DEADLINES: UHM forms must be received by OVPAE (uhmcrse@hawaii.edu) no later than 

• OCTOBER 15 for the next Summer and Fall term
• MARCH 15 for the next Spring term

If the course has or is requesting a SUST cross-listing, the form(s) should be sent to the Institute for Sustainability & Resilience (isr@hawaii.edu) after the approval of your College Dean and any other College Deans for other cross-listed departments. Forms must be received by ISR the no later than:

• October 1 for the next Summer and Fall term
• February 15 for the next Spring term

Note: If a deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, forms are due by the last working day before the weekend or holiday. 

Check with each individual School/College academic services office and other appropriate offices regarding their deadlines as each may have its own. UHM forms should be submitted at least one year prior to when the course is anticipated to be offered.

UHM forms for related requests (e.g., two new courses that are co-requisites of each other, retirements of courses that are cross-listed, multiple alphas for the same course number) should be submitted together so that they may be reviewed and processed at the same time.

Schools/Colleges and departments can expect to receive copies of approved UHM forms from OVPAE by mid-February for forms submitted by October 15, and by mid-July for forms submitted by March 15. To check the status of your submission, please email uhmcrse@hawaii.edu.

If your department will be performing major program/curriculum changes, please follow these program modification instructions.

Forms should be signed by the proposer and then routed for approval in the following order: 

(a) Department Chair (& cross-listed Department Chair(s) or Honors Program Director, if applicable)

(b) College-level Curriculum Committee, if applicable

(c) School/College Dean (& cross-listed School/College Dean(s), if applicable)

Note: Not applicable for AS, HON, IS, MSL, and NAVL

(d) Institute for Sustainability & Resilience, if applicable

(e) Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Excellence (OVPAE)

Once received by OVPAE, forms will be routed for review as follows:

• General Education Office for undergraduate courses OR Graduate Division for courses in Graduate Division-administered programs (generally not courses numbered 500-599)
• Office of the Registrar
• Catalog Office
• Back to OVPAE for final review and approval

If a request is not approved, the department that submitted the form will be contacted. If the request is approved, OVPAE will send copies to: 

• Originating department and its School/College
• Cross-listed departments and their Schools/Colleges (if applicable)
• General Education Office for undergraduate courses
• Graduate Division for courses in Graduate Division-administered programs (generally not courses numbered 500-599)
• Honors Program Office (if applicable)
• Office of the Registrar (for entry into Banner)
• Catalog Office (for entry into the UHM Catalog)
• Office of Admissions (for undergraduate courses only, for transfer credit evaluation purposes)
• Scheduling Office (if applicable)

Departments are strongly advised to keep a copy of all approved course actions and update any relevant departmental publications/databases/websites, etc. once a request has been approved.

Enter the appropriate three- or four -letter Banner subject code (e.g., ACC, BIOL) and requested course number, paying attention to the guidelines below. Only course subjects already approved for use at UHM may be used. For information on creating new course subjects, contact OVPAE.

Courses may be added and updated for each of the three semesters offered at UHM: Fall (FA), Spring (SP), and Summer (SU). Specify the semester and year of the requested change (e.g., SP 2019) on the UHM form. Forms must be submitted according to the deadlines specified in the Deadlines section to be considered for the term requested. 

• Changes and additions are made in Banner according to the effective term approved on the UHM form. 

• Because the UHM Catalog website is updated only once a year, changes and additions received after the fall deadline may not appear in the Catalog for the following academic year. Additionally, changes and additions for spring or summer may not appear in the Catalog until the next version is published. Please refer to the Item 18: Information in the UHM Catalog section for more information on Catalog update deadlines.

Check all boxes that apply to indicate the terms in which the course may be offered. Frequency is included in the UHM Catalog description when the course is taught only in one term (e.g., Spring only) or in alternate years (e.g., Alt. years). Frequency is not included in the Catalog if a course is offered more than once per year. Frequency information is not entered in Banner, except as part of the Catalog description. While departments are free to schedule courses as they choose, they should carefully consider the frequency options that they select, as students may rely on this information for planning purposes.

