IMPORTANT End-of-the-Semester Information for Completion of Coursework

 

Dear Students,   As we come to the end of the fall semester, the Deans’ Office for Advising and Support wants to remind you of your resources and options if you are experiencing any issues that may impact your ability to complete work for your courses satisfactorily.   We want to be sure that everyone is aware of College policy and practice, so that if something should come up to impede your progress, you will know what to do.   One of the most important things to remember if you are experiencing difficulties is to reach out to your instructor and/or Class Dean. Your class dean is available to discuss your specific situation and offer advice and options.   Academic Resources   Personal Librarians: As you complete your final assignments for this semester, you can contact Barnard Library’s research and instruction team (Personal Librarians) for any support needed in completing research-based assignments, including senior projects. Librarians are available for individual consultations about ways to access online research materials and meet citation requirements for your papers and projects. Personal Librarians can assist in finding e-books, full-text articles, and open access sources.   Center for Engaged Pedagogy: If finals have you feeling stressed, stop by the CEP for a study break! The CEP has also put together helpful guides for time management, active reading strategies, and a resource map if you need support.   Center for Accessibility Resources & Disability Services (CARDS): Students who are registered with the Barnard Center for Accessibility Resources & Disability Services (CARDS) and have accommodations should be in touch with CARDS as needed to ensure that their accommodations are aligned with remote end-of-term assignments. If a faculty member has specific questions about how to implement accommodations in their courses, CARDS is available for individual consultation at cards@barnard.edu.   FINAL EXAMINATION INFORMATION: Students and instructors are expected to follow the official exam schedule. If you find yourself scheduled for three exams within a 24-hour period or four within 48 hours, you should fill out this form.   If you find that you need to take your exam on a different day during the final exams period, please contact your instructor and make arrangements directly through them (this is different from a deferred exam -- see below). Individual faculty members have discretion to allow or deny requests to take an exam at a time different than originally scheduled, or to take an exam online instead of in-person. If you need assistance with communicating with an instructor, you may contact your Class Dean.   DEFERRED EXAMS: Students may defer an exam due to illness or personal emergency on the day of the exam. If you need to request a deferral, you must:   a) Email your instructor, copying your class dean, on the day of the exam requesting a deferred exam.   b) You must also submit an official request for a deferred exam in Slate. You will need to upload an approval email from your instructor when you submit the Slate form.     c) Deferred exams will be given on Friday, January 21, 2022 and Monday, January 24, 2022. After submitting the Application for a Deferred Exam form, you will receive a confirmation email. It is your responsibility to check the registrar's website and your Barnard email the previous week for the details of your deferred exam.   Please be aware that deferred exams cannot be requested in advance of exam week. For more information visit https://barnard.edu/registrar/grades-exams and scroll down to "Final and Deferred Exams."   ILLNESS DURING EXAM: If you become ill during an examination:   a) inform the proctor b) hand in the exam, and c) go directly to Health Services.   If you've completed less than 40 minutes of a two-hour exam or less than one hour of a three-hour exam, you qualify for a deferred exam (see above.) If you leave the exam more than 40 minutes into a two-hour exam or more than an hour into a three-hour exam, you'll be graded on the basis of the work you've completed to that point.   INCOMPLETES: Incompletes are to be given only in cases of illness, personal emergency, or other compelling circumstances. If you need to request an Incomplete, and the instructor is amenable, please be in touch with your faculty member via email to obtain their approval. From there, you will need to submit an Incomplete Request Form in Slate. You will need to upload email confirmation from your instructor when you submit the Slate form.     As a reminder, the official College deadline for fall Incomplete coursework has changed. The fall incomplete deadline is now April 15, 2022. Individual faculty may also set an earlier deadline for the work to be completed. Please note that incompletes apply only to coursework exclusive of the final examination. For more information, visit: https://barnard.edu/registrar/grades-exams and scroll down to "Incomplete Grades."   GRADES: Final grades are indeed final. Grades may be changed only in cases of clerical error or in the event that for some unusual reason the instructor needs to reevaluate the work of the entire class. Grades may not be recalculated on the basis of reexamination or the submission of additional or revised work.   ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: As you write papers or complete exams, whether in a proctored environment or in the comfort of your residence hall, keep the College's Honor Code (https://barnard.edu/honor-code) in mind. Under pressure, it can sometimes be tempting to make a regrettable decision, such as using untrustworthy and undocumented sources, collaborating on an exam, not following proper citation methods on a paper, or claiming someone else's work as your own. Keep in mind that doing something that might violate the Honor Code is NEVER the way to respond to a difficult or pressured academic situation. There's always a better choice. Please also be aware that any misrepresentation of your circumstances in order to obtain an exam deferral or an incomplete is a violation of the Honor Code.   ACADEMIC PROBATION or SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS (SAP) WARNING: Please be advised that if you are on academic probation or SAP warning, incompletes or deferrals may have an impact on your academic standing. To discuss your probationary status, please contact your Class Dean.   We wish you all the best as you complete your work for the semester, and wish you a restful, restorative break.   Sincerely, Holly Tedder Dean for Academic Planning and Class Advising

