STS Student-Initiated Courses

Student-initiated courses (SICs) are undergraduate Activity (ACT) courses, initiated by undergraduates and sponsored by a faculty member or members. Courses can be offered for a maximum of 2 units. A student who wishes to request a SIC in STS must adhere to the following procedures and guidelines. The request form must be submitted at least five weeks prior to the first day of class enrollment for the quarter of the proposed SIC.

Guidelines and procedures:

  1. Students who have an instructional role in a SIC need to receive training by the Center for Teaching and Learning. Students must reach out to CTL for training.
  2. Students will need to find a faculty sponsor. All proposals for SICs must include a designated faculty sponsor who accepts overall responsibility for the academic quality of the course, including instruction and evaluation. Faculty should be advised that if they plan to use undergraduates in any way in presenting material or in evaluating other students that they (the faculty) are assuming a major supervisory responsibility. Proposals for SICs should include a statement by the faculty sponsor about how she or he plans to fulfill that responsibility.
  3. Submit STS SIC proposal form. The class title, course meeting dates, times, units listed, faculty sponsor, and course description need to be finalized when reaching out to the SSO. Course syllabus does not need to be finalized by initial contact. 
    1. The proposal form must be submitted at least five weeks prior to the last day of classes of the quarter before the quarter of the proposed SIC.  For example, if you wish to teach an SIC in the Autumn 2023 quarter, the proposal will need to be submitted five weeks before the last day of classes of the Summer 2023 quarter. This is in order to provide sufficient time to create the course, seek approvals from the Director, and advertise the course. Earlier submissions are encouraged in order to improve the possibility of securing a classroom, and so STS can adequately promote your class. 
    2. The SSO will reach out to you to schedule a meeting to review your proposal.
    3. All requests after the 5 week mark will not be honored and will be pushed to the next quarter.
  4. Course syllabus needs to be finalized and sent to the SSO within two weeks after your meeting with the SSO.

Go to STS Student-Initiated Course Request Form

Rules about SICs:

  1. Student-initiated courses must be reviewed and approved by the STS staff.
  2. Student-initiated courses may not be offered under the rubric of Directed Reading. Students do not receive directed reading or independent study credit for teaching an SI course.
  3. SICs may be offered for a maximum of 2 units, enrollment must be limited to a maximum of 20 students and may not be audited, grading option must be S/NC, and SICs must only count as activity courses in calculating the units required for the bachelor’s degree.
  4. The format for numbering SIC courses is SUBJECT + (number from 1 to 99) + the suffix SI. Example: FRENCH 22SI. SIC courses may not have 3-digit catalog numbers.

Important Notes about SICs:

  • Undergraduates leading an SI course are NOT entitled to units in directed reading or independent study for teaching the course. Directed reading and independent study units are reserved for legitimate academic work sponsored by a faculty member. For example, an SI course leader might arrange with the sponsoring faculty member for directed reading of academic materials used in preparing the class but not for teaching the class; such directed reading is at the discretion of the faculty member.
  • In order to sponsor a course, an instructor must have a teaching appointment in the sponsoring department. The faculty sponsor or eligible designee (e.g., graduate student teaching affiliate, other persons eligible for a university teaching appointment ) is the instructor of record; undergraduates are not eligible to be set-up as instructors or co-instructors
  • Undergraduates cannot be a grade proxy.
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