Exceptions to Requirements
The Chair must keep
records of individual exceptions to major
requirements. When Chairs authorize substitutions
for particular major requirements at any point in a
student
's career, it is
important that they make a written record of the
decision. Doing so will help avoid
misunderstandings when the student nears graduation
and the Chair (or his/her successor) has to evaluate
her marked transcript. (See below.) Keeping such
records in a permanent departmental file may also
provide guidance when similar situations come up
later, perhaps under the tenure of a new Chair.
Certifying Majors
for Graduation
Degrees are awarded three times a year:
October, February, and May. Before each graduation
date, the Registrar’s Office mails a packet to
Chairs that includes the following materials:
(a)An alphabetical listing
of candidates, for the Chair's
information;
(b)A set of candidates'
transcripts. While the Registrar's
Office verifies satisfaction of general College
requirements, Chairs certify completion of the
major. Chairs are asked to circle or highlight all
courses to be used toward the major (including
in-progress courses), and are reminded that under
College policy, courses in which students earn the
grade of "D"
cannot be counted toward the major (see marked
transcript in
Appendix J.3). Students are held to the major
requirements specified in the Catalogue in the year
they declared the major. When signing the
transcript, Chairs should note and explain any
substitutions. (See above.);
(c)
Nomination forms for
departmental honors. Up to 20% of the majors in a
department may be awarded honors. Nominees must
have a minimum major GPA of 3.5. For May
graduation, departments must nominate students well
before final grades come in; the Committee on
Honors, which makes the final decisions on the
awarding of honors, will have available all grades
that have been received by the Registrar's
Office;
(d)
Senior requirement
grade sheets (Appendix
J.4). Each Barnard graduate must have completed
a "senior project":
a thesis; an examination; or some other culminating
project. Apart from any letter grades that students
earn in courses in which they have completed the
senior project, Chairs must verify, on the grade
sheet, that each graduate has passed (P), passed
with distinction (PD), failed (F), or not yet
completed (Inc) the senior project. For students
with double majors with a single essay, combined
majors, or special majors drawing from more than one
department, both departments must agree on the
grade. (Contact:
Registrar, x42011.)
B. Other
Advising Matters
The Barnard faculty have agreed that advising of
first-year students and sophomores is part of their
general responsibilities, and those who participate
consider the work to be interesting and satisfying.
Several years ago, upon the recommendation of
Chairs, the Dean of Studies Office adjusted the
advisee/adviser ratio so that advisers may now
choose to work with anywhere from 4 to 15 advisees.
The smaller number of advisees has encouraged better
advising, and it has meant that more faculty members
are willing to advise. The participation of every
department or program in this effort is needed so
that interests of students can be accommodated and
so that departments may introduce themselves to
students. (In fact, many departments consider
advising to be part of their recruitment strategy.)
In addition, advising of first-years and sophomores
helps faculty members to become familiar with
College policies and procedures and helps them to
meet colleagues beyond their departments. In late
spring, before finalizing the advising cadre, the
Dean of Studies may contact the Chairs of
underrepresented departments, asking for help in
selecting advisers. The Dean may also contact
Chairs about the timing of inviting junior faculty
members to advise.
Independent Study
Students who wish to engage in independent study for
degree credit must seek the approval not only of
their proposed faculty sponsor, but also of the
Department Chair of the sponsor and the Committee on
Programs and Academic Standing [CPAS]. CPAS
criteria for assessing applications for independent
study are made clear in the Registrar's
independent study approval form (see
Appendix J.5). The form also addresses the
issue of the relationship between independent study
and internships: "Because
Barnard College grants degree credit only for
academic work, an internship per se does not qualify
for credit. If the internship is related to an
academic field represented in one of the Barnard
departments, the experience may suggest a research
project culminating in a substantive research
paper. A student who wishes to receive credit for
independent study involving [an] internship must
discuss her plans with a member of the Barnard
faculty in a related field."
As the number of such requests has been growing in
recent years, it may be useful in certain instances
to remind students that supervising an independent
study is an addition to a faculty member's
usual workload, and that if, for whatever reason, an
independent study cannot be arranged, the internship
may still nevertheless be an inherently valuable
experience for the student, and she may create an
official record of it by asking her employer to
place a letter in her recommendations file.
(Contact:
Registrar, x42011.)
NYC Civic
Engagement Program
The New York City Civic Engagement Program was
founded in 2003 to help Barnard use the city's
resources in a systematic, thoughtful way, and to
educate students to become active, engaged citizens
and leaders of a global community. For more
information please see:
http://www.barnard.edu/nyccep/
Petitions to CPAS
Students who want exceptions to College-wide
academic policies submit petitions to the CPAS,
which meets biweekly on Thursdays (Appendix
J.6). In addition to signing petitions for
independent study (above) and special and combined
majors (below), Chairs are asked to recommend action
in matters of modification of major requirements,
specifically, the number of Barnard-Columbia courses
required for the major; modification of general
education requirements, e.g., fulfillment of the
science requirement by courses other than those that
have been approved; and some deadline extensions,
e.g., filing for an independent study after the add
deadline. Chairs should possess an understanding of
the pedagogical philosophy governing regulations and
of the desirability of fairness for all students and
should support petitions only in compelling cases.
