Important Message to Students from Academic Vice President and Provost

Dear Saint Rose Students,

As you know from the President’s message, The College of Saint Rose will continue to offer you online/remote courses through the end of the spring term. I know that you agree that the widening and deepening Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) calls on all of us to take the utmost safety precautions, and this is certainly the case here at Saint Rose.

Because we will not return to on-campus coursework as planned, students and faculty may need options in calculating and reporting final grades for the spring term.

Toward that goal, below you will find the revised course grading guidelines that take effect for this spring term only. Your faculty have received the same guidelines. Course instructors will reach out to you soon to discuss and plan for the remainder of the spring term.

Also, included in this email message is updated information from Academic Advisement, Libraries, Online Learning Services, and the Registrar.

Finally, as was noted in my email to you last week, students who have documented disabilities should contact Lynn Cantwell, Director of Services to Students with Disabilities, at cantwell@strose.edu for assistance.

Grading Guidelines for Spring 2020 in Response to Emergency Remote Instruction

Instructors must decide whether students will receive letter grades or a pass/fail. Whatever option the instructor selects must apply to every student in that class. Instructors may choose different options for each class taught.

The grading guidelines for Spring 2020 are described below:

I. If grades that reflect student academic achievement can be fairly determined based upon completed work, then letter grades should be calculated and submitted electronically. As always, an Incomplete (I) grade, which is awarded only with the special permission of instructors and in consultation with students, may be given to individual students but not to the entire class.

II. Pass/Fail Option: If the instructor determines that numeric/letter grades cannot be fairly calculated for all students in a particular course then student performance will be graded as pass/fail. This includes required major or concentration courses that may not normally be taken pass/fail. A grade of Pass or Fail will be determined for each student and submitted electronically. Pass grades are not included in the GPA, but can satisfy graduation, financial aid eligibility, accreditation, and other requirements. If concerned about accreditation requirements, faculty are encouraged to review accreditation requirements for their particular accrediting agency. Minimum level of performance required for a pass grade will be determined by the instructor and shared with the students. Students with a Fail grade will not receive course credit and the failing grade is part of the GPA calculation. As always, an Incomplete (I) grade, which is awarded only with the special permission of instructors and in consultation with students, may be given to individual students but not to the entire class.

Choosing options and notifications

Instructors must make their decision about type of class grades to be awarded by March 27.
Instructors must inform the registrar and the students of the type of grade to be awarded no later than the same date, which is March 27.
The last date to withdraw from a full semester course has been extended to April 3. The extension allows students additional time to decide if they wish to withdraw.

Incompletes

A grade of Incomplete (I) is not intended to apply to an entire class section.
The incomplete policy remains unchanged. As always, an Incomplete (I) grade, which is awarded only with the special permission of instructors and in consultation with students, becomes an F if it has not been
completed within one month after the beginning of the following semester. Summers are not included.
The incomplete grade fee will be waived for Spring 2020 courses only.

Related course and grading matters

The Academic Grievance Procedure remains in effect.
Course evaluations will be conducted per established policy and schedule using Smart Eval.
Progress of students on Academic Probation will be reviewed by the dean of the student’s relevant school at the end of the semester according to our current process.
The academic dismissal policy remains in effect and individual student’s academic record will be reviewed by the dean of the student’s relevant school at the end of the semester according to our current process.

Please direct all questions and comments about these guidelines to your School Deans (see below for contact information):

Huether School of Business: Raj Aroskar, Ph.D. – aroskarr@strose.edu
Lally School of Education: Terri Ward, Ph.D. – wardt@strose.edu
School of Arts and Humanities: Gerry Lorentz, Ph.D. – lorentzg@strose.edu
School of Math and Science: Ian MacDonald, Ph.D. – macdonai@strose.edu

Academic Advising:

Even though classes will be online the rest of the semester, the Office of Academic Advising will remain fully operational. They will be conducting most of their work, though, remotely. Please continue to use the normal channels of communication as outlined below during normal business hours 8:00-4:30 Monday-Friday:

Main Advisement Email: advisement@strose.edu
Main Advisement Phone: 518-454-5217
Director of Academic Advising: Jennifer Hankin- hankinj@strose.edu or 518-454-2852
Associate Director of Academic Advising: Ashton Darrett- darretta@strose.edu or 518-458-5402
Academic Counselor: Jenny Soudachanh- soudachj@strose.edu or 518-485-3948

Any change of major/concentration requests or requests for course registration assistance should be sent by email to one of the accounts listed above. Exploratory and Interdepartmental Studies students will receive an email from their advisor about Advisement Day and preparing for summer and fall course registration.

