Semester Start-up Information – for faculty

Class lists and Attendance

• Access class lists through GoWMU, note that this list is real time.
• Use the Report Student Not Attending/Not Registered link on the faculty menu to report registration issues.

Drop/adds and census

• Students can drop/add courses with no financial or academic penalty through the first five days of the semester or session.

• The sixth day of the semester is department clean-up day, the last day that departments have access to change student’s schedules. There is no academic or financial penalty for students whose schedules are update on clean-up day. At the end of the day, our census count will be taken to give our final enrollment numbers for that semester or session.

• After census, students can withdraw from courses  through GoWMU through the Monday of the tenth week of semester (fifth week of the session). The refund dates and policies can be found on the Registrar’s website.

Midterm Grading  

Midterm grading will be opened on Sept. 8. Instructors are encouraged to enter a first-work grade by October 4. This first-work could be a first exam, graded assignment, or collection of assignments. Advisors will follow up with students whose performance at this point puts them at academic risk.

Midterm grading will remain open thru Nov. 1 so that instructors have the opportunity to enter a true midterm grade. Again, advisors will do a second follow-up with students who are at risk at this point.

Instructions on entering midterm grades can be found on ../registrar/faculty-staff/instructors/midterm-grading.html.

Calendars

Click on the calendar tab at the top for links to:

• Academic calendars giving important dates for current and future semesters and sessions.
• The final exam schedule for current and upcoming semesters.
• University calendars which list the number of days of the week classes meet in current and future semesters and sessions.
• Dates and deadlines for the current semester or session.
• Interfaith calendar of religious observances.

Classroom fix-it

Any issues involving classroom maintenance, technology, or locked classrooms, should be reported using the online form on http://broncofixit.pp.wmich.edu/classroom.html .

Information on FERPA, posting grades, retention of student work:

• No posting of grades by any part of SSN or WIN
• If you must post grades, use a randomly generated number known only to you and to the student.
• Do not leave any graded student work in a public place for pickup
• WMU’s policy on retention is that student work which is not returned must be retained for at least one semester. See the catalog language:

“Students have the right to have all their examinations and other graded material made available to them with an explanation of the grading criteria. Faculty will retain all such materials not returned to the student for at least one full semester (or through spring plus summer sessions) after the course was given. Faculty are not required to return such material to the student, but must provide reasonable access.”

Any student work to be discarded after the one semester time frame must be shredded.

Grade changes

Removal of an incomplete

- see the link on the faculty menu in GoWMU titled ‘Remove Incomplete Grade/Change Grade Form’. This is an online process.

Grade changes

- see the link on the faculty menu in GoWMU titled ‘Remove Incomplete Grade/Change Grade Form’. After completion, the form needs to be printed, signed by the instructor and the Chair. The form must then be sent to the Registrar’s Office. Note that the time limit on grade changes is sixty days after completion of the semester.

References:

• The academic catalogs - http://catalog.wmich.edu

The undergraduate and graduate catalogs include information on all academic programs at WMU as well as policy information. Note the new ‘Quick Links’ which gives a list of direct links to policies.

• The Undergraduate Advising website - http://www.wmich.edu/advising

This site is a reference for information on advising, resources for students, special programs, as well as support services for students.

• The Registrar’s website: http://www.wmich.edu/registrar

The academic calendar, policy information, deadlines, information on FERPA, and much more can be found on this site.

Questions?

Call the Registrar's Office at 387-4300, or email us at registrar-info@wmich.edu, or
Contact the Registrar, 387-4336, or barbara.mckinney@wmich.edu