Regular Courses

Regular courses are those offered on a permanent basis at UHM. Most courses fall into this category.     

Experimental Courses

Experimental courses receive approval for two years. At the end of the two-year period, the course must be modified into a regular course using a UHM-2 form, or it will be retired. Deadlines for experimental courses are the same as for other courses, as specified in the Deadlines section. In addition,

• Experimental courses should be numbered ~97 or ~98.  
• Experimental courses are not listed in the UHM Catalog. 
• Experimental courses are not eligible for Foundations, Diversification, or Hawaiian/Second Language designations but may qualify for Focus designations.

Course titles will be entered exactly as they appear on UHM forms, so it is important to use appropriate punctuation and capitalization. Titles will not be entered into the Catalog or Banner in all capital letters. Diacritical and other punctuation marks that are not included on a standard English keyboard (e.g., macrons/kahakō (ō), accents (é), etc.) will not appear in Banner, course listings in Class Availability, or the online UHM Catalog. Commas, apostrophes, dashes, hyphens, slashes, ampersands, and other symbols with a key on the keyboard are possible. “Online” should not be included in a course title to indicate that the course is offered online. This can be done in the Catalog Description field.  

Two or more courses within the same subject should not share the same title (e.g., PSY 230 and PSY 330 should not have the same title). An exception is for honors courses and their non-honors counterparts (e.g., PSY 100 and PSY 100A).

5a. Full Course Title

The full course title will be displayed in the UHM Catalog and certain screens in MyUH. (MyUH is limited to 99 characters.)

5b. Banner Course Title

The Banner course title will appear on student transcripts and in some areas in MyUH. Banner titles may not exceed 30 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Alpha Course Titles

Titles for alpha courses should be displayed in the following format: “Overall Full Course Title: area title.” The Overall course title should indicate the overarching topic covered by the course; area title should indicate the special topic area to be covered by the alpha.

Banner titles for alpha courses should follow the Overall Course Title: area title format and must also meet the 30-character limit for each alpha course.

Select all grading options that are acceptable for the course.

• For mandatory “Credit/No Credit” grading, check only “CR/NC.”
• Grading options for a course will be listed in the UHM Catalog only when one grading option has been selected. (e.g., if “Letter Grade” is the only grading option selected, “A-F only” will appear after the course description in the Catalog.)
• “Audit” must be selected as a grading option on the UHM form for students to be able to audit a course. Leave “Audit” unchecked only if auditors are not permitted. An instructor’s signature on an Audit Approval Form will not override UHM forms that were submitted without the audit option selected. According to the UHM Catalog’s “auditors” definition, auditors are generally not allowed in art studio, laboratory science, mathematics, elementary and intermediate Hawaiian and foreign languages, creative writing, English composition, performance courses, or in classes where they might displace credit students.
• The “Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory” grading option is the only option that may be selected for courses numbered 500, 700, and 800.

• The “Honors” grading option may be selected only for courses within the School of Medicine.

Departments may use a UHM form to request approval of a Foundations, Diversification, or Hawaiian/Second Language designation for any regular (not experimental) undergraduate course. Detailed information about each designation can be found on Mānoa’s General Education website. The designations are as follows: 

Blanket statements are statements that apply to multiple courses from the same course subject (e.g., “The minimum required grade for prerequisites is a grade of C (not C-) or better, unless otherwise specified”). They appear in the UHM Catalog at the beginning of a department’s course listing, or at the beginning of a subsection of courses if it only applies to that subset. Any blanket statement that pertains to the course listed on the form should be listed in item 8, including the applicable blanket statement(s) of cross-listed department(s) if the course is cross-listed. All blanket statements are enforced and should be consistent with the information for each individual course that it covers. Modifications to blanket statements should be made via memo; see the Course Actions page of the OVPAE website for details.

