School of Law: Curricular & Instructional Procedures

Unit Procedure

Title

School of Law: Curricular & Instructional Procedures

Introduction

Purpose

This policy document describes the University of North Carolina School of Law’s curriculum structure, instructional procedures, course management practices, examination expectations, grading procedures, and related faculty responsibilities. Its purpose is to guide consistent academic and instructional administration across the Law School.

Scope

This policy document applies primarily to School of Law faculty members, with related provisions affecting law students and academic administrative offices.

Procedure

Contents

1. Curriculum Structure and Philosophy 
2. Academic Freedom 
3. Freedom of Expression 
4. Compliance with UNC’s Student Code of Conduct 
5. Academic Advising 
6. Instructional Procedures 
   1. Faculty Course Assignments and Scheduling 
   2. Determination of Credit Hours for Coursework 
   3. Faculty Teaching Loads 
      1. Recording Credit Hours of Teaching Generally 
      2. Recording Credit Hours for Teaching LAW 399, Supervised Research and Writing (a.k.a. Independent Research or Independent Study) 
      3. Other Special Instructional Situations 
   4. Accumulating (“Banking”) Credit Hours of Teaching 
   5. Faculty Feedback for Students in Rigorous Writing Experience Courses 
   6. Prohibition of Multiple Uses of Written Product
   7. New Course Proposals 
7. Course Management
   1. Compliance with UNC Syllabus Policy 
   2. Recording of Classes and Distribution of Recordings 
   3. Faculty Monitoring of Class Attendance 
   4. Methods of Taking Class Attendance 
   5. Auditing 
   6. Computer Use in Classes 
   7. Examinations 
      1. First-Year Practice Examinations 
      2. Mid-term Examinations 
      3. Final Examinations 
      4. Take-Home Examinations 
   8. Exam Accountability 
   9. Course Evaluations by Students 
   10. Peer Review/Evaluation of Faculty 
   11. Grading Procedures 
       1. Notice to Students 
       2. Anonymity
       3. Timing of Grade Submissions
       4. Grade Calculation and Compliance
   12. Incompletes 

A. Curriculum Structure and Philosophy

The curriculum is aimed at providing a strong foundation for students in the first year. First-year students (1Ls) take 15 credits during each semester. The 1L curriculum seeks: to introduce students to the rigors of legal thought, to develop their critical thinking skills, to provide them with a strong foundation in certain core subject areas, and to provide basic instruction in legal research and writing. All teachers in the first year are requested to inject issues of professional responsibility whenever they can to help students become aware of the School of Law’s high standards for professional behavior and ethical competence.

The second-year curriculum is designed to prepare students for the transition between the first-year core instruction and more specialized offerings and to enhance basic legal research and writing skills in preparation for the third year’s more advanced offerings.

Second-year students (2Ls) are encouraged to select, and have enrollment priority in, certain foundation courses, many of which are tested on state bar examinations. They are required to complete a course in Professional Responsibility to introduce them to legal ethics and the law governing lawyers.

The third year provides students with an opportunity to deepen and broaden their substantive exposure to the law. Third-year students (3Ls) are encouraged to complete (1) advanced electives that build upon the 2L foundation courses; (2) courses relevant to their career paths, including foundation courses not taken during the second year, (3) courses especially important for the bar exam; and (4) “perspectives courses” to reflect on legal studies from the viewpoint of related disciplines (e.g., history, literature, social science, or philosophy) or other cultures (e.g., through comparative or critical legal studies).

The third year also facilitates transition to law practice by affording opportunities to enroll in courses that stress practical skills, although 2Ls may also take skills courses. For example, the Trial Advocacy Program provides intensive training in trial-related skills. Students may also apply to participate in the Externship or Clinical Program and take other experiential, skills-related courses.

B. Academic Freedom

The University of North Carolina School of Law (SOL) is dedicated to the transmission and advancement of knowledge and understanding. Academic freedom is essential to achieving these goals. The SOL therefore supports and encourages freedom of inquiry for faculty members and students so that they may, responsibly and without internal or external restraints that would unreasonably restrict their academic endeavors, pursue the SOL’s goals through teaching, learning, research, discussion, and publication.

The SOL supports and encourages full freedom, within the law, of conducting research; publishing scholarship; engaging in SOL governance; participating in law-related public service activities; curating library collections and providing information services; and exercising teaching responsibilities, including those related to client representation in clinical programs.

