August 15, 2008

To:                   Dr. Joe Heim

                        Faculty Senate Chair

From:               Dr. Chris Bakkum

                        Registrar

Re:                   Grade Submission Deadline

Our current academic calendar, which was approved by the Faculty Senate, includes dates and times for grade submission at the end of each term.  As we move toward the implementation of our new student information system, we have discovered that the time of the grade submission must move from 8 a.m. to midnight.  Since we expect the processing of grades to take up to 8 hours, I would like the Senate Executive Committee to consider granting a one year “pilot” of moving the grade submission deadline to midnight on the night before our calendared grade submission date.  This does mean the faculty will need to have grades in 8 hours earlier than currently scheduled.  The one year pilot will allow us time to learn how the new system will work and whether or not the change to midnight is detrimental to the faculty submission of grades.  Note that nothing would change for this academic year (08-09).  The change would be piloted in 09-10.

Below are the current and proposed grade submission deadlines for 09-10:

                                Current                                                                       Proposed

SS 09                Wed., Aug. 19, 2009 at 8 a.m.                           Wed., Aug. 19, 2009 at midnight

Fall 09               Wed., Dec. 30, 2009 at 8 a.m.                           Tues., Dec. 29, 2009 at midnight

Winter 09           Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 at 8 a.m.                          Thurs., Jan. 28, 2010 at midnight

Spring 10           Fri., May 21, 2010 at 8 a.m.                              Thurs., May 20, 2010 at midnight

Thank you for your consideration of this request.  I believe this temporary change will help to ensure that we will be able to get grades processed and provide timely access to those grades for students during the PeopleSoft implementation year.  We will monitor the grade processing and will return to the Faculty Executive Committee in Spring 2010 with a recommendation for future grade submission deadlines.  Please let me know if you have any questions!