Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that, with the approval of the University Committee and the Academic Staff Committee, two interim policies have been adopted for the Spring 2020 semester providing accommodations to graduate students due to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Emergency Graduate Grading Accommodation Policy expands the CR/NC option for graduate students which will apply to eligible courses with letter grades and to courses with S/U grades.  Each school/college will identify courses that are ineligible for the CR/NC grading by April 14, 2020.  Each student will be assigned a letter or S/U grade in each course by the grading deadline of May 21, 2020.  Graduate students may exercise their option to change a spring 2020 course to CR/NC basis on or before July 3, 2020.  For more details, see the policy posted at the link above.

The Emergency Time Clock Accommodation for Graduate Students (provide link) extends timeline to complete the doctoral or master’s degree by one year for students who entered the program before or in Spring 2020 semester.  The COVID-19 emergency will be regarded as an extenuating circumstance for all current doctoral students to request an extension of the deadline to complete the preliminary examination.

Take care,
Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs