Registrar's Notes

September 10, 2007

Schedule building

As we move into fall semester, departments will begin constructing schedules for Summer I and II, and also for next fall. Please note the schedule building matrix for approved days/times for all courses on www.wmich.edu/registrar/staffservices.html.

Also, in preparation for schedule building, Registrar’s Office staff members are offering workshops to review the process of building a department schedule. As we’ve moved through the conversion to Banner and an upgrade to version 7, we learned more about the system and how to make it work best for us. All this meant that there have been changes along the way in the details of our schedule building process. These workshops will allow us to communicate these changes, to answer questions, and to hear any concerns, thoughts, or ideas, that you may have that could us all do things a bit better. Laura Thomas has communicated days, times and locations, any questions should be directed to her at laura.thomas@wmich.edu or to Kathy Rix, Kathy.rix@wmich.edu.

The list of important dates, containing all registration and scheduling deadlines for this academic year can be found on www.wmich.edu/registrar/ImportantDates07-08.html.

Instructors of record

Please ensure that all sections have an instructor of record. Census will be taken tomorrow, Tuesday, at the end of the day and it is critical that all sections have the correct instructor of record at that time.

Supplemental Instruction

Did you know that the Academic Skills Center provides supplemental instruction opportunities for students? With a focus is on high risk courses, the goal of supplemental instruction is help students be successful in these courses as well as to provide new learning strategies. More information can be found on www.wmich.edu/asc.

Students not attending, other registration issues

Please ask that instructors use the REG-Student-Attend@wmich.edu email address to report names of students not attending courses, students attending but not on the class list or any other registration issues for this Fall. Staff in the Registrar’s Office will attempt to contact students and resolve the issues.

FERPA and student email addresses

Some questions regarding disclosure of student email addresses came forward after last week’s notes. First, if you receive a request for student email addresses or any other student information from any source outside of WMU, please do not comply with the request yourself. Send the request forward to Carol Hustoles in Legal Affairs. She is the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) officer for WMU and will respond appropriately to all such requests.

Second, there is no reason you should not forward information to students in your dept that you know is of interest to them such as guest speakers on campus, scholarship information, career information, etc. using their wmich.edu email address. Do note that while you can send an email to a student who has requested confidentiality of all directory information, it should not be sent in a list of students so that other students could see the email address of that student.

FERPA question of the week:

It is permissible to distribute graded examinations by placing them on a table for students to pick up after class. True or False?

Upcoming dates:

• Monday, Sept. 10 – Last day of drop/adds for students
• Tuesday, Sept. 11 – Department clean-up day - Last day academic departments have access to make student schedule adjustments for Fall 2007.
• Tuesday, Sept. 11 – Census day
• Monday, Sept. 17 – Summer I and II, 2008 schedules available to Departments to begin updates.
• Monday, Oct. 1 – Summer I and II, 2008 schedules due on Banner
• Wednesday, Oct. 10 – Spring 2008 schedules available for student viewing.
• Monday, Oct. 22 – Spring 2008 registration opens.

FERPA answer:

False, any graded assignments, quizzes, tests, etc., cannot be left in a public place for students to pick up.

The beginning of the fall semester is always a busy time, thanks for all that you do to assist our students during these first few weeks.