DDC Course Application Process

Application deadlines for the Fall 2024 meetings (designations to be applied towards Fall 2025 courses) are:

• Friday, September 13

  Friday, October 4

Do not use the new Curriculum Management Software form. Use the PDF application forms linked below and please email your application file, syllabus, and supporting course materials to Angie Hernandez at [email protected] and Barbara Klein at [email protected].

The Dearborn Discovery Core Subcommittee has the responsibility of reviewing all faculty requests for course approvals into the Dearborn Discovery Core. The Subcommittee shall meet once in early Fall semester and twice in the Winter semester. 

All faculty who are seeking to have courses approved to be a part of the Dearborn Discovery Core need to follow one of two processes:

1. All existing courses requiring no changes (i.e., course description change, etc.) can be sent directly to Angie Hernandez. 
2. New courses must go through the regular curriculum review process within a faculty member's college before being submitted for inclusion in the Dearborn Discovery Core.

To initiate the general education course approval process, faculty need to complete one of the Dearborn Discovery Core Action Request Forms for a given category of the general education program (e.g., Writing and Communication, Quantitative Thinking and Problem Solving, Critical and Creative Thinking, etc.). Faculty should consult with their discipline/program colleagues when making a determination to propose a course for inclusion into the Dearborn Discovery Core. 

Frequently Asked Questions about the DDC and its application process

Note: Please download the Dearborn Discovery Core Action Request Forms and save them on your computer prior to entering any data.

• Capstone Experience
• Critical and Creative Thinking
• Humanities and the Arts
• Intersections
• Natural Sciences
• Quantitative Thinking and Problem Solving
• Social and Behavioral Analysis
• Upper Level Writing
• Writing and Communication

In April 2017, the DDC committee approved the following stipulation for courses in the Upper Level Writing category:

"Courses eligible for the Upper Level Writing Intensive category should have at least 50% of the graded work consist of writing assignments. Of those writing assignments, at least one assignment should require students to employ a writing process that includes revision (for example, drafts are peer reviewed and/or read and critiqued by instructor) with the expectation of producing a substantial, polished piece of writing."

The DDC committee recommends these best practices for faculty teaching Writing Intensive courses.

A course approved for the Dearborn Discovery Core is valid for all future semesters unless that course is not offered within a two-year period or faculty fail to complete an assessment report when required to do so.

Please contact Associate Provost Linker if you have any questions.