Streamlined Submittal Process
The Breadth Governance Board (BGB) has created a Streamlined Submittal Process for Ways approval. A great many disciplines represented by departments map onto a specific Way. For these disciplines, experience has shown that the Way approval should typically be straightforward.
The BGB has created a list of departments where the majority of courses certified to date have been a natural fit for a particular Way. The Streamlined Submittal Process is limited to one Way per department for most departments. See below for this list.
- Verify that the course you have chosen for a Way is in the home department listed below. If the department is not listed, you will need to submit the course via the Standard Submittal Process.
- Contact your Chair, Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS), undergraduate curriculum committee, or faculty director. Will they endorse your course for streamlined approval? If so, go to step 3. If not endorsed, you may still submit the course via the Standard Submittal Process.
- Submit your class to the Ways submittal portal. With your department’s endorsement, your syllabus need not be highly detailed, but it should provide sufficient information to understand the rationale and spirit of the Way for which it is designated. You will also need to provide a minimum of one learning outcome. For further information about your particular Way, along with examples of learning outcomes, please peruse the Ways Guidelines. You may also download the Learning Outcome Examples (PDF). If you need assistance in submitting your course, please complete the Instructor Submission Form for your Way and give it to your department's undergraduate Student Services Officer (SSO) or course administrator.
- Once you have submitted the course, please ask your DUS, undergraduate curriculum committee, or faculty director to notify the BGB. The DUS (in most cases) must send a streamlined endorsement of your course to the Ways program at waysofthinking@stanford.edu.
Learn more about each Way in the Ways Guidelines
Download the instructions for submitting your course
Download the instructor submission form for a Way
Department Endorsement Instructions (FOR CHAIR OR DUS)
Approved for Streamlined Submission
Departments approved for the streamlined program:
| Aeronautics & Astronautics - AQR | Earth Systems Science – SMA | Linguistics – FR |
| Anthropology – SI | Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences – SMA | Management Science & Engineering – AQR |
| Applied Physics – SMA | Economics - SI | Material Science - SMA |
| Art History - AII | Electrical Engineering – SMA | Mathematics – FR |
| Art Studio – CE | Energy Resources Engineering – SMA | Mechanical Engineering – AQR |
| Bioengineering – SMA | English (creative writing) – CE | Music (non-practice, non-performance) – AII |
| Biology – SMA | English (non-creative writing) – AII | Music (practice, performance) – CE |
| Chemical Engineering – AQR | Film Production – CE | Philosophy – AII |
| Chemistry – SMA | Film Studies – AII | Physics – SMA |
| China - AII | French – AII | Political Science – SI |
| Civil & Environmental Engineering – SMA | Geological Sciences - SMA | Psychology – SI |
| Classics - AII & SI | Geophysics – SMA | Religious Studies – AII |
| Communication – SI | German – AII | Slavic – AII |
| Comparative Literature - AII | History – SI | Sociology – SI |
| Computational & Mathematical Eng. – FR | Iberian & Latin American Cultures – AII | Statistics - AQR |
| Computer Science – FR | Italian – AII | TAPS (non-performance) – AII |
| Dance – CE | Japan – AII | TAPS (performance) – CE |
| Division of Literatures, Cultures, & Lang. - AII | Korea – AII |
Courses in the following programs are not included in the streamlined program: IDPs, professional schools (e.g., Business, Education, Law, Medicine), BOSP and off-campus programs, VPUE programs (e.g., ILEs, PWR, COLLEGE/Thinking Matters), Ways-Ethical Reasoning (ER) and Ways-Exploring Difference and Power (EDP) courses, and courses submitted for two Ways (non-streamlined Way). Instead, please submit these courses via the Standard Submittal Process.