Faculty Orientation Handbook
FACULTY ORIENTATION BOOKLET
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
2007-2008 Academic Year
I. GENERAL ACADEMIC POLICIES/PROCEDURES
1. Conference Hours. All faculty are requested to post office hours on their office doors.
2. Homework. The student is responsible for submitting the work directly to you. Students should not be leaving homework assignments in the mailroom.
3. Classroom Scheduling/Problems/Proctors. Faculty are advised to take a look at your classroom prior to the first meeting. In the event that the room is too small, does not have enough desks, or is in any way unacceptable, you can try and request a change through the scheduling office. Forms to request room changes can be found online at http://www.neu.edu/registrar/. Instructors are expected to proctor their exams.
4. Course Syllabus. Two copies of the syllabus for each course you are teaching in a given semester should be submitted to 409 Dana. One of these is to be kept for departmental records, while the second one is forwarded to the Dean's Office.
5. Changes of Grades. Changes of grades due to an error or the late completion of a course need to be submitted as soon as possible. In accordance with university policy, no grade can be changed after one calendar year. Any exceptions to this must be approved by the Academic Standing Committee or the Graduate Affairs Committee. Graduate change of grades may be submitted to Faith Crisley in 405 Dana. Undergraduate change of grades should be submitted to the Ellen Zierk in 404 Dana, for departmental verification. Please be aware that many students will actively attempt to "negotiate" for a better grade. If a student is asking you to reconsider the grade assigned, he or she is mostly likely making the same request from several other instructors. If you have any concerns or questions, please stop by 404 Dana.
6. Incomplete Grade Policy . An Incomplete or "I" grade is to be assigned when a student has not been able to complete all of the assignments or tests for a given course in the last 2-3 weeks of the semester. The student must have a legitimate reason for missing the work. An "I" should not be assigned if the student has been absent from a number of course meetings. Furthermore, there must be a minimum amount of work to complete (such as a final the student may have missed due to an illness). Also the missing work must be completed as soon as possible. A student should not be assigned an "I" grade so that he or she may retake the course. Once the missing work is completed, a new grade must be submitted by a change of grade card from the original instructor. The grade for the missing work should be used with the grades from the previous semester in assessing the new grade. In other words, a whole new set of grades should not be used to calculate the new grade. There is a deadline of one academic year to make up an "I." Any exceptions to this must be approved by the Academic Standing Committee or the Graduate Affairs Committee. For undergraduates, any time an "I" is given, the student and instructor must complete and sign an Incomplete Grade Clearance Plan. This is an agreement as to how and when the missing work is to be completed. This triplicate form is distributed among the instructor, the student, and the student's file. The student may pick up a form in Rm. 404 Dana.
7. Administrative grade changes. Effective Fall 97, the grade of "W" has been removed from the grade sheets. W grades will be entered on a student's record only by the completion of a drop form within the appropriate deadline date. Additionally there are two new grades found on the grades sheets. The first new grade of "NE" refers to a student who did not attend after the date of record. The NE grade will not appear on a student's official transcript. The second new grade of IP grade signifies a course in progress. This refers to courses such as directed studies, senior thesis projects, which extend over several semesters. The time restrictions of the I grade do not apply for the IP grade. The IP grade will appear on the student's transcript.
8. Course Rosters. ROSTERS ONLINE MYNEU. Faculty will access E-Rosters through the myNEU faculty/staff portal (myneu.neu.edu) and will need to have a myNEU log-on. .
II. UNDERGRADUATE AFFAIRS
Ellen M. Zierk, M.Ed. Coordinator
404 Dana x2165 e-mail: ezierk@ece.neu.edu
1. Full-Time Day Academic Standards. At the end of each semester, student records are reviewed and appropriate action taken if the academic standards of the university are not met. Please refer to the Undergraduate Catalog for details.
2. Undergraduate Designations. Year/Division/Major Codes. On each class roster, there is a YDM code next to the student's name. The year refers to the student's expected year of graduation. The division code refers to the student's current coop division. Division A and N are the regular coop divisions which rotate academic and coop semesters. Any request to change divisions should be referred to Ellen Zierk in 404 Dana.
