Course Certification

This page includes information about GEP certification committees, policies, and procedures, as well as criteria and contact information for each of the certification areas.

Instructors seeking course approval in one of the five GEP certification areas – First Year Seminar/Adult Learning Seminar, Faith and Reason, Ethics Intensive, Writing Intensive, and Diversity/Globalization/Nonwestern Area Studies – should submit the following materials to the relevant certification committee chair:

• Evidence of departmental or program approval for the course
• A complete syllabus that includes relevant GEP learning objectives and connects those objectives to course assessment measures
• Supplementary materials required by the committee, such as statement explaining how the course meets the certification criteria (see the specific criteria below for details)

Instructors should consult certification criteria before submitting courses for approval. Proposals should normally receive certification by the beginning of pre-registration in order to count for GEP credit during the following academic period.  Specific submission deadlines (and decision deadlines) for new approvals in the certification areas are set by the GEP Oversight chair and communicated to faculty at the beginning of each semester.

Courses may be certified for all sections or only for approved sections. For the full policy on certification by section click here.

In the case of summer, intersession, online, hybrid, or eight-week courses, faculty should submit a proposal and syllabus in the relevant format to the certification committee (e.g., an online syllabus for an online course).  These courses may run for GEP credit in the certification areas only if they have been approved by the department and certification committee in the relevant format. For the full policy on certification of courses with nonstandard formats click here.

Other details about GEP certification, including norms for committee members and an appeals process, are available here.

First Year Seminar / Adult Learning Seminar

Contact Person: Enrique Tellez-Espiga

• Contact Dr. Tellez-Espiga
• First Year Seminar Criteria
• Adult Learning Seminar Criteria

Ethics Intensive

• Contact Person: Michael Kates
• Contact Dr. Kates
• Ethics Intensive Criteria

Writing Intensive

• Contact Person: Justin Everet
• Contact Dr. Sharma
• Writing Intensive Criteria

Diversity/Globalization/Non-Western Area Studies

• Contact Person: Claudia Paez Lotero
• Contact Dr. Paez Lotero
• Criteria (for all three categories)

Faith and Reason

• Contact Person: John Braverman
• Contact Dr. Braverman
• Faith and Reason Criteria