The College

Curricular Programs and Course Designators

Curricular Programs (also referred to as course designations) are used to identify offerings in a specific area of the curriculum, often uniting a coherent body of knowledge.

In many institutions, the term is used synonymously with “subject code.” In the context of Brown’s Open Curriculum, course designations highlight relationships between courses across a range of departments.

Course Designators

Designating a Course

Instructors interested in designating a course below the 2000-level as a writing-designated (WRIT), a first-year (FYS), or as a Community-Based Learning and Research (CBLR), Collaborative Research and Scholarly Experiences (COEX), or Race, Power and Privilege (RPP) course may do so at the time they submit the proposal or by initiating a "modification" for an existing course in the course proposal system and then following these steps:

  1. Log into Banner Self Service, then select Course Proposal System
  2. Choose "create a new course proposal" or "modify an existing course" as appropriate.
  3. Once the radio button labelled "no" has been selected under the independent study option, a new option will appear: "curricular programs." 
  4. Select "yes," followed by selecting "yes" on the appropriate curricular program(s).

A recent syllabus should be attached addressing the respective criteria listed in each of the sites linked above. Curricular programs should be added (or removed) at least one semester prior to the semester in which the course will be offered.

Please submit curricular designation requests by the respective course proposal deadline. Late requests may be considered provided the proposal is formally approved before the start of the course.