Further Clarification re Exception to P/D/F Policy

Dear Students,   In response to some questions that have arisen since the announcement on Monday evening of the College’s P/D/F exception for fall 2021, we are writing to clarify and highlight the following points. (The original announcement is also copied below.)   • Students may elect P/D/F grading for one fall 2021 class that they will use towards either a major or a minor requirement. (The limit is one course. Students cannot elect one course for their major and one course for their minor. Double majors must choose one class towards one of their two majors.) Students may not elect p/d/f grading for senior thesis or capstone courses. • This class will count towards the overall 23-credit P/D/F maximum (the maximum is 22 credits for students who entered as transfer students) during a student’s Barnard career. • As is the usual policy, grades in fall 2021 classes for which a student elects P/D/F grading can be “uncovered” once grades are available in January. The deadline to do this is Friday, January 28, 2022.  The credits for classes in which the letter grade is “uncovered” are still counted towards a student’s overall P/D/F limit. • The Registrar’s Office will provisionally “approve” all P/D/F requests submitted between now and Monday, December 13, 2021. After the uncover deadline, if a student has elected P/D/F for multiple courses in their major or minor fields of study, they will be contacted by the registrar’s office and a grade may need to be administratively uncovered at that time.   This policy exception was made in hopes of alleviating the extreme stress that some students are experiencing due to the particular challenges of the current semester. We encourage each student to make their own decision about whether to make use of this exception.     If you have questions about the P/D/F policy or need guidance on whether to elect P/D/F for a particular class this semester, we encourage you to speak with your adviser and/or department chair before submitting the election.     Best wishes as you complete the remainder of the semester,   Linda A. Bell Provost and Dean of the Faculty   Leslie Grinage Dean of the College

Summer '22 and Academic Year '22-23 FLAS fellowship applications are now live!

 

Applications for Summer 2022 and Academic Year 2022-2023 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships are now open. The deadline to submit an application is Thursday, February 10th, 2022 at 1:00 pm ET. Click here to apply!

FLAS fellowships are open to eligible BA, MA, and PhD students at Columbia and its affiliated institutions who are pursuing training in modern foreign languages and related area or international studies. At Columbia, FLAS fellowships for East Asian languages and studies are administered by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute with funding from the U.S. Department of Education. As such, these awards are contingent upon the availability of federal funding. 

Want to learn more? Join us for a virtual information session next Monday, December 13th at 12:00 pm ET. Click here to register. 

More information about the FLAS fellowship, including application and eligibility requirements, is also available on the Institute's FLAS and FLAS FAQs pages. 

*NEW* one-time exception to P/D/F Policy: OK to P/D/F ONE major class this fall 2021 -- deadline 12/13/2021

Dear Students,

 

In recognition of the difficulties our community has endured this semester, we write to share an update to the College’s P/D/F policy for this semester.

 

The College is  instituting an exception to our existing P/D/F policy for Fall 2021 only, allowing students to P/D/F one course in their major, with the single exception of senior capstone courses. The P/D/F elected course will count towards major requirements if a passing grade is received. Students will have until the last day of class (December 13, 2021) to choose this P/D/F option and will have until the end of the second week of spring semester (January 28, 2022) to choose whether or not to uncover the grade in this class.  

 

We will strongly encourage those of you who are considering a P/D/F election in your major to consult with your advisers and/or the department chair before doing so, in order to understand the potential impact on your course of study and cumulative learning in your field.

 

We wish you all the best with your studies at the close of the semester.

