University & College Course Proposals

College Course Proposals

Cultural Expression, Human Experience and Thought

Three semester hours of designated coursework from the Cultural Expression, Human Experience, and Thought area are required in addition to the course counted toward the Visual and Performing Arts area of the Core Curriculum.

All designated Cultural Expression, Human Experience, and Thought courses must meet the following student competencies

• To demonstrate awareness of the scope and variety of human thought and expression across time.
• To understand expressions and experiences of individual and/or groups within historical and social contexts and to articulate an informed reaction to these expressions and experiences.

In addition:

• Courses must originate from a field of study in the College of Liberal Arts.
• Proposed courses may not satisfy a different core or liberal arts area requirement. For example, ANT 302 "Cultural Anthropology" may NOT be designated as satisfying the Cultural Expression, Human Experience, and Thought requirement because it satisfies the Social Science Core requirement.
• Proposed courses must be listed in the course inventory of the 2018-20 Undergraduate Catalog. Unnumbered and base topics courses are not eligible for designation.

Department chairs/center directors with courses seeking Cultural Expression, Human Experience, and Thought designation must submit a Cultural Expression, Human Experience, and Thought Area Request form (pdf) and a syllabus to http://business.dla.utexas.edu/fmi/iwp/res/iwp_auth.html.

Forms are not needed for courses satisfying the Visual and Performing Arts Core requirement offered by fields of study in the College of Liberal Arts or for courses that have been previously approved for this area.

Note: PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

Social Science

Three semester hours chosen from an approved list of Social Science courses are required, in addition to the course counted toward the social science area of the core curriculum. The course must be taught in the College of Liberal Arts and must be in a different field of study from the course student's use to fulfill the University core social science requirement. Courses on the approved list will be primarily in the fields of anthropology, economics, geography, linguistics, psychology, and sociology, but not every course in these fields will be approved. Courses approved for an area of the University Core other than the social science area may not be used for this requirement.

All designated Social Science courses must meet the following student competencies.

• To demonstrate and communicate an understanding of some of the methods, approaches, technologies, theories, and data that social scientists use to investigate the human condition.
• To examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and/or to understand the effects of historical, social, political, economics, cultural, or global forces on individuals and societies.

In addition:

• Proposed courses may not satisfy a different core or liberal arts area requirement. For example, ANT 301 "Physical Anthropology" may NOT be designated as satisfying the Social Science requirement because it satisfies the Science & Technology Part II Core requirement.
• Proposed courses must be listed in the course inventory of the 2018-20 Undergraduate Catalog. Unnumbered and base topics courses are not eligible for designation.

Department chairs/center directors with courses seeking Social Science designation must submit a Social Science Area Request form (pdf) and a syllabus to http://business.dla.utexas.edu/fmi/iwp/res/iwp_auth.html.

Forms are not needed for courses already satisfying the Social & Behavioral Science Core requirement or that have been previously approved for this area.

Note: PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

Alternative Natural Science Courses

Six semester hours in natural sciences are required in addition to the courses taken as part of the Science and Technology Core Curriculum. Courses used to fulfill this requirement may be selected from alternative natural science courses approved by the dean or from history/philosophy of sciences courses.

Courses must contain at least three of the following five educational objectives from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Core Curriculum Exemplary Educational Objectives:

1. To understand and apply method and appropriate technology to the study of natural sciences.
2. To recognize scientific and quantitative methods and the differences between these approaches and other methods of inquiry and to communicate findings, analyses, and interpretation both orally and in writing.
3. To identify and recognize the differences among competing scientific theories.
4. To demonstrate knowledge of the major issues and problems facing modern science, including issues that touch upon ethics, values, and public policies.
5. To demonstrate knowledge of the interdependence of science and technology and their influence on, and contribution to, modern culture.

In addition:

• Proposed courses may not satisfy a different core or liberal arts area requirement. For example, HIS 329U "Perspectives on Science and Mathematics" may NOT be designated as satisfying this requirement because it satisfies the Social & Behavioral Science Core requirement.
• Proposed courses must be listed in the course inventory of the 2018-20 Undergraduate Catalog. Unnumbered and base topics courses are not eligible for designation.

Department chairs/center directors with courses seeking alternative natural science designation must submit an Alternative Natural Science Request (pdf) to http://business.dla.utexas.edu/fmi/iwp/res/iwp_auth.html.

Note: PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

Designated ROTC Courses

According to the two most recent undergraduate catalogs, nine semester hours of designated University of Texas at Austin coursework in Air Force Science, Military Science, or Naval Science may be counted toward any degree in the College of Liberal Arts, regardless of a student’s commissioning status.

Course designation is decided by a faculty committee based on the following guidelines:

1. course must contain significant historical or sociological content;
2. course must contain significant leadership and ethics content (not just field leadership); and
3. for upper-division courses, course must utilize multiple sources and/or case studies.

Contact Information: 

For more information, please contact Lisa Vera, lisav@austin.utexas.edu.

University Course Proposals

Core Course Proposals

All changes to the core curriculum course lists must be approved by the Faculty Council on the recommendation of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies and the Undergraduate Studies Advisory Committee. Courses proposed for the core are evaluated on the basis of their ability to develop the Student Competencies that UT and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board have defined for each component of the core.

Proposals to add or remove a core course should be submitted on the core course proposal form and approved by the dean of the college or school offering the course prior to submission to the School of Undergraduate Studies. The deadline for the 2018-19 General Information Catalog was August 2017.

For more information and to download the Core Course Proposal form: http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/core/forms

Flags

Flags are added to individual courses by the Undergraduate Studies Advisory Committee in consultation with university-wide faculty committees overseeing each flag. Proposals to add flags to courses are evaluated on the basis of the flag guidelines developed by the Faculty Council and the Undergraduate Studies Advisory Committee.

For more information on flag criteria, teaching resources, and to download flag proposal forms: http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/teaching/flags

The online proposal system: https://www.utexas.edu/ugs/flag-proposal/proposal/

Signature Courses

Faculty members are invited to submit a proposal to teach a Signature Course through the online proposal system. Proposals will be forwarded to the School of Undergraduate Studies after your dean has given approval. The deadline for 2018-19 proposals is September, 2017.

Proposals should include:

• The title of your proposed course
• Number of students
• A one-paragraph description including a brief statement of the subject matter and the means for studying it
• Description of the interdisciplinary content
• Description of the contemporary content
• How the University Lecture Series and University Gems will be incorporated
• A preliminary list of assignments that will be factored into the student’s grade

For more information: http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/sig/essentials

The online proposal system: https://utdirect.utexas.edu/apps/ugs/ugsdb/sig/