Course Proposals

To propose a new course within your unit, proposals must be submitted to the College Curriculum Committee by the proposal submission deadline for each meeting. Please submit course proposals using the UW Curriculum Management (UW CM) system. This system supports the submission of new course and course change applications. For assistance with the UW CM system, contact Michelle Hall (College or the Environment, Curriculum Committee), your unit’s curriculum coordinator or curriculum committee chair, or the UW Curriculum Office.

In reviewing the proposal, the College Curriculum Committee may consider the following:

  • Is the course duplicative?
  • Were all affected units consulted and approvals and acknowledgments of chairs/directors of affected units secured?
  • Does the course justification discuss how the course is distinct from and related to others?
  • Does the course require new resources or additional space/facilities?
  • Does this course or program have demonstrated demand to have sufficient enrollment?
  • Is the course appropriate to the department, College, and University curriculum?

After proposals have been approved by the College Curriculum Committee, they are forwarded on to the University Curriculum Office for university level review.

NOTE: The College Curriculum Committee does not review special topics courses offered by units via their special topics course numbers designed for temporary, one-time offerings or to pilot versions of potential new permanent courses. It is the responsibility of units to regularly review and oversee the use of their special topics numbers.

Adding the Diversity (DIV) designation to courses

Context

The UW Curriculum Committee does not assess courses for DIV (to meet the UW 3-credit Diversity General Education requirement), but instead defers to college/school curriculum committees to ensure that the spirit of the requirement is followed.

  • There has been an increase in instructor efforts to integrate critical diversity content into existing, discipline-specific courses, and a more general conversation about adding DIV courses to the College of the Environment curriculum.
  • The CoEnv Curriculum Committee believes that the University’s definition of the DIV requirement does not provide enough specific guidance to adequately evaluate proposed DIV courses.
  • There should be a high bar: DIV/JEDI topics should be the core focus of DIV designated courses, even if it limits the number of DIV courses a unit is able to offer. But this high bar shouldn’t inhibit faculty from incorporating JEDI into any course.

Resources

To ensure consistency across the College’s DIV offerings, the College requires that courses fulfil the University DIV requirements (slightly amended by CoEnv):

NOTE: This is the current UW requirement, cannot be amended by our College.

  • help students develop an understanding of the complexities of living in increasingly diverse and interconnected societies.
  • address cross-cultural analysis and communication; and historical and contemporary inequities such as those associated with (but not limited to): race, ethnicity, class, sex and gender, sexual orientation, nationality, ability, religion, creed, age, and socioeconomic status.
  • use active learning to encourage critical thinking about justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) topics including: power, inequality, marginality, and social movements.
  • use active learning to support effective cross-cultural communication skills.

In addition, the College of the Environment will use the following rubric to assess requests for the DIV designation specifically regarding the incorporation of diversity, or more broadly justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) content:

  • strongly recommend that it is represented in the course title.
  • must be explicit in the course description which appears in the course catalog (50-word description).
  • represented by at least one learning objective stated in the course proposal and listed in the course syllabus.
  • a major focus of all aspects of the course, including topics, readings, activities, assignments, and course products.

 

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