 

Sincerely,

 

Linda A. Bell

Provost and Dean of the Faculty

 

Leslie Grinage

Dean of the College

Spring 2022 Barnard classes with seats available as of 12/3/2021

 

Looking to add another class or two for spring and having trouble finding one with space available?

The Barnard Registrar brings you these helpful resources:

FAQS & help for registration!

List of Spring 2022 Barnard classes with available seats - updated 12/03/2021

Fellowship $ for Study Abroad for Summer 2022 and Academic Year 2022-2023

Applications for Summer 2022 and Academic Year 2022-2023 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships are scheduled to open sometime this month (more information to come). As such, the Institute will be holding a virtual FLAS information session for interested undergraduate and graduate students next Monday, December 13th from 12:00-1:00 pm ET (with a second session planned for January). Registration for the December information session is available here. 

About the FLAS Fellowship

Administered through Columbia's Weatherhead East Asian Institute with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, FLAS fellowships are designed to provide financial support to eligible BA, MA, and Ph.D. students (both current and prospective) from Columbia and its affiliated institutions (including Barnard and Teachers College) for participation in modern foreign language and related area studies training during the summer and/or academic year.

Summer FLAS

Summer FLAS fellowships provide recipients with a tuition grant of up to $5,000 and a stipend of $2,500 for participation in an intensive summer language program either in the U.S. or abroad.

Academic Year FLAS

Academic Year fellowships provide undergraduate student recipients with a tuition grant of up to $10,000 and a stipend of $5,000. Graduate student recipients receive a tuition grant of up to $18,000 and a stipend of $20,000. Both undergraduate and graduate fellowships may be utilized to offset the cost of tuition and living expenses while studying at students' home institution or overseas, for participation in programs that allow them to combine training in modern foreign language and related area studies.

As usual, FLAS applications will be available through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Fellowships Application Portal. 

The deadline to submit an application is Thursday, February 10th, 2022 at 1:00 pm ET. 

CEP Plan-a-Thon

 CEP Plan-a-Thon, Thursday 12/2 from 1-3PM in Milstein 126: 

Come create your study schedule for final projects & exams! Explore and design planning tools that work best for you. Materials like paper and stickers as well as templates for daily, weekly, and monthly planning will be provided. You will also be entered into a raffle for a special planning-related prize if you attend! No RSVP needed–simply stop by Milstein 126 anytime between 1-3PM on Thursday 12/2 to participate!

Barnard Education Program Meet and Greet

 

I submitted a form -- how do I know if it was received, reviewed, or approved?

Did you submit one of the online forms that are available via the Slate for Students website? 

Wondering if/when it was received, approved, processed, etc.?

Here's how to check.

1. Log into Slate directly or find it on the Barnard Portal under the Academics tab

 

 

 2. In the Home tab of Slate, scroll down to the bottom of the page, to Forms Submitted. There you'll see any forms you have submitted and can track them along their route from submitted to approved and processed. The legend below explains any symbols

3. That's it!

Study Abroad for Next Academic Year

The Barnard preliminary application to study abroad for either Fall 2022 or Spring 2023 is now open!  Once you have identified your top-choice program in the Barnard program portal, you can click on the blue “Apply Now” button to submit your preliminary application to Barnard.  The deadline to do so is March 15, 2022 (for both fall and spring). 

 

Also, a reminder that the internal Barnard deadline to apply to study abroad at Oxford University for 2022-23 is on Monday, Dec 6, 2021.  Information on our Oxford college partners and how to apply is available at the links below.

 

Mansfield College

Oriel College

Pembroke College

St Peter’s College

 

You can also consult our webinars on Oxford and Cambridge as well as the Study Abroad 101 series here, and make a study abroad advising appointment here.    

 

Please write to studyabroad@barnard.edu with any questions. 

 

Question about Online Degree Audit:

I had fulfilled a Foundations requirement with a past class; why is it now showing in my Degree Audit as "pending completion" with a Spring 2022 class?

First and foremost, if this is happening to you, don't worry!

Second, FYI the Degree Audit is programmed to pull the most recent course that fulfills a requirement.  In addition, in response to student requests, the Audit is now also configured to show registered-but-not-started courses in the degree audit so students can more efficiently plan and review course selections.

OK great, but what if I drop a class that the Degree Audit thinks I'm going to use to fulfill a Foundations requirement?

