Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Cornelia Lang, associate dean for undergraduate education and Erika Christiansen, graduate affairs manager

To:        Departmental Executive Officers, ALT

From:   Cornelia Lang, associate dean for undergraduate education and Erika Christiansen, graduate affairs manager

RE:        Inactive course review

Inactive course review is an annual process for reviewing courses that have not been offered in three years or more, and designating each course “drop” or “keep.” This process ensures the course library and General Catalog stay accurate and we do not advertise courses unlikely to be taught again. 

CLAS requests that departments review their inactive courses in a timely and serious manner, considering carefully that courses unlikely to be taught in the near future should be dropped, and new courses can be created in the future as needed. 

If you would like to maintain the course as active, please provide a brief rationale in the appropriate box, including the expected date the course will next be taught. 

CLAS relies on these rationales when reviewing requests to keep inactive courses. CLAS reviews the last time each inactive course was taught, its enrollments when it was taught, any recent or upcoming curricular changes to programs that might affect inactive courses, and whether the provided rationale for keeping courses makes sense given those circumstances. 

Inactive course review occurs in Workflow, with stops for Academic Departmental Administrators (ADAs); deans, directors, or departmental executive officers (Academic Workflow DDEOs); and collegiate administrators. 

  • The Registrar’s Office will send inactive course lists to ADAs on Wednesday, September 9. 
  • The ADA review period lasts until Tuesday, September 29. 
  • On Wednesday, September 30, all pending forms will automatically route to DDEOs.
  • DEOs will then have until Wednesday, October 21 to review the forms and confirm “keep” or “drop” recommendations for each course. 

Please review the Registrar’s information on Inactive Course Review for more details on this process and timing. If you wish to discuss any courses on the inactive course review list, please contact the CLAS UP Curriculum Team (for undergraduate courses) or Erika Christiansen (for graduate courses). 

Thank you for your help keeping the course library and General Catalog accurate and reliable for our students.