A meet-together is an interdepartmental joint offering informally arranged between two or more departments or programs to offer a course under more than one subject and course number. Joint offerings differ from cross-listings in that cross-listings are permanent arrangements formally approved by the Curriculum Committee; joint offerings are temporary and informal—the courses meet together for one particular term only, and the approval of the Curriculum Committee is not needed.

Joint offerings can give faculty members more flexibility in listing new or experimental courses in additional departments without the time-delay involved in a formal course approval request to cross-list. They help advertise the existence of the course to more students, and thereby increase enrollment; they support the maintenance and growth of interdisciplinary study on campus and help smaller departments and programs enrich their curricula and expand their course offerings. Joint offerings are especially suitable for interdisciplinary topics and especially useful in the case of topics courses and multi-sectioned courses.

However, when setting up a joint offering, care must be taken to minimize confusion to students, advisors, and other faculty and staff. Guidelines for arranging interdepartmental meet-togethers, i.e. joint offerings:

  1. Courses that meet together should carry the same number of credits.
  2. Meet-togethers must meet the same general requirements and distribution designation.
  3. As a general rule, lower-level courses that serve students who are just beginning their studies in one department should not meet together with intermediate or upper-level courses intended for advanced students specializing in another department. Likewise, meet-togethers should be numbered at the same level or differ by no more than one level (i.e., a 200-level course may meet together with a 100, 200, or 300-level course, but not with a 400-level course). The Dean's Office may consider exceptions to this rule to accommodate limited faculty resources or significant differences in departmental expectations and practices.
  4. Meet-togethers are intended to be a short-term arrangement only for new or experimental courses. Courses that have become a permanent part of the curriculum should be cross-listed. After the second offering of the same MT course, departments will be expected to cross-list the courses, or make other suitable permanent arrangements.
Practical Considerations

Total enrollment is credited to the home department for meet-togethers as it is for crosslisted courses.When a department or instructor wishes to arrange a joint offering involving two or more departments or units, the one designated as home department should send the following information to the Scheduling Office and request a combined course ID.

  • Name of instructor
  • Subject, course, and section numbers of all meet-togethers
  • Day and time of class meeting (if available)
  • Number of spaces allotted to each department
  • Total maximum enrollment so that Scheduling can monitor enrollment and assign an appropriate classroom

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