A new course may be added to the geology/geography department depending on approval from the Council on Academic Affairs Thursday.

The new course, Tectonics (3440), is designed to evaluate plate tectonics in terms of its historical evolution and modern application to understanding earth processes, according to the course proposal.

The course is designed for students at the junior or senior level in the department of geology/geography.

The course will be used as an elective for the geology major and is scheduled to be available in the spring semester of odd numbered years.

CAA members will also look at a revision of the geology major requirements to accommodate the new course as an elective.

In other business, CAA will be rewording the credit/no credit course restrictions in the course catalog.

The previous wording in the catalog made it seem that a student could not take more than one C/NC course in a semester, said CAA Chair Ron Wohlstein, professor of sociology and anthropology.

Mary Herrington-Perry, assistant vice president of academic affairs, said in an e-mail to CAA members: “Given the lack of reasons for retaining restrictions on the number of C/NC courses students may take per semester, and given the exclusions that will contain to provide safeguards, I suggest the policy be revised.”

The revision will allow students to take more than one C/NC course per semester but still limit them to 12 total credit hours from such courses to be used towards degree completion.

A student taking a credit/no credit course cannot receive an alphabetical grade but rather a credit or no credit standing upon completion of the course.