Academic Information and Policies

Spring Assessment Day - Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Seniors in certain majors are required to participate in Spring 2017 Assessment Day activities on Tuesday, March 28, 2017. Major Field Tests are given to seniors with the following majors: Biology, Business (undergraduates enrolled in MNGT 452; graduates enrolled in MNGT 681), Chemistry, Communication (Public Relations & Advertising, Journalism, and Radio & Television majors), Criminal Justice Studies, English, Geology, History, Mathematics, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Students required to participate in these tests will receive notification by letter in February and by email reminders in March and April with testing time and location. The list of senior students required to take the exam, as well as times and locations of testing, will be posted online at www.usi.edu/planning-research-and-assessment/assessment. Students are responsible for checking their USI email account for official University correspondence.

Registration Holds

Students who fail to participate in Spring Assessment Day testing as assigned or who are reported for test misconduct will be designated a ‘no show.’ The sanction for a ‘no-show’ will be determined by the department of the student’s major. Refer to the Student Rights and Responsibilities and Code of Student Behavior section of the Student Handbook for more information regarding student misconduct.

Fall Assessment Day 2017—Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Questions? Contact the Office of Planning, Research and Assessment
WA104; opra@usi.edu; 812-465-7000; www.usi.edu/planning-research-and-assessment/assessment

Auditing a Course

If you are an undergraduate student who wishes to audit a course for no credit, you must obtain the signatures of the instructor of the course and the chair of the department which offers the course. Permission depends upon space in the classroom and appropriateness of the class for audit. If you audit a course your name will not appear on the class roster or grade report, and no notation of the audit will be made on your permanent record. A student may not transfer from audit to credit status, or from credit to audit status. There is a $50 audit fee for each course being audited, plus any applicable Distance Education fees and lab/special fees associated with each course. Registration materials for auditing a class can be picked up in the Registrar’s Office during the published dates of late registration (refer to the Registration Calendar).

Change of Address Notice

According to the Administrative Policies and Procedures section of the Student Handbook, you are required to report to the Registrar’s Office any change of address. Log on to myUSI (my.usi.edu) to submit your changes, or visit the Registrar’s Office, Rm. 1075 in the Orr Center, with the new address information.

Class Attendance

A student is expected to attend all classes. It is the responsibility of an instructor to inform the student of the consequences of absence from class. It is the responsibility of the student to keep instructors informed regarding absences from classes.

A student who knows of necessary class absences should consult instructors prior to the absence. A student who misses classes is not excused from the obligations to instructors. Instructors are expected to provide the student with an opportunity to meet class commitments when absences are for good and proper reasons. Further, instructors are expected to maintain attendance records and to report excessive absences to the Registrar’s Office.

Developmental Classes Mandatory Attendance Policy

The following developmental courses (GENS097, GENS098, GENS099, ENG 100, GENS151, MATH100) have a mandatory course attendance policy. Students who have more absences than the number of times the course meets per week will be administratively withdrawn from the course. Administrative withdrawal can occur at any point during the academic semester. Students should be aware that enrollment of less than full-time (12 hrs.) status could have ramifications for such items as financial aid, health insurance eligibility, etc. Students who are required to miss class for official University events must acquire instructor approval before the scheduled absence.

During the course withdrawal/evaluation period, students who are failing the course at the time of the administrative withdrawal will receive the grade of F, DNP, or NP.

Students retain the right of appeal for decisions that result in their administrative withdrawal from the course. Students are entitled to remain enrolled in the course during the appeal process until a decision has been made.

Course Repeat Policy

Policy – Any undergraduate course taken at the University may be repeated for possible grade point average (GPA) improvement. Unless the course description in the USI Bulletin indicates a course may be taken more than once for credit (up to a specified maximum), only a single occurrence of a course can apply toward University requirements. A course that has been repeated (and the grade received) will remain on the academic transcript but will not be used for GPA computation.

Processing – If a course was first taken prior to the 1998 fall semester, the student must submit a Course Repeat form to the Registrar’s Office to initiate the course repeat policy. If first taken in 1998 fall or later, the policy will automatically be initiated; the student does not need to submit any paperwork.

Effective fall 2006: if a course is retaken, the grade earned for the last occurrence will become the grade for the course (even if it is lower than the previous grade) and be used for GPA computation. Students will be prevented from enrolling in a course for a third (or subsequent) time unless reenrollment is approved by the college of the student’s major.

If you have questions about how this policy may affect you, contact the Registrar’s Office; 812-464-1762 or 800-467-1965 (option #3).

Standards of Progress

Students must earn a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA to graduate. Effective fall 2013, acceptable progress toward this requirement is indicated by the following minimums:

• 1.80 cumulative GPA for 0–59 quality hours attempted
• 2.00 cumulative GPA for 60+ quality hours attempted

NOTE: transfer students must meet the standard which corresponds to the sum of the total transfer hours accepted and the total quality hours attempted at the University.

Students who fail to meet the preceding minimum standards will be placed on academic probation for one semester. Failure to meet the preceding required GPA levels at the end of the probationary semester will result in academic dismissal.

Graduation Information

Meeting graduation requirements is the student’s responsibility.

Upper division hour requirement for all baccalaureate degree students – All students who began seeking a degree in the 1996 fall semester or after must complete a minimum of 39 semester hours at the 300- and 400-level in order to complete a baccalaureate degree.

Honors – Baccalaureate students who meet the requirements for graduation plus each of the following requirements are eligible to receive honors:

• Complete a minimum of 60 semester hours at the University
• Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.6 on all courses attempted at the University

Refer to www.usi.edu/registrar/graduation/graduation-honors for further details about commencement honors and graduation honors.

Candidates for graduation must file with the Registrar’s Office a Formal Application for Graduation and a Diploma Form. If degree requirements will be completed in a spring or summer term, the forms should be submitted by October 1 of the preceding fall term. If degree requirements will be completed in the fall term, the forms should be submitted by March 1 of the preceding spring term. Degree candidates should contact the Office of the Dean of the college of their major to initiate the Application for Graduation process. The Diploma Form is submitted online at www.usi.edu/registrar/graduation/diploma-form.

Degrees are conferred in December and April/May each year. If you complete graduation requirements in December, you are eligible to participate in the Fall commencement exercises. If you complete graduation requirements in May, or will complete graduation requirements in one of the subsequent summer sessions, you are eligible to participate in Spring commencement exercises.

Degree candidates must declare their intent to participate in commencement exercises. For information about the ceremony and to submit an online reservation request, visit www.usi.edu/commencement.

Commencement Exercises