In any official claim involving a potential violation of academic freedom, a faculty member shall have the process afforded under University policies (in Chapter VI-603 of the UNC Policy Manual, “Disciplinary Discharge, Suspension or Demotion,” and Section 3 of the Trustee Policies Governing Academic Tenure in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).

C. Freedom of Expression

The University of North Carolina School of Law (SOL) is committed to the principles of free inquiry and expression. Vigorous discussion and debate are fundamental to this commitment.

Faculty, students, and staff have the right to communicate ideas that may be controversial or unpopular, including through robust debate, demonstrations, or protests.

Although some expression and inquiry may be offensive, the offensiveness of expression or inquiry, standing alone, is not sufficient for the conduct to constitute prohibited harassment or discrimination.

The right to free expression does not protect:

• conduct that substantially interferes with the carrying out of SOL functions or approved activities, such as classes, meetings, library services, interviews, ceremonies, and public events.
• expression that violates the law, falsely defames a specific individual, constitutes a genuine threat or harassment, or unjustifiably invades substantial privacy or confidentiality interests.

The SOL may reasonably regulate the time, place, and manner of expression.

Except when officially authorized, a faculty member should not represent himself or herself as a spokesman for the University.

D. Compliance with UNC’s Student Code of Conduct

The Law School faculty require students to comply with UNC’s Student Code of Conduct, which aims to “foster a community” characterized by “academic honesty and personal integrity” and requires students “to refrain from all forms of academic misconduct in the submission of academic work, whether graded or otherwise.”

E. Academic Advising

All faculty members are encouraged to be reasonably accessible to students seeking assistance in course selection and career advice.

The Office of Academic Affairs publishes a website that contains multiple links with information on courses, course selection, and advice. Faculty members are responsible for providing brief descriptions of the courses to the Academic Affairs Administrative Assistant upon request. When a faculty member seeks approval for a new or substantially revised offering, he or she should include a course description.

F. Instructional Procedures

Faculty Course Assignments and Scheduling

The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs prepares the course schedule and makes course assignments based first on curricular needs and second based on individual faculty members’ requests. During the fall semester, each faculty member is asked to indicate teaching preferences for the upcoming academic year. Proposed new course offerings and significant changes in the subject matter of existing offerings should be referred to the Academic Affairs Committee for review and approval and, if approved, recommendation to the full faculty. In the spring, the faculty reviews and approves the curriculum for the following year, including new and significantly changed offerings.

Determination of Credit Hours for Coursework

Determination of the number of academic credits for a course shall be based on the ABA’s definition of a “credit hour.” Each credit hour shall entail an amount of work that reasonably approximates not less than one “class hour” (at least 50 minutes) of classroom instruction or direct faculty instruction and two hours of out of class work for fifteen weeks.

(Adopted 2016, updated July 2024)

Faculty Teaching Loads

This section and the Faculty Workload Policy set out the teaching load expectations applicable to most tenured and tenure-track faculty. 

(Revised: July 2026)

Recording Credit Hours of Teaching Generally

The total credit hours earned by each faculty member during the two semesters of each academic year is recorded at the end of the year by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Recording Credit Hours for Teaching LAW 399, Supervised Research and Writing (a.k.a. Independent Research or Independent Study)

A full-time faculty member may supervise a student in an independent research and writing project via for a maximum of three credits. The student must obtain prior consent of the supervising faculty member, recorded on a form provided by the Registrar. A member of the faculty is under no duty to accept an independent study project. Any project accepted must fall within the study interests of both the faculty member and the student. Students must certify that they are in compliance with the policy regarding multiple uses of written product.

(Revised: December 2010)

One, two, or three credit hours may be awarded for the project, provided no student may receive academic credit for more than three credit hours total for all LAW 399 projects undertaken during the student’s Law School career. The faculty member and student must determine the credit hours to be awarded before the project begins and may not thereafter either increase or decrease the credit hours. As a general rule, each hour of credit requires no fewer than fifteen pages of substantive writing. Moreover, American Bar Association Standard 310 requires a minimum of three hours of out-of-class time per week for each credit hour awarded in a non-classroom course. Therefore, students should expect to devote a minimum of nine hours each week for a three-credit LAW 399 project, six hours a week for a two-credit project, and three hours a week for a one-credit project. Students should report to faculty supervisors the amount of work they perform each week.

