, and the Director of Graduate Studies.
  2. The syllabus will be circulated to all directors of MCRO courses for the current academic year for feedback. In particular, the course directors will (i) assess overlap or synergy of content of the new course with content in existing MCRO courses, and (ii) recommend which semester(s) the new course should be offered.  The DGS will offer any relevant insights into how the new course might affect training of MCRO students.  After any modifications to the proposed course have been incorporated to the satisfaction of all parties in this step, the (revised) syllabus will be sent to the Chair of the Education & Training Committee.
  3. The Education & Training Committee will review syllabi for new courses and discuss as necessary. It is anticipated that proposals for new courses will be well developed after steps 1 and 2.  Therefore, the Chair of the Education & Training Committee has discretion to decide whether or not an in-person meeting is necessary – an asynchronous email discussion may be sufficient.  In most cases, approval by the Education & Training Committee is sufficient to create a new course without consulting the full faculty (see exceptions in #5).
  4. After approval by the Education & Training Committee, a proposal to create a new course will be submitted to the Registrar through the Curriculum Inventory Management system. The Student Services Specialist, the Director of Graduate Studies, and the Department Chair currently have authorized roles for graduate MCRO courses in CIM; others could be added if desired.  The proposal requires a syllabus plus various information such as course number, title, description, term(s) offered, number of credits, prerequisites, grading, etc.  After submission, the proposal is then routed to the Department Chair for approval.
    For Fall courses, proposals must be submitted by January 15.  For Spring courses, proposals must be submitted by September 15.  If we wish to offer a course before it is officially approved, then we can register students for MCRO690 Special Topics in Microbiology or Immunology (1 to 15 credits), which is a placeholder kept on the books for such situations.
  5. Substantial changes to existing MCRO course (e.g., the changes and standardization of MCRO71X courses implemented in 2021), or any changes to the course requirements for MCRO degrees require a proposal from the Education & Training Committee to be discussed and approved by a vote of the departmental faculty prior to implementation.

 

Last updated 2/3/2025.