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Dear Colleagues,
With the implementation of plus/minus grading in Winter quarter 1999, Faculty Senate approved publication of a comprehensive policy manual for the university-The Registration and Grading Handbook for Faculty, which incorporated the many grading and registration changes adopted in June 1998. Among these changes were the introduction of grades "IP," "UW," and "P"; a new course retake (now grade replacement) policy; new deadlines for grade changes; a new grading advisory committee; and new appeals procedures. Since its first publication, subsequent changes in registration and grading policies and procedures approved by Faculty Senate and implemented by the Office of the Registrar have rendered the Handbook and its online version outdated.
The original extensive grading reforms of 1998 and the original Handbook resulted from a successful collaboration involving faculty, administration, and student government over 18 months. A University Grading Advisory Committee (UGAC), comprising students, faculty, and administration, was created to provide ongoing review of grading policy and updates to the Handbook. In early 2003, the Faculty Senate vested that review authority in an ad hoc sub-committee of the Academic Affairs Committee. Professor Howard Tolley-the first chair of the University Grading Advisory Committee-was appointed to lead the sub-committee in a review of the 1998 reforms and of suggested changes in grading that had arisen since then.
Professor Tolley was joined on the sub-committee by Professor Emel Yakali, representing Faculty Senate; Assistant Deans Robert Fee and Deborah Moorhead Frank, representing College Liaison Committee; and students Alison Glatfelter and Kathy Ivan. The sub-committee received invaluable staff support from Associate Registrar and Director of Student Records Wendy Fahrnbach-Lambing. The revisions outlined in this revised Handbook were approved by the Academic Affairs Committee and by the full Senate on May 8, 2003. Together they reflect the university faculty's continuing commitment to provide a grading framework that both maintains academic standards and acknowledges the changing environment in which students progress toward degrees.
Richard D. Karp
Chair, Faculty Senate
September 2003
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