Academic Resources, Regulations, and Policies

Academic Resources—The Maytum Center for Student Success

The Maytum Center for Student Success, located in Pelletier Library, houses academic support and advising services to create a “one-stop shop” for all students. It is dedicated to helping students thrive at all stages of their college careers.

The Maytum Center for Student Success’ professional staff consult individually with students on study strategies such as time management, effective reading, and test taking; facilitate summer entrance advising; support the academic advising program with four-year course planning and help declaring a major/minor; and arrange accommodations for students with disabilities. Trained peer consultants assist students with writing, public speaking, and study in a variety of academic subjects.

For more information about the Maytum Center for Student Success, to pick up a tutoring schedule, or to make an appointment, stop by in person, call 814-332-2898, or visit the Maytum Center for Student Success Website: http://sites.allegheny.edu/learningcommons/.

Academic Regulations and Policies

The Semester Calendar

Allegheny divides the academic year into two semesters of 15 weeks each. A month-long break, beginning in late December, separates the semesters. Vacations occur during October, over Thanksgiving, and in March.

During semesters, classes typically meet two or three times per week for periods of 75 or 50 minutes, respectively. Associated laboratories are usually scheduled separately, although they may be scheduled at the regular class time if appropriate. Prior to registration, information about class times and examination periods for all courses to be offered is made available electronically to all students via Self-Service.

The Credit System

Most courses receive four semester credit hours, and, for a student enrolled for the usual full-time courseload of 16 credits, four-credit courses are designed to require no more than one-fourth of the time devoted by the student to academics. Some courses may receive one, two, or three semester credit hours.

Courses taught as Module (7-week) or as “short” (less than 7-week) courses should not generally exceed two semester credit hours. Matriculated, degree-seeking students must already be enrolled in order to add a Module (7-week) or “short” (less than 7-week) course. Students must not have voluntarily withdrawn nor been dismissed or suspended from the College at the time at which they wish to add such a course.

Course Load

The usual academic load is 16 semester credit hours in each semester and 32 semester hours for the academic year. Students may take up to 20 semester hours per semester without special permission.

Class Standing

A student is considered to be a first-year student from the date of matriculation until the semester following completion of the 28th semester hour, when the student becomes a sophomore. A student becomes a junior in the semester following completion of the 60th semester hour, and a senior in the semester following completion of the 92nd semester hour.

Class Attendance Policy

Students are expected to attend class regularly and communicate with their instructors about absences in a timely fashion. The following guidelines govern class attendance at Allegheny College.

1. With the exception of official medical excuses (described in section 6 below), students are permitted to be absent from class only with the approval of the instructor. Unauthorized absences may result in grade penalty or other consequences at the discretion of the instructor. Course instructors are required to state their attendance policy at the outset of the course. Religious holidays and illness or death of a family member are generally recognized as legitimate reasons to miss class, although students should be prepared to provide documentation.
2. On occasion, college-related activities will conflict with class meetings. Faculty are not required to excuse students for these activities; however, many faculty are willing to make reasonable alternative arrangements for students who provide advance notice of anticipated absences, take responsibility for completing missed work, and make every effort possible to reduce disruption to the course as the result of their absences.
3. Sponsors of college-related activities should make every reasonable effort to avoid planning events that will conflict with class schedules. In addition, sponsors of these activities should provide notice to student participants and to faculty of anticipated absences at the earliest possible date. These notices will typically come from coaches in case of athletic conflict and from the Dean of Students Office in all other cases.
4. Students should take responsibility for providing advance notice of absences, for acquiring information or course materials distributed during the missed class meeting(s), and for completing make-up assignments.
5. Students should discuss potential conflicts with faculty advisors when planning for course registration and attempt to schedule class times that will not interfere with legitimate college activities whenever possible, keeping in mind that completing required courses is always the most important consideration.
6. Official medical excuses from academic requirements such as tests, examinations, quizzes, laboratories, reports, papers, and other assignments are governed by the following policy.
   • The illness or injury must be one which has been determined by medical authority to require bed rest for a period not less than 24 hours, immobilization, or treatment that can only be scheduled in conflict with class or laboratory work. 
   • Excuses for courses requiring physical activity are issued for medical problems which will prohibit participation.
   • Illness or injuries are to be diagnosed and/or treated either by the College physician or at a recognized medical facility off-campus. The staff of the Winslow Health Center will confirm diagnosis or treatment within 24 hours following, but not at a later time.
   • If students receive treatment off campus and believe that a medical excuse may appropriately be given, they should request written confirmation of the treatment before leaving the facility where it is given.
   • The Winslow Health Center does not provide official medical excuses for common complaints such as simple respiratory infections or colds, pulled muscles, headaches, and the like. Students should communicate directly with faculty about situations where classes are missed due to a minor illness.
   • Section 1 above permits faculty the discretion to set a more permissive medical excuse policy for their individual course.
7. Questions about this policy should be referred to the Office of the Registrar.

