Successful Study

ACADEMIC ADVISING AT ST. OLAF COLLEGE

Academic advising at St. Olaf College encourages the integration of the mind, body and spirit as students pursue academic, career and life-long goals. Central to this developmental process is the partnership between students and their faculty advisers. This partnership assists students in directing their intellectual curiosities, in overcoming personal or academic barriers to learning, and in guiding them in attaining their goals.

Advisers

Each student is entitled to a faculty adviser. Advisers for new students are assigned by the Academic Advising Center. The student may remain with this faculty member or change to another faculty adviser at a later date with the permission of the new faculty adviser. All students have the right to change to a different faculty adviser at any time during the academic year.

The Academic Advising Center and the department chairs and program directors oversee the re-assignment of advisees for faculty on sabbaticals or other leaves.

The advice of faculty advisers does not constitute a promise or a contract ensuring a student's graduation on schedule, or the completion of specific requirements. Students and faculty advisers must refer to the Class and Lab Schedules to determine which courses fulfill specific graduation requirements. The responsibility for understanding and meeting degree requirements rests entirely with the student. Computerized student degree audits which detail each student's progress toward graduation are available, with 24-hour notice, free of charge anytime during the year at the Registrar's Office. In addition, students have access to their academic records at any time on St. Olaf's World Wide Web page.

Student/Advisee Responsibilities

The responsibility for understanding and meeting degree requirements rests entirely with the student. To fulfill this responsibility, students should follow the guidelines below:

Develop plans for achieving academic, career, and personal goals;
Take the initiative to acquire advice and to develop a relationship with a faculty adviser;
Become familiar with the general education requirements and graduation requirements;
Schedule appointments with assigned faculty adviser when requested and prepare for the meeting;
Consult with your faculty adviser if making major changes in your semester class schedule or when dropping courses during the semester.

Faculty/Adviser Responsibilities

The advice of faculty advisers does not constitute a promise or a contract ensuring a student's graduation on schedule, or the completion of specific requirements. The responsibility for understanding and meeting degree requirements rests entirely with the student. Faculty advisers assist the student in fulfilling their responsibilities by:

Being accessible;
Empowering advisees to explore and make their own decisions regarding academic, career, and life-long goals;
Assisting advisees in long-range planning as well as immediate problem-solving;
Assisting advisees in making choices that will lead to developing a realistic major;
Providing advice and when appropriate referring advisees to the relevant office or
resource person;
Not guessing in response to an advisee question about policy or requirements and referring advisee to relevant office or person for an answer;
Encouraging to change adviser if they no longer have an interest in the adviser's area and/or it is felt that a positive relationship is not developing.

Academic Advising Center

The Academic Advising Center provides administrative and curricular support to all St. Olaf students and faculty advisers. The center provides high quality, timely service on routine and general academic curricular questions and encourages all students to become more knowledgeable and involved in planning their academic programs.

Academic Peer Advisers (APA)

Academic Peer Advisers are a select group of current St. Olaf College students who assist the Academic Advising Center in providing quality, timely service on routine and general academic curricular questions. With the center they enable their peers to become more knowledgeable and involved in planning their academic program. Academic Peer Advisers also assist with academic planning sessions during Week One, set up academic planning sessions during the year, provide support during registration times and assist the center as needed.

CLASS ATTENDANCE

Irregular class attendance becomes the concern of the college: absence from class represents an academic loss. Excessive or prolonged absences are reported by instructors to the Dean of Students Office.

AUDITING COURSES/SUCCESSFUL AUDITS

All persons attending, auditing, or participating in a program of instruction must officially register with the college. Permission of the instructor is required to audit a course. An auditor is a visitor in a class and participates in its activities only at the invitation of the instructor. Students are discouraged from auditing courses that involve performance, lab work, or extensive use of equipment such as studios, gymnasia, and computers. Auditors take exams or hand in written work only at the direction of the instructor. A person who has audited a course may not subsequently earn credit for it by special examination. Students auditing courses where tests and evaluations are used to establish an early grade pattern may not register those courses for credit after the add deadline has passed.

Successful Audits: A person attempting a successful audit must have the permission of the instructor at the time of entering the course. Conditions necessary for completion of a successful audit should be negotiated with the instructor when the student receives permission for the audit. A successful audit that is certified by the instructor on a special form available from the registrar will be entered on the auditor's transcript. Successful audits are not awarded course or grade credit nor do audits fulfill graduation requirements in whole or in part. Auditors other than registered full-time St. Olaf and Carleton students or staff will be required to pay 20% of the current tuition charge per course.

CONTINUOUS REPORTING SYSTEM

Instructors are required to file a continuous reporting form that alerts the Office of the Dean of Students to students who are having attendance, academic, or personal difficulties in a course.

FINAL EXAMINATIONS

A final exam is required for all courses and a special time is reserved in exam week for every course's exam. Teachers may plan an in-class exam for that period or arrange other means of evaluation brought to the final meeting of the class (i.e., a take-home exam, a final paper, etc.). In any case, students must attend the scheduled final exam meeting, whether it is a traditional exam or a special, final meeting of the class. Absence will be reported to the appropriate student dean by the instructor, and results in failure of the final exam or the course at the discretion of the instructor.
Except for courses in performance studies, physical activity, and dance activity, an instructor may not use the last day of class for either a written or oral final exam. Take-home exams and papers substituting for final exams must be due at the scheduled the final exam period.
Students are required to take final exams at the scheduled time unless the instructor, with the written approval of the department chair or program director, has given the student permission to re-schedule to another time during finals week. Student requests for an exam change must be made in writing. The decision rests with the chair or director. Chairs and directors will exclude from consideration rescheduling requests involving rides home, early family vacations, early summer employment, pre-purchased airline tickets, and the like. The student honor council welcomes policy that restricts the number of schedule exceptions during finals week.

HONORS

Honors are determined by the cumulative grade point average. They are recognized at Honors Day, conferred at Commencement, and recorded on the final transcript and the diploma as:
3.30 -- cum laude
3.60 -- magna cum laude
3.85 -- summa cum laude
In determining honors, a grade point average is never rounded up or down.
Honor designations are not recorded on student transcripts prior to graduation from the college.

HONORS DAY

On Honors Day each May, students are recognized in three categories: Seniors elected to Phi Beta Kappa, special honors, and general honors by class. General honors includes all students who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or higher.

The names of the honorees are posted in the hallway outside the Registrar's Office and on the World Wide Web at least three weeks prior to Honors Day.

HONOR SOCIETIES

Standards for election to Phi Beta Kappa and other honor societies are the prerogative of the honor societies, not the college.

HONOR SYSTEM (PLAGIARISM, CHEATING, FORGERY)

Definitions and procedures regarding the St. Olaf honor system are found in The Book: The St. Olaf Student Planner and Official Handbook.

A student under review for an honor code violation may not drop the course in question unless a withdrawal is authorized by the student honor council.

Questions about the honor system should be directed to the Office of the Dean of Students.

Definitions and procedures pertaining to plagiarism are found in the honor system section of The Book: The St. Olaf Student Planner and Official Handbook.