Reed College
Reed College

Dean of the Faculty

Welcome to Reed's Office of the Dean of the Faculty

Committee on Academic Policy and Planning (CAPP)

The Committee on Academic Policy and Planning (CAPP) consists of seven Academic Faculty members elected by the faculty, plus the President and the Dean of the Faculty as ex officio members. The CAPP is charged to “work with departments and divisions in order to maintain a working knowledge of the current curriculum and to formulate and maintain a long-range plan of curricular priorities from which it may initiate and shall review all proposals relating to the curriculum and educational goals of the College.” In addition, it is to serve as “a forum” in which the President of the College shall “test[...] and seek[...] advice about Faculty opinion on matters concerning the College and its resources.” (A full description of the Committee’s responsibilities can be found in Article IX of the Faculty Constitution.)

How to Participate in CAPP

  • Go to meetings – Community members may listen in on, and when invited, speak in regular CAPP meetings. In rare instances, the meeting may be closed temporarily (Faculty Bylaws, Article IV, Section 3, C1.)
  • Get elected – Faculty members may be elected to the committee (Faculty Bylaws, Article IV, Section 3).

CAPP Information and Materials

Submitting Materials to CAPP

In general, send all CAPP-related requests or questions directly to Jolina Kwong Caputo.

FTE requests

Sabbatical and leave requests

  • Sabbatical requests – coming soon!
  • Leave requests – These are handled on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the Dean.

Departmental assessments and chair reports

All of the reports that a department needs to generate as a part of ongoing assessment and reviews are summarized here: https://www.reed.edu/accreditation/

Curricular changes (new courses, program changes, etc.)

All curricular changes first go through the Registrar’s Office before they get to CAPP. Any questions on these processes can be directed to registrar@reed.edu.

Most of the information you need about those processes can be found here: Registrar's Faculty Resources.

A big picture view of the various processes and their workflow can be found here: Program and Course Approval Process at Reed.

These are the areas which will ultimately require CAPP approval:

  • New course proposals
  • Modifying existing courses – Use the same initial process as a new course proposal but indicate the way in which you are modifying the existing course.
  • Program changes – These might include changes to a major, a minor, or proposal for a new program.
  • Request to restrict enrollment (includes reserving seats for incoming students, limiting number of students below 24, or applying enrollment criteria to the waitlist. This form is due at the same time as scheduling information is due, in early March)
  • Waitlist prioritization – This is covered in the request to restrict enrollment form.
  • Course scheduling – CAPP does not oversee course scheduling. However, we do request that we limit courses taught at noon in order to facilitate students signing up for courses that meet 4-5 times per week. Requests for an exception to this rule will be discussed with the Dean of Faculty.

Calendar of useful deadlines

  • Call for visiting positions – usually mid-fall
  • Call for TT positions – usually end of fall
  • Chair reports – The Departmental Distribution Requirement Assessment (DDRA) report is due 30 days after the end of classes each semester, but departments are generally assigned to either fall term or spring term every other year (and some courses on a 6 year cycle). The department chair will receive notice at the beginning of the semester. The chair will delegate these assessments to faculty members and set internal deadlines for those assessments. The Annual Departmental Report (ADR) is due within a month of the end of classes each spring.
  • Sabbatical applications – due in mid-September
  • Committee year-end reports – by end of academic year
  • Curricular changes, catalog copy, and course approvals (Registrar’s website)
  • Academic calendar