About the Catalog

The Iowa State University Catalog is a one-year publication, which lists all academic policies, and procedures. Versions prior to 2011 were two-year publications and available in hard copy as well as online.

The catalog also includes information for fees; curriculum requirements; first-year courses of study for over 100 undergraduate majors; course descriptions for nearly 5000 undergraduate and graduate courses; and a listing of faculty members at Iowa State University.

New courses and programs take effect in the fall term. New courses developed and offered since catalog publication are called experimental courses. A list can be found on the Web at www.registrar.iastate.edu/faculty-staff/courses/explistings.

Every effort has been made to make the catalog accurate as of the date of publication. However, all policies, procedures, fees, and charges are subject to change at any time by appropriate action of the faculty, the university administration, or the Board of Regents, State of Iowa.

Updates to the Catalog

The curriculum process is governed by the Faculty Senate. The ad hoc committee, Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee considers new curricula proposals, changes and discontinuations to the catalog. Additional information may be in the college governance documents.

The curriculum approval process generally consists of a proposal from the department/program level, approved by the department/program curriculum committee (if applicable), college curriculum committee, and the dean. Additional approvals are needed from the Graduate College if the program proposal is a graduate program. The program proposal is submitted to the Faculty Senate Curriculum committee for review. The Academic Affairs Committee reviews the proposal before passing it onto the Faculty Senate. The Board of Regents, State of Iowa approves all new programs and majors. For additional information about the approval process, see the link to Faculty Senate/Faculty Handbook Curriculum Approvals – Section 10.8. See the Office of the Provost web site for more information.

Catalog updates are generally processed with approvals from department, college, and Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee representatives. Editing begins in late February with course changes due to the Office of the Registrar by June 1. Curriculum and other general information is due to the Office of the Registrar by December 1. Publication is the following February.

See the catalog editing web site for more details on how to make changes to the catalog.