Academic Regulations Committee
Academic Requirements Committee
Annual Report 1999-00
July 11, 2000
TO: Gordon Matzke
Faculty Senate President
FROM: Jane Siebler, Chair
Academic Requirements Committee
Members: Ataa Akyeampong, Larry Flick, Kim McAlexander,
Clay Torset, Charlotte Vickers, Heather Chermak (ex-officio)
SUBJECT: Annual Report 1999-2000
The Academic Requirements Committee (ARC) met weekly during academic year 1999-2000, from one and
one-half hours to three hours each week, to review and make decisions on petitions from students requesting
exceptions to the OSU Academic Regulations. The ARC also met every other week during the summer of 1999.
The OSU Registrar's Office maintains statistics related to the decisions made by the ARC. A summary of
1999-2000 decisions is at the end of this report. The Academic Requirements Committee is one of the hardest
working on campus, and this year's team was extremely committed and careful in all their deliberations. In
addition to strong group process skills, committee members shared an appropriate sense of humor and a great
love of helpful snacks. This committee deserves applause for a job very well done.
The Faculty Senate charged the 1999-2000 ARC to maintain an independent role from the Registrar's Office
and to interface with the Graduate School Committee to look at procedures covering petitions from graduate
students. The Committee also answered the charge of the 1998-99 Committee to follow-up with the Academic
Regulations Committee concerning various regulations. These charges are addressed in the following section
of this report.
Relationship with the OSU Registrar's Office:
Assistant Registrar Heather Chermak was the ex-officio representative from the Registrar's Office
to the committee. Mary Rhodes, newly hired Associate Registrar, began training in May to assume the
ex-officio role for the upcoming year. The ARC maintains appropriate independence from the Registrar's
Office and is thankful to the Registrar's Office for their support and help. The Registrar's Office provides
all requested materials and information in a very timely way. This office also provides necessary information
to petitioning students accurately and on-time. The ARC enjoyed working with Heather, Mary, and Registrar's
Office staff to serve OSU students with compassion, care and competence. Special thanks go to Lavon
Reese for organizing thousands of pages of materials and talking to hundreds of students and faculty
members.
Interface with Graduate School Committee:
The Graduate Office responded positively and appropriately to the ARC's request to provide more
guidance to petitioning graduate students and the ARC. This year's volume of Graduate student petitions
was lower, and helpful comments and information were provided by administrators in the Graduate Office.
With this increased attention to graduate student petitions from the Graduate School, the ARC believes
there is not the need to pursue separate ARC entities for undergraduates and graduates. Thus, the ARC
did not interface with the Graduate School Committee to seek out this remedy.
Follow up with Academic Regulations Committee:
a. Extension of Incomplete grades beyond one year was not addressed.
b. Standardization of deadlines for audit/withdrawal and change of grading basis was deferred by
the Academic Regulations committee for at least another year. That Committee believed that the
Faculty Senate had debated this issue so recently that revisiting it was premature.
c. Agreed that the Academic Requirements Committee would stay involved with petitions under AR 28,
Substitutions. Regulations believed that the ARC was the last point of faculty review for such
substitutions.
Recommendations for 2000-2001:
1. Continue to pursue posting student's petition results on the Web.
2. Follow-up with Academic Regulations Committee for changes to extensions of Incomplete grade deadlines
and audit/withdrawal deadlines.
3. Continue to pursue faculty and advisor training regarding the Academic Regulations in general and drop,
withdrawal and audit deadlines in particular.
4. Continue work with the Registrar's Office to facilitate understanding and adherence to academic requirements
and regulations by students and faculty in Distance and Continuing Education.
Academic Requirements Committee Final Report
1999-2000
Approved Denied Total % Total Notes
Grade Changes by Petition 34 55 89 3% (65 preapproved)
Special Exams 82 3 85 3%
Add/Drop 1973 88 2061 78% (1340 preapproved)
Withdraw Course 156 76 232 9%
Misc, Extend I or Grad Req 136 6 142 5%
Withdraw University 26 12 38 1%
TOTAL 2407 240 2647 100%
Copies: 1999-2000 Academic Requirements Committee
Barbara Balz, Registrar
Heather Chermak, Assistant Registrar
Mary Rhodes, Associate Registrar
