天美传媒

The College of Arts & Sciences adheres to the Faculty Senate Handbook with regard to the scheduling of Final Examinations (section IV C).

Policy Interpretation: All courses where a grade is given require some final evaluative method scheduled during the final examination week which brings the course into focus. Although most commonly this method is a written final exam, other means such as take-home finals, final presentations and written projects may be substituted, provided that students are informed of this information in the syllabus on the first day of class and that the chairperson also approves of these practices. Any change in date for the final exam (or in the date of the chair-approved substituted method of evaluation) must be approved first by the chairperson and then by the dean of the college, prior to approval by the Scheduling Office. A&S interprets the spirit of this policy as requiring faculty to permit students eleven weeks to complete a course.

Common Requests and Practices: The most common requests to change the date of a final examination (or the date of the final assessment method) involve legitimate professional reasons to be absent during the final examination week (e.g., scheduled presentations at conferences, trips abroad to collect data for research, etc.). Since students have the right to 15 weeks to complete their course experience, A&S does not recognize these requests. Rather CAS asks that other avenues be explored that allow both teaching and research responsibilities to be addressed. These include getting a substitute instructor to distribute and collect student exams or postponing research trips until the final assessment method is collected and graded.

This policy does not pertain to individual student requests to change the date of an individual's final. Faculty may decide on an ad hominem basis that a student be given a final examination on a date other than that scheduled.