If a previous course was approved for this requirement, the past course will go back to where it was and the requirement will be fulfilled once more.  It's a good idea to check after dropping a class to make sure this happens.  If it doesn't, use this form to request an update to your audit: https://slate.barnard.edu/register/degree_audit_changes. 

 

Not sure if a past course was approved: check the searchable list of all courses ever approved to fulfill Foundations requirements (this new comprehensive list replaces the old "Snowbird" site).

Need an extra credit or two this spring? Here are a few options

 

Doing that degree-audit arithmetic and need one or two more credits? If you're having trouble getting up to the number of credits you need and are looking for a 1-2-credit course to add for this spring, here are some options and tips.  **Be sure to check course descriptions for special registration procedures or necessary permissions. Know of something that's not on here? Email dos@barnard.edu, and we'll add it! 1-2 credit course options: 1. Fulfill your PE requirement if you haven't yet. Register online and be sure to attend the first class meeting. PE courses may initially appear in your myBarnard program as 0 credits and will then be transformed to 1 credit (if you are eligible) after the final registration deadline. Pro Tip: Unfortunately, there is little to no space in PE for students who want this as an elective. Only students who have not yet completed the PE requirement will be able to preregister for PE in spring 2022. 2. Take a dance class Dance classes may initially appear in your myBarnard program as 0 credits -- if you don't change this when registering, you can fill out the Form to Request a Point of Dance Credit.   3. Depending on your background and interests, here are some popular ways to enrich your academic experience while also adding a credit or two.  Pro tips: Some of these may be full, but you may be able to join a waiting list. Be sure to check course descriptions for prerequisites or special registration procedures! a. For students who sing, play an instrument, or want to know more about music: Columbia/Barnard Chorus or Chamber Singers Voice Lessons or Music Lessons -- see Music Department website for info about auditions and fees  Ear Training -- offered on a variety of levels, check Music Dept course listings for details  b. For  students with some computer programming experience: Programming Languages -- COMS-W3101. Development Technology -- COMS-W3102 New Directions in Computing Check Computer Science Course Listings for current options. Sometimes these classes are added later than others, so if you don't see them now, you might find them during the fall semester. c. If you're interested in science, math, statistics, or other quantitative fields: Contact your department to see if you can earn credit for supervised research in a professor's lab Topics in Biology: Crossroads in Bioethics Frontiers in Operations Research & Data Analysis Science & Scientists (Psychology) d. If you're interested in International Affairs, Political Science, and/or Economics: *check dates to see if the course has started* One of the "short courses" offered by the School for International & Public Affairs (SIPA). Search The SIPA Catalogue or the SIPA page of the CU Directory of Classes for 1-1.5-credit courses. You can't just register online for these:  first check to see if the class you want is on the list of SIPA courses approved for Barnard students (forthcoming -- link will be added when available; in the meantime, use your judgment to assess if the class is academic as opposed to professional development), then contact both the instructor and your academic adviser for approval if you think one appropriately fits into both your schedule and a liberal arts curriculum. Upload both approvals when submitting the online add form. e. If you're interested in Theatre, Dance, or Backstage work: Practicum or Rehearsal & Performance (Theatre or Dance) -- for actors, dancers, stage managers, prop or costume makers, and theatre tech people. Check the course description to see who to contact if you are interested. f. If you have background in some languages and want to improve your fluency: Check the course listings for 2-credit Intermediate or Advanced Conversation classes in French, Italian, or German, Or supervised readings in Dutch or Sinhala or Zulu. g. If you're interested in English and/or topical poetry: The English Conference: ENGL BC3098 The English Conference: The Poetry of Breaking News 4. Search Vergil for courses between 0 and 2 credits. You'll have to scroll through a lot of things that may not help you, like labs for courses you're not taking, courses limited to class years other than yours, but this will give you the most comprehensive listing. Pro Tip: Check the detailed course descriptions in the Directory of Classes for prerequisites, restrictions, or special application procedures.

American Studies Program Planning Meeting

 Join American Studies faculty, staff, and students this coming Tuesday from 4:30-5:30pm for a departmental gathering to review changes in the major, discuss exciting courses for next semester, and find comradery amongst each other. Bring questions and concerns about anything related to the campus life and, as always, we'll share whatever secret insider information we have and advocate on your behalf afterwards as best we can. 

All existing majors, prospective majors, and curious students are warmly welcome!

Join the Zoom meeting:

https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/j/91274517286

Password: 402107