Updates in Academic Affairs: September 2, 2014
Welcome back for an energetic new academic year, a number of key events
Welcome! We are happy to have the campus energized by the enthusiasm and excitement of our new and returning faculty, students and staff for the start of the academic year.
I look forward to the opportunity to visit with you throughout the year. I hope to see many of you on Friday, Sept. 5, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the Teaching and Learning Bash at the Fetzer Center and later that day at Bronco Bash on the Sangren Pedestrian Mall between 3 and 7 p.m.
I am especially pleased that our primary mission and focus on student success has led to the creation of a collaborative initiative for our students, the Bronco Study Zone at Waldo Library.
Beginning Monday, Sept. 8, students will have access to this area intended to help them strengthen their study habits through supervised academic support as well as coaching.
Additional information regarding this initiative is available here. We hope instructors will encourage their students to utilize these important resources.
In closing, we would like to remind all members of the University community to save the date for the Academic Convocation and State of the University address on Friday, Oct. 10.
We will convene at 2 p.m. in the Dalton Recital Hall to recognize and thank 11 outstanding members of our faculty and staff for their demonstrated excellence in teaching, research and service throughout our community. Following the awards ceremony, President John M. Dunn will provide us with comments regarding the State of the University.
We look forward to this annual celebration, and to closing the afternoon with a special Fridays with Friends reception in the Richmond Center for Visual Arts immediately following the president’s address.
I hope you will continue to read the Updates in Academic Affairs newsletters, and find our updates helpful. I am happy to reply to your feedback and comments. Please contact me at @email.
Best wishes throughout the academic year,
Tim Greene
Provost and vice president for academic affairs
“Instructor of record” information is vital
As a reminder for those in academic departments who build course schedules, please ensure that “instructors of record” are recorded appropriately in Banner.
Instructor of record information has a variety of uses, including as a means to locate people in specified buildings and classrooms in the event of an emergency. It also serves as the official record for course grading if a student chooses to contest a grade. Moreover, the information is used to notify instructors of student academic accommodations or modifications required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
As a quick reference, a copy of the Faculty Senate policy on recording instructors of record in Banner is available here. You will find additional assistance by contacting the Registrar’s Office at (269) 387-4300.
New student accommodation management system comes with new requirements
Disability Services for Students is in the process of migrating to a new student accommodation management system called Accommodate. Currently, DSS provides services to more than 300 students.
Transitioning to the new system will require that students request services and appointment scheduling through the GoWMU portal. With the new system, instructors of record will receive email notifications regarding students requesting academic accommodations or modifications.
The current system of notification through academic accommodation cards will run in parallel with the new Accommodate system until September 2015 when the accommodation cards will be phased out.
Students are required to request from DSS academic accommodations for each semester and each class. DSS staff then screens and approves accommodations or modifications. Instructors of record will receive email notifications from this system when a student is screened and approved for academic accommodations and modifications.
DSS will continue to stress to students the importance of meeting with faculty members as soon as they have been been approved for services. The office also encourages students with a prior medical certification to register with DSS in the first two weeks of a semester. In addition, DSS stresses to students that accommodations are not retroactive to the beginning of a semester and will take up to five days for implementation.
To help remind students how to request such academic accommodations or modifications and utilize DSS services, we ask instructors to consider including the following statement in courses syllabi:
To assure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, faculty members at Western Michigan University need to know how a disability will impact student participation and work in courses. Any student registered with Disability Services for Students who would like to discuss accommodations for this class should contact the instructor of record in a timely manner. Students with documented disabilities who are not registered with DSS should call the office at (269) 387-2116 or visit wmich.edu/disabilityservices. Students cannot request academic accommodations without scheduling an appointment and meeting with a DSS staff member. If a student does not register with DSS, their academic accommodations/modifications cannot be executed.
Find additional information on the Accommodate system on the DSS website. You may also contact Jayne Fraley-Burgett at (269) 387-2120, @email.