Indicate the total contact hours in a semester (50 minutes of instruction equals one contact hour). For variable credit courses, specify the range of hours per semester.

In general, 15 hours of instruction or 45 hours of lab per semester are required for each credit hour awarded. Contact hours must comply with M5.114—Credit Hour Policy and Review Procedures.

The contact hours along with the type of instruction (“Lecture”, “Lab”, or “Other”) will be displayed in MyUH when a student views the MyUH catalog entry for the course.

Indicate the number of credits to be earned from successfully completing the course. For variable credit courses indicate the range. Do not attach a “V” to the course number (e.g., BIOL 499V) to indicate that a course is variable credit. Course credit hours must comply with M5.114—Credit Hour Policy and Review Procedures.

The repeat limit is the number of times a course may be repeated for credit. It is designed for variable content courses (e.g., special topics courses, seminars) or skills-based courses (e.g., music, dance). Repeat limits should not be set higher than zero to allow students to re-register for a course in which they have failed to earn the minimum grade needed for major, prerequisite or other requirements. It is enforced at the time of registration. Providing the appropriate repeat limit is important as the University will not provide financial aid for a course that is not listed as repeatable in the course description or for a course that is repeated more than the number of times listed in the course description.

• If a course may not be repeated, enter “0” for the repeat limit. Do not write “none.”
• If there is no limit to the number of times a course may be taken, enter “unlimited.”
• The repeat limit plus 1 should equal the total number of times the course may be taken.

Repeat attempts at a course in which the student previously earned a grade of C- or lower (including NC) will not be counted toward the repeat limit for registration purposes, but may have academic and financial aid implications. For more information, see the Undergraduate Credits and Grades and Graduate Division Grades sections of the UHM Catalog.

The credit limit indicates the maximum number of credits that a student may earn from a particular course. In most cases, the credit limit can be found by multiplying the (number of credits) x (the number of times the course may be taken) ~or~ (the number of credits) x (the repeat limit + 1).

• If a course cannot be repeated, the credit limit should equal the number of credits of the course. (For variable credit courses, see section below.)
• If there is no credit limit, enter “unlimited.”

The credit limit is NOT enforced at the time of registration. When students take ʺrepeatable” courses beyond the designated limit, grades continue to be recorded on the transcript, but those grades do not impact the GPA and the credits are not counted toward degree requirements.

Select the most appropriate Schedule Type based on the definitions. Most courses will require only one Schedule Type. Schedule Type should be reflective of the type of course (lecture, lab, seminar, etc.) and not the mode of delivery. A different field used at the scheduling level will be used to indicate that a course section is delivered online, or hybrid combining in person and online.

A co-requisite is a course that must be taken at the same time as another course. Please consider whether a course is better suited as a prerequisite that may be taken concurrently rather than as a co-requisite.

Failure to offer a co-requisite course during a specific semester is not justification for removing the co-requisite requirement on a temporary basis (i.e., without a UHM-2 form). The department must either enter approvals for students or submit a UHM-2 form by the appropriate deadline to remove the co-requisite. Another UHM-2 form would be needed to reinstate the co-requisite in subsequent terms.

Courses may be restricted to students who meet specific class standing requirements. A student’s class standing can be determined as follows:

• Freshmen: 0-29 earned semester credit hours
• Sophomores: 30-59 earned semester credit hours
• Juniors: 60-89 earned semester credit hours
• Seniors: 90 or more earned semester credit hours
• Second Bachelor’s degree students: Treated as seniors for class standing purposes
• Graduate students: Graduate-level courses numbered 500 and higher are automatically restricted to graduate students; it is not necessary to request graduate-standing only. *

Credit must already have been earned to count toward the class standing calculation; courses are not counted until the grades are “rolled” (officially added to a student’s record by the Registrar’s Office) and the student’s GPA is recalculated.

