Students will have more options when they register for classes for fall 2007. The new Course Schedule introduces two pilot undergraduate studies courses and changes course designations on several interdisciplinary courses and programs.

Classes for freshmen offered this fall are pilot courses for a new program that will be implemented in the University by 2010, said Lara Harlan, senior program coordinator for the dean of undergraduate studies.

The undergraduate studies commission, headed by Dean of Undergraduate Studies Paul Woodruff, decides the final details of pilot courses, which will eventually be called freshmen signature courses. Some classes will be large interdisciplinary format courses, similar to the courses being offered in fall 2007, and others will be small seminar classes of 15 to 20 students, Harlan said. "It's supposed to provide an interdisciplinary, common intellectual experience for every incoming student," she said.

Woodruff will teach philosophy in one of the two pilot courses. The other course is called "Sustaining a Planet" and will be taught by Jay Banner, a geology professor, and David Allen, a chemical engineering professor.

Allen and Banner will teach a course about sustaining the planet through a study of the economy, social equity and environment. Course details can be found at http://www.geo.utexas.edu/courses/302P/index.html.

The Faculty Council approved the idea for freshmen signature courses after a proposal from the Task Force on Curricular Reform, said David Hillis, chair of the Educational Policy Committee and professor of integrative biology.

"The idea is to create courses that are unique to UT," Hillis said.

Another modification to the course schedule involves changing almost all of the Connexus courses from their designation of CXS to BDP and UGS to reflect their "new home" in the undergraduate studies department, Harlan said. Connexus is a collection of interdisciplinary courses and programs, such as foreign studies seminars and internships.

It was a long and confusing process, with the biggest challenge of offering more accurate course inventory numbers, Harlan said. They are not new courses, so it was mostly changing paperwork and enabling undergraduate studies to identify itself by encompassing these programs, she explained.

"Slowly, we are trying to get everybody on campus to know who undergraduate studies is," Harlan said.

Another new feature in the course schedule online involves two new categories to search for a course: by the instructor's name or by substantial writing component, said Linda Pendergrass, associate registrar for scheduling in the registrar's office.

Pendergrass also emphasized the difference in tuition dates for graduate and undergraduate students. For the second year, the graduate tuition deadline is Sept. 4, giving graduate students a later date to pay.

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