Preamble

In response to program growth, and after reviewing regional and national trends and the needs of our students, the Graduate Committee implemented the following policy concerning hours of instruction and scheduling courses.

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Length of Instruction

Each graduate class meets 2h 20m per week.

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Scheduling Classes

• On days with only one class, classes start at 5:20pm.

• On days with two classes, classes start at 4:30pm and 7:00pm (i.e., classes run back to back, not parallel).

• We avoid scheduling three classes on any one day.

• We avoid scheduling two courses from the same area on the same day.

• We schedule afternoon classes only in exceptional circumstances and only on days when we offer one evening course.

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Changing the Day/Time of a Class

Instructors may change the day/time on/at which their classes meet. However, students enroll in graduate classes until the first week of classes. Therefore, any change in day or time of instruction must wait until the first day of classes, be acceptable to all students enrolled in the class, and be coordinated with the Graduate Program Director (to assure that proposed changes do not conflict with graduate curricular and extra-curricular events scheduled throughout the semester).

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Principles for Scheduling Graduate Courses

Given the potential for conflicts of (faculty) interest accompanying the class scheduling process, the Committee also endorsed the following Principles for Scheduling Graduate Courses (listed in weighted order):

    1.    program needs, in particular, diversification of course offerings and balanced course distribution;
    2.    faculty needs;
    3.    seniority.

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