Curriculum Guide

The SDSU Curriculum Guide has been compiled to assist you in preparing curricular proposals for processing, for consideration for inclusion in the online University Catalog. The Curriculum Guide also includes instructions on how to submit proposals for new certificate programs, for a degree to be placed in the Academic Master Plan, and for topics courses and General Studies courses to be included in the SDSU Class Schedule and in SDSU Global Campus catalogs.

For all new and special topics courses, use the regular campus proposals found in the SDSU Curriculum Guide.  If the course you want to offer is NOT new and NOT a special topics course, please visit the Course Proposals and Section Requests web page and complete a "Course Section Request Form."  For all non-credit and/or professional development credit courses, please use the appropriate course proposal forms located on the SDSU Global Campus website.

Curricular Processing Deadlines

Curricular Proposals

To ensure the deadline for final catalog copy can be met, a schedule of deadlines for university-level consideration of curricular proposals has been established. Proposers should strive for approval by all university-level committees before the end of Spring 2021. Committees are not active over summer and proposals need to be approved at the September 2021 University Senate meeting to make AY22/23 catalog. Proposals without University Senate approval by the December 2021 meeting will have to be re-submitted through Curriculog.

It is the responsibility of the dean of each college to set deadlines within the college that will allow time for the college review and ensure that the deadline can be met for submission of proposals for the university-wide review.

Even if all goes well with a proposal, at least a year will elapse between the time a proposal is submitted and its appearance in the catalog. New courses may not be offered until they have appeared in the catalog.

Minor non-curricular catalog changes which are of an editorial rather than substantive nature require only the approval of Curriculum Services. All other changes require preparation of a formal proposal to be submitted through the appropriate channels via Curriculog. Proposals may be prepared throughout the year in Curriculog; however, submissions may only occur during fall semester.

Academic Master Plan

The deadline dates outlined above are for new courses, changes in courses, minors, emphases, concentrations, credentials, etc., and new degree programs that are included on the Academic Master Plan for San Diego State University.

Degree programs which do not appear on the San Diego State Academic Master Plan must be submitted to Curriculum Services no later than March 1 each year for consideration by the Academic Policy and Planning Committee and the Academic Resources and Planning Committee for inclusion on the master plan.

Proposals approved by the campus for consideration for inclusion in the master plan are forwarded to the Chancellor’s Office in June or October each year and are forwarded to the Board of Trustees in January for action in March.

The format to use in submitting a request to include a new degree on the Academic Master Plan for San Diego State University is included in the Curriculum Guide.