Information For:

Designing New Courses

Adding a new course to the curriculum requires approval from one's department chair and from the University. The College Curriculum Council (CCC) is the faculty-student committee charged with approving new undergraduate courses. A subcommittee of the CCC reviews new course proposals on a rolling basis; however, key deadlines for course approvals by the pre-registration period and the start of the term are published in a calendar on the website of the Registrar's Office. Proposals for new courses can be completed online via the Course Proposal system in Banner Self-Service and should contain the following:

  • a catalogue description of 100 words;
  • a description of learning goals;
  • a discussion of workload expectations and assessment measures, including, if a writing-designated course, additional information on the goals for developing student writing and the mechanism by which students will receive feedback on their writing
  • an estimate of the hours of effort of student work in and outside of the class, disaggregated by assignment/work type (full credit courses must constitute at least 180 hours throughout the semester).

Visiting faculty must submit a working syllabus before approval; graduate student instructors will be required to submit a syllabus and curriculum vitae. 

All syllabi must conform to the standards published on the Sheridan Center's Guide to Creating a Brown University Syllabus

Curricular Programs

Information about designating a course as writing-designated, a first-year or sophomore seminar, or as a DIAP Course: Race, Gender, and Inequality or Community-Based Learning & Research (CBLR) Course is available here.

Related Resources