Section One: Baccalaureate Degree Curriculum – Procedures Concerning Courses

Course Numbers

Common Course Numbers:

Common course numbers must first be established through the normal approval process (with a proposal in curriculum.psu.edu. The title, description, and credits for common course numbers have been established by the Senate and are listed below. Therefore, backup documentation is not needed in the proposal and an “NA” can be listed in most of the fields (see example proposal (PDF)). Once the specific number(s) is approved, the course(s) is available for offering on a semester-by-semester basis by the academic area within different colleges. Titles may be added for a given semester by requesting that an alpha suffix be attached to the course number. The LionPath Course Catalog should be accessed to verify that a particular course number and suffix/attribute is available. A unit wishing to use a common course number submits the request to the University Curriculum Coordinator via the college dean’s office. The Honors Courses Request Form and the One Semester Course Form are available on the web. The completed form should be sent to the college dean’s office. Upon approval, the form will be forwarded by the dean’s office to the University Curriculum Coordinator at e-mail ID univfs@psu.edu. The University Curriculum Coordinator assures that no unintentional duplication of course titles will occur and then updates the University Course Master. The recommended deadline for requesting special titles is four weeks prior to registration for the semester in which the course will be offered.

2. Crosslisted Courses

New Courses:

A course add proposal needs to be prepared. The academic unit responsible for the course must submit the course proposal.

Existing Courses:

To add a crosslisting to an existing course, a course change proposal should be completed. The course proposal should include the course outline, objectives, etc., from the original course proposal. The academic unit responsible for the course should submit the proposal.

Change Courses:

To change existing crosslisted courses, one change course proposal, which lists all of the crosslistings, should be prepared. The academic unit responsible for the course must submit proposal thought curriculum.psu.edu.

Drop Courses:

A separate drop proposal must be prepared for each crosslisted course being removed from the University course offerings.

If the course is retained by one of the units, a course change proposal must be prepared by that unit to remove the crosslisting reference(s). The academic unit proposing to drop the course must submit a drop proposal via curriculum.psu.edu.

Creating a permanent honors course requires the submission of a COURSE ADD proposal, not a COURSE CHANGE proposal, unless the offering unit intends to discontinue the non-honors version of the course. Honors courses should include the word “honors” in the short and long titles of the course, with abbreviations HNR or HN, if needed. The Course Catalog description of the course should also describe durable elements of the course that distinguishes it as an honors course.

If a non-honors version of the same course exists, content that an honors and a non-honors course proposal have in common may be identical; however, the honors course proposal should also include an explanation of the differences between the honors and non-honors versions. An honors course is expected to meet all the same requirements (e.g., general education, major, minor, etc.) and must include the same prerequisites as the non-honors course. The honors course may include additional prerequisites, if additional skills are expected.

Honors course designations typically have a suffix/attribute of “H”. A course that is an honors course and a first-year seminar will have the suffix/attribute “T.” A course that is an honors course and a writing intensive course will have the suffix/attribute “M.” A course that is an honors course and a US and/or IL course will have the suffix/attribute “U.”

For more information, an offering unit should consult with the Schreyer Honors College before preparing the documentation. To obtain approval of an honors course on a permanent basis, an endorsement of the course proposal from the Schreyer Honors College must be obtained during the consultation process.