Although LAW 399 projects are not required to follow a specified form, they should approximate the work required for a RWE course. Thus, an independent study should involve a significant research paper, or series of related papers that are the functional equivalent of a significant research paper, under the direct supervision of a faculty member. A key component of faculty supervision involves significant individualized feedback on both the student’s ideas and writing product, including a substantial draft. Faculty and students should also meet periodically throughout the semester, although there is not a specified amount of meeting time required.

(Revised: May 2015)

Grading for LAW 399 projects should be in accordance with general Law School standards.

Faculty members earn 0.1 credit hour for every three-credit hours of LAW 399, SRW, supervised during the academic year and the summer session. LAW 399 SRW projects of one or two credits earn the appropriate fraction (.03 or .07) of 0.1 credit.

Other Special Instructional Situations

Writing Add-On Courses. Faculty members also earn 0.1 teaching hour for each student in a writing add-on course, accumulating a maximum of one hour of teaching credit for each add-on class taught.

Co-Teaching. Faculty members who co-teach a course each receive one-half the ordinary teaching-hour credit for the course, unless the Dean has specified otherwise.

Examples. Professor 1 teaches a three-credit course with a one-credit writing add-on for 12 students. Professor 1 also supervises two SRWs for three credits each. The professor earns 4.2 credit hours for that semester: 3 credits for the course; 1 credit for the writing add-on, even though 12 students participated; and 0.2 credits for the two 3-credit SRWs.

By contrast, Professor 2 supervises two SRWs: one for 3 credits and the other for 2 credits Professor 2 earns 0.17 hours of credit for supervising the two SRWs: 0.1 for the 3-credit SRW and 0.07 for the 2-credit SRW.

Accumulating (“Banking”) Credit Hours of Teaching

The Associate Dean also keeps a running total of accumulated teaching hours (whether a surplus or deficit) for each faculty member. A faculty member may check his or her total accumulation at any time.

Faculty members may accumulate or “bank” excess teaching-credit hours and use those hours to offset teaching loads that fall below the expected norm and to secure course reductions. Activities undertaken by faculty members other than teaching (such as serving as advisor to a law journal or other student organizations) do not earn hours under the banking system. The Dean retains the authority to consider such undertakings in determining whether to grant a reduced course load.

Tenured and tenure-track faculty and those on long-term contracts in the Clinics, the Externship Program, the Writing and Learning Resources Center (RRWA etc.), and the Law Library are subject to these general banked hours principles. Thus, when such faculty members are asked to teach overloads without other forms of compensation, the overload will be recognized through agreements with the Dean’s office regarding adjustments to future teaching responsibilities, tailored to the special needs of the program. The teaching responsibilities and loads for these faculty members are set within the specific program. As a result, the ten-hour teaching expectation and other specific provisions set out below do not normally apply.

Surplus (Excess)

Surplus or “excess” teaching hours are accumulated when a faculty member teaches more than their default amount during any academic year. Surplus hours are first used to balance out any accumulated deficits from previous years. A faculty member is entitled to use net accumulated hours to justify a request for course reduction, allowing the faculty member to teach less than a full-time load.

Example: A faculty member teaching one three-hour course and two four-hour courses (eleven hours total) in an academic year would be teaching one hour more than the full-time load of ten hours and so would earn one excess hour that year. After three years with the same teaching load, the faculty member would have accumulated three banked hours and could request that she teach only seven hours (one three-hour course and one four-hour course) in the fourth year. If her request were granted and she taught only seven hours, she would be treated as teaching a full-time load of 10 hours in that year. The three excess hours used to justify the course reduction, would be subtracted from her accumulated total, and the faculty member would start the fifth year with no excess hours in the bank.

Deficits (Withdrawals)

Deficit teaching hours are accumulated when a faculty member teaches less than a full-time teaching load in an academic year (including both actual and presumed teaching hours). Any such deficit is first subtracted from any excess hours the faculty member may have accumulated in earlier years. Any remaining deficit hours will be carried forward. A faculty member with an accumulated deficit of teaching hours may be asked to teach an additional course to make up the deficit.

Example: A faculty member teaching nine hours in years one and two will have an accumulated deficit of two teaching hours at the end of year two. Teaching twelve hours in year three would reduce the deficit to zero. At the beginning of year four, no deficit and no excess hours would be carried forward with the bank account at zero.