This policy is under the purview of the Academic Standards Committee. Changes are subject to a vote of the Faculty.

(April 2019)

Tests, Papers, and Examinations Policy

A. General Principles Governing Culminating Assignments

Grading System

Student grades are reported on either a letter-grade basis or a Credit/No Credit basis:

Letter Grades

Credit/No Credit

Other

The following notations are also used in reporting student work:

Grade Changes

Assessing student work and assigning grades is a primary faculty responsibility. Faculty have the right to substantial autonomy in assigning grades, within the policies they set for their classes and applicable College policies. The utmost care should be taken to ensure that grading is accurate, fair, and based on grading criteria (see Section 9.1.3.7 for recommendations on grading criteria in syllabi). 

On rare occasions, errors in grading are discovered by faculty or students after grades are posted. On even rarer occasions, students may have concerns about grading that do not fall within the parameters of the faculty-initiated grade change policy (Section 1 below). The policy outlined below governs the circumstances under which grade change requests may be made and the procedures for doing so.

Students should be advised that filing a formal grade change request, that is, beyond the level of the instructor, is serious, and should be avoided until all informal methods of resolution have been used.

The decision of the Provost to change or not change a grade in the circumstances outlined below is final, and will either be made upon recommendation of the faculty involved, or if there is clear evidence that the standards listed above of accuracy, fairness, and application of grading criteria have not been met.

     I.     Grade Change Originated by Faculty

Faculty may request that a previously recorded course grade be changed only: (a) in the case of a demonstrable mathematical error in the compilation or recording of a grade; (b) where it is brought to the attention of the faculty member that they inadvertently misapplied College policy in a way that affected grading; or (c) in the case where documented, extraordinary, extenuating circumstances are brought to the instructor after the deadline for grade submission. Such circumstances brought to the instructor prior to the deadline for grade submission should be evaluated according to the policies for “Grades of Incomplete” or “Withdrawals for Extenuating Circumstances.” All faculty requests for grade changes must be approved by the Provost and Dean of the College, whose decision in the matter is final. Within fourteen days of receiving the faculty request to change a grade, the Provost shall determine the outcome of the case, and communicate that to the student and instructor.

     II.     Grade Change Originated by Student

A student with questions about their evaluation in a course is expected to first consult with the faculty member instructing the course. Many such questions can be resolved via a conversation between student and instructor. 

If further consultation is necessary, the student should write a formal appeal to the chair of the academic department or program in which the course is offered. In their appeal, students should include the nature of their concern, supporting evidence when available, the result of the previous conversation with the course instructor, and the resolution requested. If the faculty member instructing the course is also the chair of the academic department or program, then the student should direct their appeal to the Provost and Dean of the College.

The chair of the academic department or program should review the student appeal, consulting further with the student and instructor(s) as necessary. Within fourteen days of receiving the student appeal, the chair should make a written recommendation to the Provost about the matter. Within fourteen days of receiving the chair’s recommendation, the Provost shall determine the outcome of the case, and communicate that to the student, instructor, and chair. 

The decision of the Provost is final and no further appeal is possible.

    III.     Timing of Grade Changes

All requests for review must be initiated within sixty days of the date that the final grade was posted to a student’s record. So long as the request is initiated within sixty days, the review and final decision may exceed that timeframe. However, grades cannot be changed after a student’s degree has been posted and they have graduated.

     IV.     Conflicts of Interest     

In cases where a conflict of interest exists on the part of the chair of an academic department or the Provost, they must recuse themselves from the process. The chair would be replaced by a faculty member in their department, ideally a former chair, and the Provost would be replaced by the Associate Provost or an academic dean.

This policy is under the purview of the Academic Standards Committee. Changes are subject to a vote of the faculty.

(April 2021)

Credit (“CR”)/No Credit (“NC”)

Students may take up to four credit hours per semester on the Credit/No Credit basis, but may not present for graduation more than 16 credit hours of their coursework on this basis.

If students wish to take a course on the Credit/No Credit basis, they must obtain their advisor’s approval and submit the appropriate request to the Registrar’s Office by the end of the second week of classes for 14-week courses or, for seven-week courses only, by the end of the second week of the module. Students are cautioned that some courses may not be taken using this option. Courses not eligible for the Credit/No Credit system are so indicated in their course descriptions.

