Would you like to propose a Theme?

Please read the following carefully if you're thinking of proposing a Theme. Currently we're accepting "Letters of Intent" for Themes.

The process for proposing a Theme is as follows:

• Submit (via email) your Letter of Intent (see below for directions).
• The Themes review committee will evaluate your proposal and send you feedback. Getting the required approvals from various departments can be time-consuming, so our aim here is to flag any potential issues early before you spend lots of time preparing a proposal that does not meet our requirements.
• Address any concerns the review committee had. (E.g. Edit your title if they recommended doing so, find replacements for ineligible courses, etc) You do not need to resubmit your Letter of Intent unless specified to do so. Just fix any issues in preparation for submitting the final proposal.
• Once you've addressed any feedback the committee had, begin collecting approvals from relevant departments/units. Remember that courses that are part of a Theme must list the Theme in their syllabi, so be sure departments are aware of this.
• When you have all the necessary approvals, submit your finalized proposal using the link provided to you by the Themes review committee.

To submit a Letter of Intent, please email commoncurr@uconn.edu with the following information:

• Proposed title for your Theme
• Potential courses (numbers and titles) that you're considering for your Theme, their TOIs if known, and a couple sentences about why they would be included.
• A brief description of your Theme and how you envision the courses fitting together.
• A brief explanation of where you are in the development process. For example, are you just starting to think about a Theme? Have you already spoken to other faculty whose course(s) you want to use? Has your department head or curriculum manager already give you the go-ahead to develop this Theme? Etc.
• Are you from a Regional campus where you expect this Theme to be available?

Letters of intent are accepted on an on-going basis. Once approved, you will be given the link to submit your official proposal.

What courses are available for a Theme?

As noted below, only courses that carry TOIs can be in a Theme. Courses with only a CA, W, or Q are not eligible. Aside from that, any course that you get permission from the home department/unit to use can be included in a Theme. For a full list of currently approved Common Curriculum courses, please download a course report from the Registrar's Report website.

Theme Requirements:

• By nature, every course within a Theme must carry at least one TOI. Courses that only have a W and/or a Q designation are not eligible for Themes.
• Themes must contain a minimum of three (3) courses and up to a maximum of ten (10) courses. CCC+ highly recommends that Themes strive to include at least four (4) courses. Under some circumstances, managing departments or units can petition to have more than ten courses in a Theme.
• For a Theme to be considered available at a given campus, course availability must be such as to allow a student to complete the theme in two years.
• Faculty must be mindful of how often courses in a Theme are offered. If there are only three courses in the Theme, all three courses must be offered at least once a year. Otherwise, at least three courses in a Theme must be offered every year or every other year (i.e. within 4 semesters).
• One course offering in the Theme must be at the 1000-level. If there are more than three courses in a Theme, students are not required to take the 1000-level course.
• Special Topics courses, Variable Topics courses, and courses that offer a variety of topics under one number cannot be approved for a Theme. Each section of a course must fulfill the Theme.
• Themes are not required to cross colleges, but at least two or more departments or units must be represented in each Theme. Cross-listed courses may satisfy this requirement.
• Themes cannot be closed. All Themes must be available to all students.
• Only approved courses within a Theme can be used. No substitutions are allowed.
• Schools and colleges may require some of the courses within a Theme but cannot require that their students complete the Theme itself. We highly encourage schools and colleges to allow students agency in their choice of Common Curriculum courses.
• Once a Theme is approved, the syllabi for all courses in that Theme should mention that the course fulfills part of “XX” Theme.

Strong Recommendations:

• Themes should include more than one TOI, but students may choose courses all in the same TOI from within a Theme.
• Ideally, no Theme will include more than three courses from a single subject area.

Note

If you need special permission to alter the requirements in some way, please provide a rationale that will be shared with the Themes review subcommittee.

Questions?

pamela.bedore@uconn.edu or commoncurr@uconn.edu