Curricular Management
As chair, you oversee grade sheets and grade records, course evaluations, new departmental courses, independent study forms, and departmental awards.
1. Grades and Grade Records
Chairs should remind faculty, including block- and year-visitors, to enter grades on Banner by the due date (typically, the second Tuesday of the following block) and to keep records of grades for each class.
Senior grades for Block 8 are due by 2:00 PM of the last day of class.
Late grades cause serious difficulties for students receiving financial aid, applying for scholarships or awards, or applying for graduate school. Chairs should remind faculty to inform the Registrar's Office of off-campus addresses and other contact information (i.e., email) in the case of summer vacations, sabbaticals, or other forms of leave from the College and should keep such a contact list of faculty themselves. Faculty on sabbatical are expected to respond to business email from chairs, registrar's office, and other administrative offices for time-sensitive matters related to student records.
2. Course Evaluations
The purposes of the course evaluation procedure are to promote the improvement of teaching and learning and to establish a common expectation for systematically improving teaching across the faculty and departments. The purpose of department or program chair (or designated faculty member) reviews of course evaluations is to foster constructive, mutually helpful discussion about teaching and learning effectiveness within each department.
Departments can establish their own additional course evaluation questions. Faculty can additionally add custom questions. See ITS instructions page for using the course evaluation system.
3. New Department Courses
Many new courses are first taught under a departmental topics course number before going through the Committee on Instruction to propose a new course. See .
4. Independent Study Forms
Courses for independent study require approval by the Chair and consent of the instructor. Visit the Registrar's Forms Page for a link to the online "Apply for Independent Study/Research" form.
5. Department Awards
Many (but not all) departments confer a variety of awards to students each year. The Registrar's Office sends out a notice to each department detailing which awards will be presented or noted at Honors Convocation and the date by which it must receive the names so that they can be included in the Honors Convocation program. The Dean must approve the creation of a new departmental award. Some departmental awards are presented at other times during the year, such as at a department graduation reception.