Requests to Use Accumulated Excess Teaching Credit Hours

Individual faculty members are responsible for asking for a desired course reduction when sufficient excess hours have been accumulated. The course reduction should be requested in response to the memo from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs that calls for course teaching preferences for the next year. Such requests to use banked hours are typically limited to a reduction of one course. In appropriate circumstances, the one course reduction may result in a semester’s relief from teaching. In situations where the request is to use banked hours for a semester off or for reductions of more than one course, the request should also be submitted to the Dean. If a semester leave or teaching reduction is granted, its cost in banked hours will be specified, and in the case of leaves will vary dependent on the hours taught by the faculty member during the semester not on leave.

Course reductions, particularly those resulting in a semester off, are not automatic entitlements, and timing and the specific course(s) to be dropped will be determined by the Associate Dean and/or the Dean, taking into account the year-to-year needs of the institution in consultation with the faculty member. Ordinarily, a delay in granting a request to meet acute institutional needs to teach particular courses will delay use of banked hours no longer than one year.

Limitations

Surplus or excess teaching credit hours are not saleable or transferable, nor does the University or the School of Law incur an obligation to compensate a faculty member for unused banked hours. In other words, they are not redeemable for salary or dollars.

Because concentrating leave hours over a short period of years can be disruptive to academic planning, faculty members may not expend more than twelve banked hours during any three-year period. Banked hours may not be used to reduce or eliminate teaching requirements during phased retirement. Thus, those with large accumulation of surplus teaching hours cannot be assured that they will be able to expend all such accumulated hours via leaves or course reductions in the years immediately prior to retirement.

(Revised and Adopted: April 2011)

Faculty Feedback for Students in Rigorous Writing Experience Courses

Faculty members who teach courses designated as Rigorous Writing Experiences (RWE) are expected to provide individualized feedback on students’ writing aimed at improving their writing and analytical skills.

Prohibition of Multiple Uses of Written Product

Students may not submit the same or substantially similar written product more than once in fulfillment of the writing requirements of any law school course (e.g., RWE, SRW LAW 399, externship, or clinic) or other law school recognized activity (e.g., journal, moot court, trial team). Writing on the same or a substantially similar topic in fulfillment of multiple law school writing requirements is discouraged, but may be done, provided certain conditions are met. Such writing may occur simultaneously or sequentially. Students are cautioned, however, that they risk not receiving credit for both simultaneous writings or the second sequential writing if the two written products are deemed to be the same or substantially similar.

If such writing is done in the same semester (simultaneously), the student is responsible for notifying each party to whom the work will be submitted in fulfillment of a writing requirement (“evaluating party”) that the student is writing on related topics for more than one such party, and receiving clearance from all such parties to proceed. The student is also responsible for submitting to all evaluating parties the final products that are or have been produced. Each evaluating party shall independently determine if it is a substantially different product and may be used to meet the evaluating party’s writing requirement. (For a course, the evaluating party will be the professor. For credit to be provided by a student organization, the Editor in Chief, Chief Justice, or his or her equivalent or designee will make the determination in consultation with the group’s faculty advisor.)

If a student is writing on a topic that is the same or substantially similar to which a student has previously received credit from an evaluating party, the student must so notify the second evaluating party, provide a copy of the previously-credited written product, and receive permission from the second evaluating party to proceed. The second evaluating party shall determine if the proposed final product is substantially different and may be used to meet the evaluating party’s writing requirement.

Students will not receive credit for both simultaneous writings or the second sequential writing if any evaluating party determines that the two written products are the same or substantially similar. This determination will necessarily occur after the student has completed the required work. Therefore, students are advised to select different topics for written products required for any law school course or other law school recognized activity.

(Adopted: December 2010)

New Course Proposals

Faculty members may propose new courses for the next academic year by submitting a New Course Proposal Form to the Academic Affairs Committee. The Committee considers proposals whenever submitted at its regular meetings throughout the fall and spring semesters. Upon approval the committee presents the proposal to the faculty at the next scheduled faculty meeting. New courses to be offered during the following academic year should be approved early enough to ensure that they are included by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the course schedule for the upcoming academic year. Typically, the schedule is completed in February and all courses formally approved at the March faculty meeting. Approval of a new course by the Academic Affairs Committee and the faculty does not mean that the course will necessarily be offered in the coming academic year.

(Adopted: 2012. Updated: July 2024)

G. Course Management

Compliance with UNC Syllabus Policy

The Law School operates under UNC’s Syllabus Policy. Faculty members must comply with it.