When a class standing restriction is requested, it is assumed that all higher-class standings will also be acceptable to register unless requested otherwise. (Graduate standing satisfies all undergraduate class standing requirements.)  If you do not wish higher class standings to be included, indicate so by saying “sophomores only”, etc. If any student may enroll in the course, leave this field blank.

*Note: Unclassified students are automatically restricted from courses numbered 500 and 600+. These students will receive a “Degree Restriction” error message during registration and will need approval from the department offering the course.

Courses may be restricted to students in specific majors. If item 16a is filled in, item 16b must also be completed. 

16a. Major Restrictions

Enter the major restriction information as you would like it to appear in the Catalog (e.g. Engineering majors). 

16b. Banner Codes of Acceptable Majors

Specify the current 2- to 4-character (alphas or alpha/numeric) Banner major code(s) of the major(s) that should be allowed to enroll in the course (e.g., EE, CE, ME, SE29).  Numeric major codes are no longer valid. Major restrictions can be viewed in the Banner form SCARRES, Major Restrictions field.

Degree Restrictions

Unclassified students are automatically restricted from courses numbered 500 and 600+. These students will receive a “Degree Restriction” error message during registration and will need approval from the department offering the course.

Prerequisites for courses usually consist of a previous course or courses in a related subject and/or the department or instructor’s consent. In Banner terms, “prerequisites” can be built from the following two categories:

1. UHM courses
2. Course attributes such as the Core/Graduation Requirements (DS, DB, DL, etc.)

Enter the description of the course, up to 35 words. Describe the course; do not simply repeat the course title. Indicate the class format (e.g., lecture, studio, seminar, lab, etc.). If the course is composed of several formats, indicate the number of hours for each (e.g., 2 lec, 1 3-hr. lab). List key words from the syllabus and specify if the course is a continuation of another course, if it includes field trips, or other out-of-the-ordinary learning experiences.

The following items should not be listed as part of the Catalog description:

• Frequency
• Grading option(s)
• Repeatability
• Prerequisites
• Co-requisites
• Cross-listed courses
• Major restrictions
• Class restrictions
• General education designation (Catalog description should reflect the designation’s hallmarks.)

These items will be added to the catalog description by the Catalog Office (if applicable) and are not counted towards the word count limit.

The catalog description of the course will appear in the UHM Catalog (except for Experimental and Single-term Courses) and will also be available in Banner, MyUH, and the UHM Class Availability website.

Using a separate sheet, please include the following items in the justification:

• Rationale for the request.
• For new courses, indicate the relevant program learning objectives and the institutional learning objectives that this course will cover.
• Course syllabus specifying student learning objectives for the course. NOTE: For requests to create a course that has an honors counterpart (e.g., SOC 123 and SOC 123A), a separate honors version of the syllabus must also be submitted. Syllabi are not required for “~99” courses.
• Expected course enrollment.
• Additional resources (if any) that will be required to teach the course.
• List of any academic units for which the course is or will be a major or degree requirement.
• Confirmation of consultation with those academic units, as well as with any other departments and UH campuses that might be impacted by the new course (departments offering one of the prerequisite courses, campuses offering a course with similar course content, etc.)

For alpha courses, the requirements listed above must be addressed for each alpha.

Other approving offices (Colleges, Graduate Division, etc.) may require additional information. Please check with each office for their requirements. See the Contact Information section at the end of these instructions for department contact information.

A syllabus is required for all courses except for directed reading/research courses numbered ~99 and retirements. All syllabi should include student learning outcomes. For recommended syllabus guidelines, please see the resource provided on the OVPAE course action webpage. 

The Chair or Director of the department requesting the new course must certify that the student learning objectives for the course are consistent with the learning objectives of each program under which the course is listed and must sign the form before routing it for approval.

Check the appropriate box to indicate a modification or retirement (formerly deletion) of the course.

Enter the course subject and number as it currently exists.

