Course Proposal Process

There are three types of courses subject to review by the Cardinal Core Curriculum Committee (CCCC):

  1. An already existing Cardinal Core (CC) course seeking to add or change a content area or a competency
  2. An existing undergraduate course seeking a CC content area/competency
  3. An entirely new course seeking a CC content area/competency

Follow the steps below when proposing new courses or content/competency additions or changes. Please note, if changing an existing CC course content or competency area you will need to also provide a rationale for the request in the Course Inventory Management (CIM) system, under the “Description of and Reason for Change Requested” section. The Cardinal Core Curriculum Committee (CCCC) will review course proposals/changes on a rolling basis, but all proposals/changes must be received by November 15th to meet university CIM deadlines and to be considered for the next academic year catalog (effective the start of the next academic year/summer).

  • Review the current list of approved CC courses and consult with the Cardinal Core office (gecc@louisville.edu)
  • Review sample syllabi with Cardinal Core outcomes and assessments in the requested content area or competency (provided below)
  • Complete the Course Proposal Template(s) for the content area (and competency area, if applicable) that you would like your course to fulfill. The template is designed to help connect the content/competency area outcomes to the content covered in the proposed course and further discuss how student success for that particular outcome will be assessed. (Starting in Fall 2023, the CCCC is requiring templates, along with the syllabus, to be included with all new proposals.)
  • Prepare the course syllabus to align with the Cardinal Core Syllabus Guidelines. Specifically, all syllabi must include the content/competency area outcomes and corresponding modes of assessment defined through completing the Course Proposal Template(s). 
  • Submit new syllabus and Course Proposal Template(s)via the Course Inventory Management (CIM) system.
    • Syllabi must be attached to the CIM request form as an MS Word document and follow the Cardinal Core Syllabus Guidelines
    • Please note that proposals require approval at the unit level prior to submission to the Cardinal Core Office in the CIM system.
The CCCC will review the submitted proposal and determine if the course is approved, if minor revision is needed to meet Cardinal Core requirements, or if the course is denied. Courses that do not adequately meet the Cardinal Core criteria and require substantial revision may be denied and can be revised and resubmitted for review six months from the date of receiving the decision from the Cardinal Core Office. 

*Existing CC courses seeking minor changes to title, description, etc. will not be subject to a full committee review unless the originally approved content of the course is modified. These edits must still be approved through CIM. To restore CC status to an inactive course, the requesting department must submit an updated syllabus through CIM for an expedited review by the CCCC. (Courses that were previously designated as CC will not be required to adhere to the November 15th deadline for new course proposals.)

Note: The CCCC reviews courses on a rolling basis. However, for the upcoming course catalog, the CCCC will review Cardinal Core course proposals/changes made in CIM through November 15th. Courses approved during the review process become effective the following summer (the start of the new academic year). The CCCC encourages faculty to submit proposals well before the Course Inventory Management (CIM) deadline to ensure that if modifications are requested, there will be adequate time to revise and still meet university deadlines for approving new courses in the upcoming course catalog. If a course is submitted too close to the deadline and requires extensive revisions, the CCCC may advise to submit the revised proposal for the next academic year review cycle. 

Resources:

Faculty Resource Page
Cardinal Core Course Codes and Student Learning Outcomes (PDF)
Cardinal Core Syllabus Guidelines (PDF)
Course Proposal Checklist (PDF)
Course Proposal Templates

Sample Syllabi:

Arts & Humanities (AH) Sample Syllabus (PDF)
History (SBH) and Global Diversity (D2) Sample Syllabus (PDF)
Oral Communication (OC) Sample Syllabus (PDF)
Science (S) Sample Syllabus (PDF)
Science Lab (SL) Sample Syllabus (PDF)
Social & Behavioral Sciences (SB) Sample Syllabus (PDF)
Social & Behavioral Sciences (SB) and US Diversity (D1) Sample Syllabus (PDF)
Quantitative Reasoning (QR) Sample Syllabus (PDF)
Written Communication (WC) Sample Syllabus (PDF)