Senate Curriculum Committee

While new course proposals may be submitted to the SCC at any time during the year, and on approval will be included in STU's online sources of information (WebAdvisor, etc.), Departments and Programmes wishing to have their new courses appear in the official PDF version of the Calendar for the following academic year must submit them to the Chair of the Committee (scc@ stu.ca) in electronic form (as Word documents, not pdf) by November 1. Please remember that new course proposals must be approved by the Department or Programme before submission to the SCC, and that new course proposals may be submitted to the SCC only by Department Chairs and Programme Directors.

To ensure that new course proposals are handled in a timely manner, please ensure that proposals are complete before submission to the SCC, and include verification that the course has been approved by the Department or Programme.

The required components of proposals are below. Please present them in the following order: 

1. Type of proposal. Indicate whether you intend this course to become a regular offering, or if it is a Special Topics course, to be offered only once. Regular courses require Senate approval; Special Topics courses are approved by SCC. 

2. Course name and proposed number. Ensure that the proposed course number does not conflict with that of a recently retired course. (Numbers are subject to final approval by the Registrar.) Please add an abbreviated title of no more than 30 characters for timetabling and transcripting purposes. 

3. Calendar description. Provide a short, precise description of the course content (maximum 75 words). Be sure to indicate any pre-requisite or co-requisite courses. Please note: descriptions which are wordy or confusing will be returned to the Department or Programme for revision, which will delay approval of the course. 

4. Theme or Category Grouping. If the course should be included under a theme or category grouping in the Calendar, indicate the grouping to which it belongs. 

5. Impact on Programme Requirements. If this course should be added to lists of requirements or options for the Minor, Major, or Honours programmes in the Calendar, indicate where the changes should be made. 

6. Cross-listing. If you wish the course to be cross-listed, indicate so in your proposal, and append written approval from the relevant Department Chair(s). 

7. Rationale for the course. Identify the role the course will play in the Department’s curriculum: for example, indicate if it will be required or elective, and if it will replace another course, or alternate with another course. If applicable, indicate how the proposed course fulfills the recommendations of the last external review and the subsequent Senate decisions. Finally, indicate whether or not the course is related to or will potentially compete with a course in another discipline. 

8. Instructor’s name. Indicate the members of the department/programme qualified to teach the course. Outline other relevant staffing implications for the course. 

9. Course description. This should consist of a longer, more detailed description of the course contents and process (including course content and teaching methods) suitable for inclusion in a course outline. 

10. Evaluation system. List the type of assignments on which students will be evaluated, including the percentage value of each assignment towards the final grade. 

11. Possible course texts and other materials. 

12. Bibliography. The bibliography should indicate which of the books and/or other resources listed are already available in the Harriet Irving Library. 

Note: While the SCC realizes that flexibility in course proposals is necessary in some cases, such as Special Topics courses proposed by visiting faculty (see Appendix on Special Topics courses, below), we request that you provide this document to them in advance, so that they may fulfill as many of the guidelines as possible. 

(September 2008; revised August 2012 & October 2015)

 Appendix:  Guidelines for Special Topics Courses        

 A Special Topics course is any course that is not a regular offering. A Special Topics course may be approved as a one-time offering, or for a trial period of a maximum of two years.

Some Departments/ Programmes have designated Special Topics courses listed in the Calendar whose descriptions simply state that the content changes from year to year. Such courses, whether titled Special Topics or not, allow the Department/ Programme freedom to test-run courses, to accommodate visiting professors, or to make an occasional late addition to course offerings. 

Special Topics courses require the approval of the Department/Programme and the Curriculum Committee, but not the approval of Senate. The Curriculum Committee is responsible, however, for reporting the approval of such courses to Senate. 

1.  Use of the term “Special Topics”:

The term should be restricted to the titles of the open-content Special Topics courses described above, or to similar offerings in Departments/Programmes who do not already have such courses included in the Calendar. 

2.  A Special Topics course whose purpose is to assess a new curricular offering:

The Department/ Programme will first approve its content. The Guidelines for New Course Proposals shall be used in order to streamline the assessment of a Special Topics course and its passing to regular status should the Department/ Programme decide to keep it.  

The Department Chair/ Programme Director shall forward the approved course application to the Curriculum Committee for its approval at least one month before the course is to be offered. 

3.  Special Topics courses taught by a visiting professor:

The Department Chair/Programme Director shall provide the current Guidelines for New Course Proposals to the professor and on receipt of the proposal, shall determine whether the Library carries sufficient materials to support the course. The Department/ Programme shall then assess and approve the course. 

The Department Chair/ Programme Director shall then forward the course proposal to the Curriculum Committee for its records at least one month before the course is to be offered. 

4. Conversion to a regular course offering:

Should a Department/Programme have a Special Topics course for which the course content has not changed in two years, it will then propose to have the course recognized as a regular offering, following the timeline set out in the Guidelines for New Course Proposals. Such a proposal requires both SCC and Senate approval. 

(April 2011; revised September 2012)