Credit, “CR,” will be awarded for course performance equivalent to, or higher than, a passing letter grade, “D.” No credit, “NC,” will be awarded for course performance equivalent to a failing letter grade, “F.”

Grades of Incomplete

Faculty stipulate grades of Incomplete (“IN”) when they believe that extenuating circumstances preclude completion of the work on time by the student. The student is responsible for providing evidence for the extenuating circumstances to the satisfaction of the faculty member, who has sole authority to grant the Incomplete. Incompletes are awarded with the expectation that the work will be completed by the student in a timely fashion. When instructors submit a grade of Incomplete, they must also submit the grade that will be awarded should no further work be submitted by the student. The instructor should formulate a plan for timely completion of the incomplete work, and this plan should be addressed in the Academic Performance Report the instructor submits explaining the Incomplete grade and specifying a tentative grade.

Examples of circumstances in which an Incomplete is appropriate include, but are not limited to, serious illnesses or injuries that preclude a student from finishing work for a course; cases where the course grade depends on the outcome of an Honor Code hearing; or death of an immediate family member. An Incomplete should not be assigned when a student simply fails to turn in a final exam or project, nor when there is little likelihood that the student will be able to make up a large quantity of incomplete work (due, for example, to prolonged illness); in the latter case a Withdrawal for Extenuating Circumstances may be more appropriate (see “Withdrawing From a Course ”).

After appropriate consultation with the student, the instructor will determine the date by which incomplete work must be completed. In all cases, the work must be completed no later than 30 days after the first day of classes of the semester or summer session in which the student is next registered. Students who have an “IN,” but do not register in a subsequent semester or summer session, must complete the work within 12 months. Extensions to these deadlines may only be granted by the Provost or designee. If no information is provided by the instructor by the end of the 12 months, the grade that was originally submitted at the time the “IN” was assigned is posted to the transcript.

When the instructor submits the completed grade to the Registrar, this completed grade is posted to the transcript and calculated into the grade point average for the semester in which the student was registered for the course. If no completed grade or other communication is received by the Registrar from the faculty member, the grade that was originally submitted at the time the “IN” was assigned is posted to the transcript and calculated into the grade point average.

Repeated Courses

With the exception of the First-Year/Sophomore Seminars, students may repeat courses at Allegheny, provided the courses are offered again. Whenever a student repeats a course, the academic record and transcript will reflect all course enrollments and the grade earned for each enrollment. From the time of completion of a repeated course forward, only the credit and grade for the most recent attempt will be counted in computing grade point averages. (However, for those courses that can be repeated for credit—for example, music ensembles—the credits and grades for each enrollment are included in computing the academic average). If a student withdraws from a repeated course, the academic record and transcript will include the withdrawal, and the grade previously earned will continue to be counted in computing grade point averages. Students may repeat a course initially taken on the graded basis for Credit/No Credit; however, Credit (“CR”) must be earned or the grade previously awarded will continue to be counted in computing grade point averages. In the event a student receives a grade of Incomplete (“IN”) for a repeated course, the grade previously earned will continue to be counted in computing grade point averages until such time as the student completes the coursework and a final grade has been submitted.

Consortial Course Policy

Allegheny College students may take online, consortial courses through our partnership with Acadeum. A consortial course will count as an Allegheny course. While consortial courses are offered by a different college or university, they are deemed as fully equivalent to a specified Allegheny course. As such, the course will appear on the student’s Allegheny transcript as an Allegheny course (though these courses will be designated “Acadeum” in order to indicate that the course was not actually taken at Allegheny), and the grade that a student receives in a consortial course will impact the student’s Allegheny GPA. Please note that all grades for completed consortial courses, including grades of F, will count towards a student’s Allegheny GPA. 

Consortial courses will not count towards the academic residency requirement that a minimum of 64 credits be taken in residence at Allegheny. Consortial courses will require a waiver to be considered part of the last 16 credits presented for graduation, and do need a waiver of the concurrent enrollment policy if the student is registered for Allegheny courses in the same semester as Acadeum courses. Consortial courses may not count towards the requirement that students must complete at least 8 credits towards a minor in academic residence at Allegheny College.

Consortial courses that have a specific Allegheny equivalent (e.g., COMM 120) will count for distribution and other requirements as though they were the Allegheny course. Consortial courses that do not have a specific Allegheny equivalent (e.g., COMM 3CN) may be counted towards major and minor requirements at the discretion of the department or program chair. These courses will not count towards distribution unless approved through the Curriculum Committee exception process. Students should be aware, however, that many Allegheny requirements are specified as needing four credits, so a three-credit consortial course might not fully satisfy a specific requirement.

This policy is under the purview of the Academic Standards Committee. Changes are subject to a vote of the faculty.

(April 2021)