Contingency Plan for Advisement Day on March 24th

Faculty should send out an email a week before Advisement Day informing their advisees about which type(s) of advising appointments are available. Faculty have the choice to complete the advising session via an email exchange, by phone, through Zoom or any combination of those.
If a faculty member opts to offer a phone or Zoom appointment, he/she should create a link through Sign-Up Genius (www.signupgenius.com or another appointment tool) to allow a student to make a phone or Zoom appointment if they desire and include that in the email.
If a student chooses to complete an advising appointment via email, the student will need to send a list of classes he/she plans to take for the next semester to their faculty advisor along with any questions they may have. The faculty advisor should review the list of classes, offer suggestions if need be and give the student their alternate pin number in the email response. Faculty will still have access to Degree Works and the student’s alternate pin number from home on their secure site.

The advising appointments can be done on Advisement Day (March 24th) or anytime between now (since the class schedule is already out) and April 3rd since course registration begins on April 6th.

Libraries

The Neil Hellman Library is providing online and remote assistance to help with your research needs. You can contact librarians at our normal hours by

E-mailing us at refdesk@strose.edu
By chatting with us at http://library.strose.edu
By texting us at 518-336-5277

After these hours, the chat box will still work, but librarians from across the world will be staffing it. No this isn’t new, this is what we do, tell us how it works for you!

Interlibrary loan will be available, kind of. Essentially we will not be shipping or receiving print books, that part is shut down. But for full-text articles and chapters, we’re still on the case. You can make these requests at: http://library.strose.edu/ill For those of you who’ve never used it, this is how we can get you materials from other academic libraries around the world – for the things we don’t have, they might. Create an account, click the request article button, fill in what you can and we will find it and get it to you via e-mail.

Some other things we’re doing in the interim:

Library books: We’re waving fines and fees for these two weeks so if you need them, keep them.

Interlibrary loan books: Hang on to these too, we’ll eat late fees and fines for you here as well. Just bring them back as soon as you can once we’re back to normal operations.

Access to Curriculum Library will be limited and by appointment only.

Online Learning Services

By now, you should be in regular contact with your instructors. Do not hesitate to contact them if you are confused or anxious about your courses.

Over the past several days, many of the internet and cell service providers have announced they will offer free service for households (that do not already have service) to help students continue their studies remotely. Please see the following or reach out to your local providers:

FCC agreement stating that providers will waive late fees, not cutoff service for lack of payment, and open hot-spots.
AT&T COVID-19 response: offers open hot-spots, unlimited data to existing customers, and $10/month plans to low-income families
Charter Free Internet offer for 2 months
Sprint COVID-19 response: follows FCC agreement, provides unlimited data to existing customers, and, starting Tuesday, 3/17/2020, will allow all handsets to enable hot-spots for 60 days at no extra charge (I expect others will follow).
T-Mobile COVID-19 response: follows FCC agreement, plus unlimited data to existing customers, and, coming soon, will allow all handsets to enable hot-spots for 60 days at no extra charge (I expect others will follow).
Verizon COVID-19 response: no special offers, but following the FCC agreement.

Registrar’s Office:

The Registrar’s Office will continue services to our College Community while instruction continues online.

Summer 2020 and Fall 2020 registration is still scheduled to take place with Undergraduate students beginning on April 6th and Graduate students on April 14th. Course Offerings are now available and registration emails were sent to students earlier this week.
Transcripts will be available only through our online ordering service https://tsorder.studentclearinghouse.org/school/welcome and will have an estimated processing time of up to seven business days depending on mail services. NO overnight or in person pick up will be available.
Any forms or certifications that need processing can be sent to registrar@strose.edu and we will be responding as necessary and in the order they are received. Any emails need to be sent through the secure @strose.edu email accounts.
Any requests for updates to student records can be submitted to registrar@strose.edu or to the appropriate staff member https://www.strose.edu/academics/registrar/registrar-staff/ for processing.

I want to assure you that the faculty, staff, and administrators at The College of Saint Rose are working tirelessly to ensure that you have a high-quality learning experience for the remainder of the spring term.

Sincerely,

Steve Ralston
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
The College of Saint Rose