• To create a new course that will be cross-listed with an existing course, enter the course subject and number of the existing course. You will specify the new course in Box 9m.
• To create an honors course, enter the course subject and number of the existing non-honors counterpart course. You will specify the new honors course in Box 9m.
• For alpha courses:
  • You may list more than one alpha on a form if the requested change will be the same for each alpha. Be sure to specifically list each alpha that will be affected by the change request (e.g., CRS 123 (alpha): b, c, d, e, f). Do not simply write “(alpha).”
  • If different alphas will be updated differently, submit a separate UHM-2 form for each applicable alpha.

Enter the existing full course title. The full course title can be found in the Banner form SCASYLB, if the full course title is different from Banner course title. Some older courses may not have the full course title entered in SCASYLB. In these cases, refer to the Catalog.

Mark the term and year requested (Fall-FA, Spring-SP, Summer-SU). UHM-2 forms must be submitted by October 15 for a Summer or Fall effective term and by March 15 for a Spring effective term. 

Late change requests may result in discrepancies between the actual course and what is printed in the Catalog and other publications. It is the department’s responsibility to ensure that all affected parties (e.g., Mānoa Advising Center, major advisers, faculty, students) are notified and aware of any changes and their effective date. Departments are advised to keep records of any discrepancies for future reference.

Changes to a course once registration has started are not permitted.

List existing honors counterpart (“A” alpha). If none, write “none.” Changes requested on the form will be applied to both the regular course and its honors counterpart. The Honors Program will need to sign Box 13.

To create an honors counterpart for an existing course, check Box 9m and fill out the Proposed Data field to indicate the new honors course. The Honors Program must sign Box 13, and a syllabus for the Honors course must be submitted with the UHM-2 form.

List existing cross-listed course(s). If none, write “none.” Existing cross-listed courses can be found in the Banner form SCADETL, Equivalent Course field. Note: This field may also list courses that are considered equivalent but are not cross-listed courses (e.g., honors counterpart, past course numbers if the course was renumbered).

• Requested changes will be applied to all cross-listed courses of a cross-listed group except for course retirements. Separate UHM-2 forms are NOT required to modify each of the cross-listed courses.
• Changes must be approved by the cross-listed department(s) and their Dean(s) in the signature portion of the form.
• To remove a cross-listing, also fill out Box 9m on the UHM-2 form.
• To add a cross-listing, you will use Box 9m.
• To retire cross-listed courses, you must submit a separate UHM-2 form for each course to be deleted.

7a. Existing Gen Ed Diversification, Foundations, or HSL Designation

Enter existing General Education designation, if any. (Note: Do not include Focus designations.) If none, write “none.”  Designations can be found in the Banner form SCADETL, Options pull-down menu, select Course Degree Attributes.

UHM-2 forms for all undergraduate courses will be reviewed by the Mānoa General Education Office to reconfirm designation status. Changes to a course may result in the revocation of, or change to, existing designations.

7b. If adding/changing a Gen Ed designation, please indicate requested designation

Choices are: DA, DH, DL, DS, DB, DP, DY, DB+DY, DP+DY, FGA, FGB, FGC, FQ, FW, or HSL. Requests will be reviewed by the appropriate General Education faculty board. To request a Foundations designation (FW, FQ, or FGA, FGB, or FGC), a separate proposal must also be submitted to the General Education Office. A course’s Gen Ed designation (except for Focus) can be found in the Banner form SCADETL, Options pull-down menu, Course Degree Attributes.
See the Gen Ed Diversification, Foundations, or Hawaiian/Second Language Designation entry in the UHM-1 section for more information.

If none, write “none.” To add or modify a blanket statement, please submit a memo. If the new/modified blanket statement conflicts with any existing prerequisites, UHM-2 forms must also be submitted for each of the affected courses to resolve the conflict.

Indicate requested changes by checking all applicable boxes. Complete the appropriate Existing and Proposed Data for each requested change.