In making their decisions, Committee members rely on
explanations for support. It is sufficient for a
Chair who does not support a petition to write
pro forma in the space provided for comment.
Petitions for Special
and Combined Majors
A special major
comprises courses from throughout the College and
University curricula; a combined major integrates
in-depth coursework - at
least 7 courses each - in
two established academic departments. Both must
demonstrate breadth (adequate coverage within a
field), depth (sufficiently advanced coverage), and
coherence (evidence of the intellectual integrity of
the major).
A special major requires
approval by the designated adviser and by the Chair
of the adviser's
department; a combined major requires approval by a
major adviser from each of the two departments, as
well as both Chairs.
Students will ask Chairs
for advice as they consider the feasibility of
developing majors and for suggestions about
potential courses and advisers. In responding to
them, Chairs should consider the extent to which
their interests can be satisfied within existing
majors and the extent to which the breadth, depth,
and coherence criteria can be met.
CPAS members are
supportive of the concept of special majors;
however, there is also a strong belief that students
benefit from being part of a regular major, which
provides affiliation with a department and a
community of peer learners. Thus, it is
particularly important for the Chair to communicate
on the petition reasons for support of such a
major. (Contact: Dean of Studies or appropriate
Class Dean, x42024.)
Summer, Study
Abroad, and Transfer Credit
Summer credit.
As necessary, and with the approval of appropriate
Chairs and CPAS, students may earn up to 16 summer
credits toward the degree. To qualify for credit,
summer courses must be at least five weeks long,
must meet for at least 35 hours, and must be
approved by the Chair of the appropriate Barnard
department (Appendix
J.7). If there are compelling reasons for
approving a course that does not meet these
criteria, Chairs may support a student's
petition for an exception to the policy (Appendix
J.8). The petition is a supplement to the
summer course approval form, which contains further
information about the process. In evaluating
requests for approval, Chairs may, of course,
request detailed information, such as a complete
syllabus that includes descriptions of writing
assignments. Chairs should approve, or not approve,
the course ahead of time—that is, only in
exceptional cases should approval be provisional
(e.g., requiring submission of actual coursework).
Experience has shown that it is unfair to students
to grant provisional approval and then reduce or
deny credit after the fact, when the student has
already committed time and money. Chairs approve
courses for college credit and your major credit; a
subcommittee of the COI approves courses for GER
satisfaction. (Contact:
Registrar, x42011.)
Study Abroad and
Transfer Credit. Students who study abroad or, for
other reasons, take courses at other institutions
that they wish to apply toward the degree must seek
the approval of the appropriate Barnard Chair for
each course. The Study Abroad approval process is
online; approval for other institutions is indicated
on the Registrar's Office
form. As with summer credit, Chairs may wish to
request detailed course information, but should
approve or deny in advance rather than making
approval contingent upon eventual review of students'
coursework. While in certain cases Chairs may, as
appropriate, approve individual courses for a
reduced number of points, as a general rule they
should apply the same "proportional"
principle that the Registrar's
office uses in awarding transfer credit. This
principle most commonly becomes an issue in the
cases of institutions or study abroad programs with
a standard course load of four four-credit courses.
In such situations, and at the home institutions of
such study abroad programs, the 16-credit load is
standard, 128 credits are required for the degree,
and students rarely if ever take more than four
four-credit courses. While Barnard Chairs may
understandably be reluctant to approve individual
courses for four points when what would appear to be
comparable courses at Barnard carry only three
points, the proportional formula insures that
students will receive no more than 16 credits for a
standard full-time experience. (Contact: for
transfer credit generally, Registrar, x42011; for
study abroad credit, Dean for Study Abroad, x42024.)
Chairs approve courses for college credit and for
major credit; a subcommittee of the COI approves
courses for GER satisfaction.
Minors
Students may elect
minors after having completed at least three courses
towards the proposed minor field; most do so in the
second semester of the senior year. The Chair signs
the minor declaration form (see
Appendix J.9), which,
unlike the major form, requires the student to list
the specific courses she intends to use toward the
minor. As with the major, students must earn a
grade of at least C- in all courses for the minor,
and Chairs will need to identify and explain
substitutions. (Contact: Registrar, x42011.) Chair's
should make sure that the approved minor meets the
published criteria for a minor in that department.
C. Working with Admissions and Family Weekend
Chairs may be asked to prepare materials for
prospective students, write letters to admitted
students, and suggest participants for open house
panels. Each fall the College hosts a weekend of
programming for parents of current students. Chairs
may be asked to participate in special functions,
attend receptions and/or delegate responsibilities
to other faculty in the department.
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