Gen Ed courses are designed for Harvard College students. A suitable Gen Ed course satisfies the following general principles:

• the course addresses an urgent problem or enduring question
• the course is geared toward non-specialists
• the course is not an introduction to a scholarly discipline, nor is it centered on illustrating the methods of a particular scholarly discipline to a non-specialist audience. It may, however, deploy various disciplinary methods in order to elucidate the course concept.
• the course is unusually explicit in drawing connections between the classroom and the world beyond it, between the subject students are studying now and the people they will one day become. (If this is implicit in the submitted materials but not made explicit, we will invite faculty to make this explicit.) Such connections may be found in courses on contemporary topics, as well as in aesthetic questions that have a long history or an artistic genre or other phenomenon that has long engaged humanity.

Please review the program guidelines to learn more about Gen Ed course structure, logistics, and related policies.

If you are interested in proposing a course, please let us know. The Program Director and one of the Gen Ed Committee co-chairs would be happy to meet with you to learn about your course concept and to discuss the proposal process.

Proposal Materials

To propose a course, please send the following materials to gened@fas.harvard.edu:

• a course title and a student-oriented description (150 to 250 words) of the course.
• a one-sentence encapsulation of the urgent problem or enduring question the course addresses.
• a draft syllabus of approximately three pages that includes course/unit goals, course topics, main readings and major assignments.  If you are proposing an existing course for Gen Ed, you have the option to instead send the current syllabus along with a statement of how you would adapt the course for Gen Ed.
• a brief summary for the committee on how the course satisfies the general principles for what makes a Gen Ed course, included above.
• a brief explanation of why you think your course is a good fit for one of the four Gen Ed categories. Ordinarily, courses are approved for a single category.
• a brief statement about how the proposed course differs from existing Gen Ed courses on similar topics.
• a brief statement about how you will select and train TFs.

If the course will be co-taught, please include a clear rationale for the joint efforts and confirm that all faculty instructors are engaged in all aspects of the course.

Proposal Review

The Standing Committee on General Education reviews proposals on a rolling basis during the fall and spring terms.  Given the accelerated planning timeline required for prior term registration, faculty are encouraged to submit a course proposal at least one full year before the term in which they wish to first offer the course. For example, faculty wishing to teach in Fall 2025 should submit a proposal by the start of classes in Fall 2024, while faculty wishing to teach in Spring 2026 should submit a proposal by the start of classes in Spring 2025.

When the committee reviews proposals, it typically considers these crucial aspects:

• how well the proposed course reflects the general principles outlined above,
• how well the course goals, pedagogical methods, assignments, and assessment are articulated and cohesively aligned, and whether the course includes a synthetic, cumulative final assessment,
• whether the course demonstrates sufficient rigor,
• how the faculty member’s expertise relates to the proposed course, and
• how the faculty member intends to select and train TFs.

To ensure that students have access to a broad range of Gen Ed offerings, courses are approved with the expectation that they should ordinarily be taught at least every other year. Courses that are not offered at least once in four years must be reproposed for continued inclusion in the program. The program is committed to offering a full slate of courses during the academic year, so summer courses are not counted.

Ordinarily, courses are reviewed after their initial offering and considered for reapproval after three more offerings. These reviews are based on their fit with the mission and goals of the Program, as well as rigor in workload and grading.  Learn more about the review and reapproval process.