Winter 2018 Academic Policy Reminders

February 22, 2018

Dear Colleagues,

This message is to remind you of a number of academic policies that may affect your course planning, grading, and exam schedules. This message covers the following topics:

Curricular changes timeline updates
The Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs will no longer retroactively approve curricular changes for new or existing degrees or other credentials (minors, certificates, etc.). Please make note of the following timeline updates.

  • Proposals for new courses to be offered fall 2018 must be submitted through CourseLeaf, UO’s curriculum management system, by 3/21/18.
  • Curricular changes for existing credentials and programs offered fall 2018 must be received by Ron Bramhall by 4/23/18.
  • Ron will submit changes to the appropriate senate council or committee for review and, if approved by the council or committee, inclusion in the spring curriculum report, which is voted on by the Senate at the end of spring term.
  • Proposals for new degrees/majors, graduate and undergraduate, or delivery location changes for existing degrees submitted after today’s date can be effective fall 2019 or later.

Questions about programs and curriculum can be addressed to Ron Bramhall, associate vice provost for academic excellence at rcb@uoregon.edu.  

Incompletes
Posted grades must represent an assessment of the work accomplished by the student in the course. An incomplete may be issued when the quality of work is satisfactory, but some minor yet essential requirement has not been completed. Details about the incomplete option are available on the Office of the Registrar website.

Dead Week
Faculty legislation controls assignments that may be required during the last week of regular classes, commonly known as Dead Week.

In the week preceding final examinations during fall, winter, and spring terms:

  • No examination worth more than 20% of the final grade will be given, with the exception of make-up examinations.No final examinations will be given under any guise. 
  • No projects will be due unless they have been clearly specified on the class syllabus within the first two weeks of the term.
  • Take-home examinations will be due no earlier than the day of the formally assigned final examination for the class in question.

Exam Conflicts
In the event that a student is scheduled for two or more exams at the same time, the following procedures assist with resolving the conflict:

  • For regular courses with examinations scheduled at the same time, the course with the largest enrollment must provide an alternate examination;
  • For conflicts between regular courses and combined examinations, the combined examination course must provide the alternate examination;
  • For combined examinations with conflicts, the largest combined enrollment course must provide the alternate examination.

Students unable to resolve examination conflicts with their instructors may contact the Office of Academic Advising for assistance.

Post-season Contests and Final Exams
Each term there may be UO athletic teams with a strong possibility of being invited to post-season competitions. The athletic events listed below are official university-sponsored events, and as such, provides a legitimate excuse for student participants (e.g., team members, cheerleaders, band members, etc.) to be absent from regularly scheduled exams.

Students are encouraged to speak with their instructors prior to the athletic event to arrange for the completion of course work and final examinations in the case of such anticipated absence.

Potential NCAA championship conflicts for winter 2018:

  • Men’s Basketball
  • Women’s Basketball

Further Information
If you have questions about these policies, or are faced with a situation you are unable to resolve, please feel free to contact us at OtP@uoregon.edu or 541-346-3081.

Sincerely,

Scott Pratt
Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs