January 2015
Dear Storrs Faculty Member:
The Dean of Students Office (DOS) asks that you consider sharing the following information with your students which gives them the correct information about the policies and procedures of rescheduling finals. We hope it will help reduce the number of student seeking to reschedule finals and increase the amount of prior notice you receive for anticipated conflicts. Please share this information in your syllabus to avoid any future conflicts.
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Finals week for Spring 2015 takes place from Monday, May 4th through Saturday, May 9th. Students are required to be available for their final and/or complete and assessment during the stated time. If you have a conflict with this time you must visit the Dean of Students Office to discuss the possibility of rescheduling your final.
DOS is REQUIRING that students who have a conflict about which they have or should have had advanced notice (bunched finals, religious obligation, legal/medical appointments…) MUST seek permission to reschedule their assessment NO LATER THAN April 24th.
Please note that vacations, previously purchased tickets or reservations, graduations, social events, misreading the finals schedule and over-sleeping are not viable excuses for missing a final. If you think that your situation warrants permission to reschedule, please contact the Dean of Students Office, Wilbur Cross Building, 2nd floor, room 203 to meet with a staff member.
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We hope that our expectation to require early requests for permission will alleviate some of the last minute rescheduling that is often so frustrating for faculty and staff. Please know that we have every intention to follow our expectations that students make you aware of known conflicts prior to the last week of classes, but as always, we will use our judgment if we believe there is justification for an exception.
Concerning bunched finals, students are no longer given a choice of which final to move. In an attempt to have a consistent and fair approach in determining which final gets rescheduled, our policy is that we will grant permission to move the middle final. This breaks up the bunched pattern and avoids students having to go from instructor to instructor to see which will be the most amenable in rescheduling.
Feel free to contact me at c.arias@uconn.edu or 860.486.3426 with any questions or concerns.
Best wishes for a successful semester,
Claudia Arias-Cirinna,
Assistant Dean of Students
Dean of Students Office
For more information, contact: Claudia Arias-Cirinna at c.arias@uconn.edu