In addition, faculty members generally must communicate the following clearly to students:

• Course Identifiers: The course number, credit hours, term, and times at which the class meets.
• Instructor Identifiers: The instructor’s name, office location, office hours, phone number(s), and email address.
• Course Prerequisites, if any, and how to satisfy any special course-registration requirements.
• Course Requirements: what kinds of work students must do to successfully complete the course, e.g. final exam, single paper or multiple papers, and any other requirements, such as mandatory activities outside of class meeting times.
• Dates: as far as possible, the dates of all examinations (other than as posted on the school’s final examination schedule) and due dates for important assignments.
• Grades: any special rules beyond exam or written product performance that the instructor uses to assign grades and how class participation may affect the grade shall be listed.

(Updated: July 2026)

Recording of Classes and Distribution of Recordings

The default policy is that all classes will be recorded unless faculty “opt out.” Recordings will include audio, any content projected via the AV system in each classroom (e.g., PowerPoint, electronic documents, hard copies displayed on the document camera) and in some classrooms, video of the instructor. If a faculty member does not want his or her class recorded, they must notify IT.

Class recordings will be retained for the duration of the semester, but they will be routinely disabled for viewing after exams are completed.

All recordings begin with a statement setting out restrictions on use of the recording.

Faculty Monitoring of Class Attendance

The School of Law’s Academic Standards describe minimum class attendance requirements and student responsibility for providing records relevant to whether absences are excused.

If a faculty member determines that a student has violated the attendance policy, he or she is to notify the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, who is charged with ruling on whether any contested absence(s) should be excused. The Associate Dean may provide limited waivers for unexcused absences in appropriate situations.

Methods of Taking Class Attendance

Faculty members must adopt a method of taking class attendance and inform the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs about it annually.

Auditing

Students may audit classes in which space is available, provided permission is obtained both from the instructor and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Permission should not be sought unless the student intends to attend class regularly for the entire semester. Persons not enrolled in the Law School, another school or department of the university ordinarily may not audit law classes. No record is kept of courses audited and no fees are charged to full-time students. Students should not ordinarily enroll in a class for credit if they have previously audited the class.

Computer Use in Classes

Faculty may restrict the use of computers as it best suits his or her pedagogical style. The policy for computer use in class should be announced to students at the beginning of the course and/or noted in the syllabus.

Examinations

First-Year Practice Examinations

In the fall semester, some form of practice examinations are given in most 1L courses. Practice exams are typically for advisory purposes only and results typically do not affect students’ final grades. The purposes of practice exams are to permit students (1) to assess their preparation and progress and (2) to familiarize themselves with the law school’s testing procedures. Students are encouraged but not required to take these practice exams.

Typically, practice exams consist of one 30-minute question in each course. For each first-year college, at least one exam course’s practice exam should be administered at the law school by the office of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Faculty members are permitted to give practice exams at other times and in different formats, at their discretion, but are encouraged to use the regular time period to ensure that students have an opportunity to practice with the examination software.

All students should receive some sort of feedback following the practice examination. It is customary for professors to provide some form of individual feedback to each student, and professors are strongly encouraged to give individual feedback, but they may give feedback in various other ways, including discussing the question in class, posting a sample answer, having the students review selected actual student answers and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each.

(Adopted: March 2008, updated July 2026)

Mid-term Examinations

Faculty members may give mid-term examinations that are included in the calculation of the final grade for the course.

Final Examinations

Final examinations are held at the end of each semester in most courses, at a date and time scheduled by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Faculty members who give final examinations should adhere to the final examination schedule, absent authorization by the Associate Dean. Writing courses usually do not have final examinations.

Faculty members are expected to proctor their own examinations or to arrange for proctoring with another faculty member. The Office of Academic Affairs provides a central collection point for examination papers and handwritten examinations for faculty members who choose not to collect their own examinations. Students have requested that each faculty member giving an examination clearly state when he or she wants the students to stop writing and whether the faculty member will come into the room to call time or if students should stop on their own at the stated time.

Take-Home Examinations

If a faculty member is going to give a Take-Home Exam, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Office of Student Services must be notified at least three weeks prior to beginning of the final examination period. Take-home exams may be administered on the day that has been assigned to the exam or as a floating exam that may be taken as scheduled by the student and faculty member or member of FAS. If the exam is scheduled to begin at 9:00 or 2:00 on a particular day, the take-home exam should run from 9:00 to 5:00 that day. Take-home exams should not be scheduled during the regular semester or during reading days since this impacts other classes or a student’s preparation time for other exams.