• Existing Data

Use Banner to confirm existing data and then enter the information.

• Proposed Data

Enter the information as you would like it to appear AFTER the change is made. Do not use this field to describe the change. Box 10a, Description of Change(s) and Box 10b, Justification of Change(s), should be used to describe the change(s) and the rationale for them. Ex: You are changing a course title from “Field Practices in Science” to “Field Practices.”  In the Proposed Data box write “Field Practices.”  In Box 10a (Description of Change) describe the change by writing “delete ‘in Science’ from course title.” In Box 10b (Justification of Change) provide the reason for the change: “The change allows for more general field practices.”

Change Type:

Describe all change(s) you are requesting and provide a rationale for each request, including a description of how the modified course is linked to learning outcomes of the degree program. Attach a syllabus for the modified course specifying student learning objectives for the course. Syllabi are required for all courses except for “~99” courses. Identify additional resources (if any) required to teach the modified course. If the modified course is, or will be, a major or degree requirement of another academic unit, specify the affected unit and fill out Box 12. Attach additional sheets as needed.

A syllabus is required for all courses except for retirements or directed reading/research courses numbered ~99.

If your requested change(s) will affect other departments/offices/campuses (e.g., other departments requiring or offering a prerequisite to one of your courses, other campuses offering the course, etc.), please notify those parties of your proposed change(s) and indicate which offices/campuses you consulted with. If no other departments/offices/campuses will be affected, put “n/a.” Executive Policy 5.209 requires that UHM consult with UH campuses that will be affected by the modification.

Cross-listed departments and/or the Honors Program must sign Box 12 when appropriate. Additionally, cross-listed departments’ Deans must sign the “Approved By” section of the form.

The Chair or Director of the department requesting the changes must certify that the student learning objectives of this modified course are consistent with the learning objectives of each program under which the course is listed and must sign the form before routing it for approval.

Contact Information

For general information, please email uhmcrse@hawaii.edu. 

The following offices are available to provide further assistance regarding UHM forms:  

Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Excellence

Monica Stitt-Bergh, Director of Program Development and Review

Phone: 956-4568 

Email: bergh@hawaii.edu 

Lori Furoyama, Educational Specialist

Phone: 956-3889 

Email: lfuroyam@hawaii.edu 

Office of the Registrar 

Julie Motooka, Curriculum & Archive Coordinator 

Phone: 956-0855 

Email: motookaj@hawaii.edu 

Catalog Office 

Catalog Coordinator 

Phone: 956-9947 

Email: manoacat@hawaii.edu 

General Education Office 

Lisa Fujikawa, Academic Coordinator

Phone: 956-9168 

Email: haradal@hawaii.edu 

Graduate Division 

Julienne Maeda, Associate Dean 

Phone: 956-7541 

Email: julienne@hawaii.edu 

Scheduling Office (Scheduling requests, section information)

University Scheduler 

Phone: 956-7953 

Email: schedule@hawaii.edu

Website: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/ovcaa/program-approval-review/course-actions/

Monica Stitt-Bergh, Director of Program Development and Review

Phone: 956-4568 

Email: bergh@hawaii.edu 

Lori Furoyama, Educational Specialist

Phone: 956-3889 

Email: lfuroyam@hawaii.edu 

Website: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/registrar/

Julie Mototoka, Degree & Curriculum Coordinator 

Phone: 956-0855 

Email:  julie.motooka@hawaii.edu 

Website: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/catalog/

Catalog Coordinator 

Phone: 956-9947 

Email: manoacat@hawaii.edu 

Website: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/gened

Lisa Fujikawa, Academic Coordinator

Phone: 956-9168 

Email: haradal@hawaii.edu 

Website: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/graduate/programs-courses/

Julienne Maeda, Associate Dean 

Phone: 956-7541 

Email: julienne@hawaii.edu 

Website: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/undergrad/schedule/

University Scheduler 

Phone: 956-7953 

Email: schedule@hawaii.edu