Curriculum Services

Guidelines for Additions, Deletions, and Changes to Regular Course Offerings

For all courses:

  • Numbering courses - Review Executive Memorandum 21-027, Course Numbering Policy.
  • Reusing numbers - Do not reuse a number for at least 8 years. It creates confusion for students, advisors, and evaluators.
  • To apply for General Education, Cultural Diversity (USD/GC), or Writing (W/GWAR) status, separate applications must be completed.
  • Any course addition, deletion, or change which affects a program (i.e., major, option, minor, certificate) also requires a proposal to change the program.
  • Submit completed paperwork to Curriculum Services, campus zip 128.

Undergraduate Courses (100-599)

Graduate Courses (600-699)

All course addition, deletion, and change proposals require a "Course Proposal and Change Request" (CPCR) form.  Guidelines for completing the form

A New Course Requires:

  1. CPCR
  2. New Course Proposal(opens in new window) Signatures of department chair and college dean indicate that course approval procedures practiced by the department and college have been completed. In the event the proposal is rejected during some stage of the approval process, written notice of the reason for rejection should be provided to the initiator(s) by the department chair or college dean as appropriate.
  3. Course syllabus.  
    1. Tips for syllabus accessibility and Accessible Syllabus Template
    2. Model Course Design Examples(opens in new window)
  4. Memo of Intent (PDF) The memorandum should be circulated after the college approval process via the Intent Distribution List on campus e-mail, with a two-week response request deadline. Distribution of the memo must occur while regular classes are in session. For more information please see Intent List Procedures.
  5. If the course will be added to any programs, a Minor Program Change with edited catalog copy is required.

 

A Deleted Course requires:

  1. CPCR
  2. Memo of Intent (PDF)* The memorandum should be circulated after the college approval process via the Intent Distribution List on campus e-mail, with a two-week response request deadline. Distribution of the memo must occur while regular classes are in session. For more information please see Intent List Procedures.
  3. A Minor Program Change is required to remove the course from any programs.

     *A Memo of Intent to delete a course is required only when any of the following apply:

A Major Change requires:

  1. CPCR
  2. Memo of Intent (PDF) The memorandum and syllabus should be circulated after the college approval process via the Intent Distribution List on campus e-mail, with a two-week response request deadline. Distribution of the memo must occur while regular classes are in session. For more information please see Intent List Procedures.

Note: If you are uncertain about whether or not a change is major or minor, please contact Curriculum Services.

Definition: Major Change

  • Substantial change of course title or description (i.e., if a naive reader cannot tell it's the same course, it's a substantial change).
    Note: A new course should be created if the changes are substantial enough that a student taking the revised course should receive credit for both old and new versions of the course.
  • Change of course level (renumberings from lower- to upper- or graduate-divisions, or changes from upper- to lower-division status).
  • Change of course status (i.e. add or remove GE, Global Cultures, US Diversity, GWAR).
  • Change of course units.
  • Addition or deletion of laboratories or activities.
  • Change to the grading method.
  • Change in semester offered.
  • Change in prerequisites or corequisites.

The above applies if:

A Minor Change requires:

(If you are uncertain about whether or not a change is major or minor, please contact Curriculum Services for assistance.)

  1. CPCR

Any and all unresolved reservations or problems of non-compliance to procedures may be referred by Curriculum Services or the college dean to the Educational Policies and Programs Committee of the Faculty Senate for review and recommendation.

Changes to existing courses will become effective with the next edition of the catalog. Course additions usually become effective at the beginning of any semester, regardless of the catalog cycle.

Honors Courses

Honors courses must be a part of either Honors in General Education (GE) or Honors in the Major.

Honors in the Major - Students in Honors in the Major must complete six units of special Honors course work in their major. At least three of these units should be 499H, Independent Studies.

  • Creating a 499H course - Submit a CPCR to create a 499H; use an appropriate course subject abbreviation (e.g., UNIV 499H) and an appropriate title (e.g., Honors in University Studies). Activation of a new 499H course does not require a memo of intent and a new course proposal. The Honors Director will indicate approval by approving the CPCR.
  • Creating a new course specifically for Honors in the Major (other than 499H) - A new Honors in the Major course is one that does not have a non-honors version. The approval process requires the same paperwork as any other new course.
  • Creating an Honors version of an existing course - Academic Affairs will authorize an Honors version of an existing course after a department has
    • submitted a course syllabus, a brief statement describing how the Honors version meets the expectations for Honors curriculum enhancement, and a CPCR which will be approved by the Honors Director.
    • consulted with the University Writing Committee if the course will function as a GWAR course. If approved, the UWC Chair will notify the appropriate parties in Academic Affairs by e-mail;
    • the college has completed an e-mail distribution of a memo of intent to add the course.

Honors in General Education

  • Creating a new course specifically for Honors in GE - A new Honors in GE course is one that does not have a non-honors version. The course approval process requires the same paperwork as any other new course. The review for GE status requires a separate application and approval process.
  • Creating an Honors version of an existing GE course - Academic Affairs will authorize an Honors version of an existing GE course after the following has occurred:
    • The department has submitted a course syllabus, a brief statement describing how the Honors version meets the expectations for Honors curriculum enhancement, and a CPCR which will be approved by the Honors Director. 
    • The Provost approves the recommendation.
    • The college has submitted a CPCR and completed an e-mail distribution of a memo of intent to add the course.

Graduate Courses (600-699)

The procedures are the same as for undergraduate courses except that these proposals must also be approved by Graduate Studies.

Web-based Courses

For web-based courses, the following will apply:

  • New course that will be web-based only:
    • Follow the procedures for a new course.
  • Web-based version of existing course:
    • An on-line course that is the same as an existing course is designated by setting special section characteristics and providing a comment. It will be further differentiated in the schedule (course-section file) with appropriate section type, media indicator, and comments. This type of course does not require a CPCR to add a section for the on-line version of the course.
  • On-line version of existing course which is similar to existing course (e.g. existing course has lab, on-line version does not have lab), but not identical:
    • An on-line course that is significantly different in content (e.g., no lab) or for which the Web-based course is not interchangeable with the standard course may be differentiated from the traditional course by using a new course number. This type of change is only needed in special circumstances -- consult with Curriculum Services (x4923) prior to preparing paperwork.

      This type of course requires new course paperwork.

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