(Adopted: April 2010; Updated: July 2016)

Exam Accountability

For all examinations, students must be reminded that it is a violation of UNC’s Student Code of Conduct to distribute any unreleased copies of any examination, paper or electronic. When administering examinations, exam proctors shall collect and account for all hard copies of the examination questions. Exam proctors may utilize any effective system that guarantees all examination questions are collected after administration. If a hard copy of the examination questions is missing, or there is reason to believe that a student has distributed a copy of an electronic examination, the faculty member shall consult with the Office of Student Development and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

(Adopted: November 6, 2014)

Course Evaluations by Students

At the end of each semester, students are asked to evaluate each course and instructor. Faculty members should allow 10-15 minutes of class time for students to complete the course evaluations.

Peer Review/Evaluation of Faculty

For pre-tenure tenure-track faculty members, a peer review of one of their classes is to be conducted under the direction of the Associate Dean for Faculty Development at least once each year they are teaching except: (1) in the first year of teaching, when peer review is available on a voluntary basis; and (2) in the last two semesters before the reappointment decision and (3) as the tenure decision approaches. The latter two reviews are governed by promotion and tenure policies and are conducted under the direction of the Promotion and Tenure Committee.

Pre-tenure peer reviews conducted under the direction of the Associate Dean for Faculty Development are for the benefit of the faculty member in improving teaching and are not part of the reappointment, tenure or promotion record. Peer reviewers for these reviews are required to provide feedback to the pre-tenure faculty member regarding the classes reviewed, but no substantive written evaluation is required. The Associate Dean for Faculty Development will document that such reviews have taken place, including the date of such review, the classes reviewed, the name(s) of the peer reviewer, and a confirmation that the reviewer provided feedback to the pre-tenure faculty member, and a copy of that documentation will be placed in the person’s personnel file.

By contrast, at the time of consideration for reappointment, tenure or promotion, peer review is mandatory and written reports of classroom visits are a part of the record for reappointment, tenure or promotion. See Promotion and Tenure Policy.

(Revised March 1, 2012)

Grading Procedures

Notice to Students

Faculty members should inform students in writing at the beginning of the semester how their final grade will be determined. Faculty members who intend to factor in class participation or attendance in their final grades should include that information in their descriptions.

Anonymity

Student written work should be graded on an anonymous basis to the extent possible. Faculty members who consider class participation or attendance in their final grades will become aware of each student’s identity when assigning final grades and all faculty members do see PIDs connected with names when they assign grades.

Timing of Grade Submissions

Faculty members are encouraged to complete the grading of examinations and to report final grades as soon as possible after the end of a semester and before a new semester or term of summer school begins. Faculty should assign the highest priority to the completion of grading and should, whenever possible, avoid scheduling activities in the period after examinations which interfere with this obligation.

(Revised and approved: October 2010; 1L clause added October 2014)

Grade Calculation and Compliance

Faculty members must calculate the grades for each course and submit them to the Registrar with the final grades. The grades for the course will not be posted until the calculation is submitted, and if the mean or distributional requirement (if applicable) falls outside the parameters of this policy, only after the faculty member has received approval for the deviation by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. In considering whether to permit further deviation from the indicated mean for small enrollment courses of fifteen or fewer students, the Associate Dean’s discretion increases as the size of the class decreases.

Optional Merit Certificates

When reporting grades to the Registrar, faculty members may wish to award a high merit certificate for the student(s) earning the highest grade in the class. To award a certificate, the faculty member should indicate on the grade sheet which student(s) earned the highest grade. This award may be made to the student(s) whose class performance, exam, and/or research paper was clearly outstanding. Faculty members are not required to award this certificate in any class.

(Revised: April 2007, March 2010)

Incompletes

Faculty members may award a grade of “Incomplete” (designated “IN” on a transcript) in instances in which they believe the award of such a grade is warranted. Incompletes should generally be cleared by the end of the semester following the semester in which a grade of Incomplete is awarded.

Determinations that a longer period is to be made available to clear the Incomplete may be made justified by special circumstances, and in consultation with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Incompletes that are not cleared within one year will be converted to 0.0, although in extraordinary circumstances the faculty member in consultation with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, may authorize a student to withdraw with a grade of IN. The designation “IN” followed by the grade ultimately awarded, will appear on student transcripts unless the instructor indicates that the original designation “IN” was made based on instructor error.