Welcome to your Fall 2021 Week Four Resources and Reminders!
Highlights:
- Week five support for students, including Academic Standing policies
- What to do in power outages
- Grants
- And More
Dear Faculty Colleagues –
Thanks for all you have done to launch fall quarter! Remarkably, we are nearly halfway through.
Week 5 Check-Ins: It’s Week 5, and time for mid-quarter check-ins with students. Please ensure that you contact all students who may face the possibility of not earning all credits so far this quarter, by Friday, October 29. Let students who may not be earning full credit know what they need to do to earn full credit, with a schedule for completing the work, if possible. Please consider that for students in danger of earning no credits at all, advising them to drop the course may be a good course of action (This could prevent a Required Leave of Absence down the line). When you communicate with students, we encourage use of supportive language such as “academic concern” or “academic progress “rather than “warning” or “in danger of losing credit.” Please encourage students to visit an academic advisor, and/or resources like the Writing Center or the QuaSR Center.
Academic Standing Policies: Have you had a conversation with your students about our Academic Standing policy? Is it included in your syllabus? Talking with students about these policies in general can help alleviate surprise, stress and panic down the line. Mid-quarter may be a good time to re-familiarize yourself and your students with these policies. Note that there are somewhat different conditions for good academic standing and financial aid eligibility. For both, a general rule is the 75% guideline: if a student earns less than 3/4 of their credits, they may be risking their financial aid and good academic standing. When you meet with students who may be earning less than full credit, please advise them to keep their eye on their academic standing and financial aid. Encourage them to speak with Academic Advising (intakea@evergreen.edu), Financial Aid (finaid@evergreen.edu), and/or the Academic Deans (deans@evergreen.edu).
Bear in mind these policies apply only to 16 credit offerings. At 12 credits, a student cannot lose any credits without financial aid implications, so please be very careful to support students and communicate with them about the stakes of earning all of their credit.
Processing No Credit Reports: Do you have students who have dropped your program but still appear on the roll? If it’s appropriate, and if you haven’t already done so, it may be useful to fill out a no-credit report on my.evergreen.edu under the “class lists and evaluations” link, indicating the last date of attendance. By filling this out before the end of the quarter, the student will get notices regarding financial aid reimbursement and other registration actions much earlier than they otherwise would.
Power outages and other disruptions. We encourage you to develop a contingency plan with your students that includes a back-up mode of emergency communication and clear ways students can carry on with work, even when synchronous meeting is not possible. Please review this handy set up guidelines from the Learning and Teaching Commons: https://sites.evergreen.edu/ltc/continuity/. The hope, of course, is that all students have equal access to earning their credits even if they don’t have equal access to the power and wifi they need!
SURF & Return to Evergreen. Thanks to SURF faculty and student teams for their hard work this summer. Students went above and beyond to create video presentations of their summer work to share at the Return to Evergreen event that will be launched this November 6, 2021. Videos will continue to be available at the Return to Evergreen site.
Faculty Sponsored Research Grant Applications. The deadline for Sponsored Research grant applications is today, October 25 by 5:00pm. Supporting letters are also due at this time. The application should be submitted via an electronic application form . Letters of support should also be submitted via an electronic form. Please do not submit applications or letters via email. More information about this grant application can be found at the website:
https://www.evergreen.edu/academicgrants/sponsored-research-grants-faculty
Book Orders for winter quarter are due and can be submitted through my.evergreen.edu. The Library makes every effort to purchase e-books for your offerings, and both the Greener Bookstore and Library need lead time to purchase and process. Please attend to this task as soon as possible.
COVID-19 safety support. Check this site regularly for updates, and encourage students also to do so: https://sites.evergreen.edu/covid19/. At this time only “invited guests” can enter buildings. What is an “invited guest”? Examples: Admissions manages applicant visits, and contractors can enter if they have completed the process of vaccination verification. At this time, the Governor’s proclamation requires that volunteers as well as employees have confirmed their vaccination or completed an exemption process. Please advise any volunteers you work with to remain offsite, and forward inquiries to covid@evergreen.edu.
Thank you for attending to these reminders. We are here to support you–let us know how.
Karen Gaul, Larry Geri, Kathleen Eamon, Greg Mullins, Marcia Tate Arunga, Elizabeth Williamson, Abir Biswas, Lori Blewett
The Academic Deans | 360.867.6810