INFORMATION FROM THE REGISTRAR
CALENDAR AND DEADLINES
First Classes
Classes begin September 5. At the start of every semester, faculty members are responsible for explaining to their students the implications for each course of the Statement of Intellectual Responsibility. It may also be prudent to explain this policy in the course syllabus and/or the course web site. Further information about the college's policies and services can be found on the Intellectual Responsibility web page.
Add/Drop Period and Preregistration Period
During the first week of a semester’s add/drop period, students who wish to enroll in classes should be accommodated if space permits. During the second week, faculty members should use their discretion when students seek late admittance to courses. If a faculty member feels that it is impossible for a student to make up missed work after the first week, he or she should inform the student immediately upon the student’s request to enroll in the class. Although first-year faculty members do not have formal advising responsibilities, they are encouraged to hold extra office hours during the add/drop period (September 5-September 14) and first-round (October 30-November 3) and second round (November 13-15) of the spring preregistration period. As students make course selections, they often wish to consult faculty members about course content and/or requirements.
Mid-Semester Warning Grades
As the midpoint of the semester approaches, the registrar sends faculty members a reminder about mid-term grades, which includes a link to the registrar’s web page. There, you will find instructions for submitting mid-term grades for each of your courses or sections. If you have students earning grades of D or F at that time, you will be asked to submit the grade and provide comments, which will be forwarded to the Office of Student Affairs. Class deans will meet with the students to offer support and guidance. The deadline for mid-semester warning grades for the fall semester is October 11 and spring semester is March 15.
Final Grades
It is important that faculty members meet all deadlines for the submission of grades to the Registrar's Office. The grades for the fall semester are due on January 2. Senior grades for spring semester are due May 20 at 9 a.m. Grades for first, second, and third year students are due TBA.
POLICIES AND GUIDELINES
Title IX/ Mandatory Reporting
All faculty members (including visiting professors and adjunct professors) are mandatory reporters of information regarding sexual misconduct. If you receive a report, observe, or otherwise learn that an Amherst community member may have been affected by sexual misconduct (in any of its forms), you are required to share all known information, as soon as possible, with Laurie Frankl, Amherst’s Civil Rights and Title IX Coordinator. If you have questions about reporting or for assistance with supporting a person who has made a disclosure of sexual misconduct to you, please contact Tracy Kennedy crtixoffice@amherst.edu. For more information about Title IX at Amherst, please visit Amherst's Title IX web pages.
Intellectual Dishonesty
In cases of cheating and plagiarism, faculty members have the responsibility to enforce the Statement of Intellectual Responsibility. They are strongly encouraged to report all instances to the Office of Student Affairs, which keeps student records and will be aware of any previous infractions a particular student may have committed. Without such reporting, students may be able to commit multiple infractions without serious consequence. The college's discipline system is used to address instances of suspected or proven cheating and plagiarism. In every instance, the particular grade penalty is imposed only at the discretion of the instructor. If an instructor suspects an instance of plagiarism off the internet, staff members of the Office of Student Affairs can help locate the source. Learn more about Amherst's community standards here.
Evaluation procedures for tenure-track faculty are described in the Faculty Handbook in section III.D.2, Annual Conversation with the Chair, and in section III.D.4, Reappointment Procedures. Each department designs a form in essay format appropriate to its subject matter. It may be helpful to ask the chair for a copy of that form early in the semester. At the time of a faculty member’s reappointment, retrospective letters will also be solicited from all the students he or she has taught at Amherst. Visiting faculty members are encouraged to arrange with their chairs, early in the semester, how, if at all, they want to be evaluated by students.
Completion of Work and Extensions
All course work in a given semester must be submitted by the last day of classes at 5:00 p.m. Extensions will be given only for extraordinary reasons, and only when students have obtained signatures of the course instructor and the class dean. Work not submitted by the date set in the extension will not be accepted for credit. Only for medical reasons or those of grave personal emergency will extensions be granted beyond the second day after the examination period. Amherst does not use the grade of incomplete.