COOP DIVISIONS FOR ECE MAJORS
Students who complete the Fall Semester then go out on a co-op work assignment are in Division N, those who complete the Spring Semester as well before their work period are in Division A. Additionally, our students are assigned a division towards the end of their Freshman year (some of them don't even choose a major until then), not before they matriculate. Other co-op divisions may be C (non-coop), T (new transfer).Transfer students usually complete two consecutive academic semesters before starting co-op. From more information on coop, please visit the website at www.ece.neu.edu/coop
Cooperative education coordinators for electrical and computer engineering are:
Prof. George Kent 412 Dana - x3447 g.kent@neu.edu
Dr. Stephen M. Kane 411 Dana - x3452 s.kane@neu.edu
Mr. Dave Potter 403 Dana -x3445 d.potter@neu.edu
3. Curriculum Majors & Minors
All programs have been updated and curriculum guides for all class years and majors can be found on the ece advising website.
The department also offers a minor in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and biomedical engineering.
MAJOR CODES
030 Electrical Engineering
035 Computer Engineering
038 Electrical and Computer Engineering
036 Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics
037 BS/MS
4. . Transfer Credit. All issues related to transfer credit should be discussed with Ms. Ellen Zierk in 404 Dana.
5. Honors Program. . Some of our students are members of the honors program. Check out the honors website for detailed information on this program. http://www.honors.neu.edu/. The Honors Program Office is open from 8:30-4:30 Monday through Friday. They are located at 150 West Village F. Northeastern University Honors Program 360 Huntington Ave. 150 West Village F Boston, MA 02115 (617) 373-2333 Phone (617) 373-5300 Fax. http://www.honors.neu.edu/ Honors Program Staff Maureen Kelleher, Director Associate Professor, Sociology m.kelleher@neu.edu (617) 373-4999.
6. Independent Study . Many students want to pursue the option of taking an independent study course in an area in which we may not offer any undergraduate courses. The department uses a four semester hour (4SH) independent study course for this purpose. This course should be roughly the equivalent of any of our regular technical electives, and it will normally be used as a general technical elective in the curriculum. The Undergraduate Affairs Committee has outlined several conditions for this type of study. Please refer to the independent study form for more information.
7. Tutoring Assistance. There are several resources on campus where a student may receive tutoring assistance. Click here to access the "Academic Assistance Guide". Please feel free to refer students to the Coordinator of Undergraduate Affairs for tutoring schedules and additional information.
8. Registration.
Course Registration: The undergraduate registration period normally continues through the second week of classes each semester. Keep in mind that regardless of whether there is one or five days in the first week, it is considered to be one week of classes. For example, if classes begin on Friday for a given semester, the registration period would extend to the following Friday (considered to be the end of the second week of classes). During this registration period, the students may add/drop without penalty as long as the course is not full.
Late Adds: If a student wants to add a class after the two week drop/add period, he or she must complete a CLOSED/LATE ADD registration form. If the instructor is willing, he or she must sign the form. Students are not allowed to add late if the instructor does not agree. From there, the students must obtain a departmental signature from the Ellen Zierk in 404 Dana. Very rarely, it may be necessary to admit a student without the instructor's permission. This action would only be taken if a student needed the course to graduate that semester or some other similar circumstance. In the event this is the case, the instructor will be informed. If multiple sections of a course are being offered, please do not sign closed course forms unless all sections are closed. Please see Ellen Zierk for updated information on course and section enrollments.
Course Withdrawals: In order to drop a course, a student must do so by the deadline date posted for each semester. A students can drop a course "without a W" by going online as long as this is within the established deadline date. After this period, a student must complete a Withdrawal Form and obtain the instructor's signature on it. Then they take this form to Ellen Zierk in 404 Dana for authorization from the Dean's Office representative. The deadline to drop a course without a grade of "W" is usually until the end of the third week of classes. After this deadline, a "W" will appear next to the course that is dropped.
9. Pre-requisite checking. Students are required to meet the pre-requisite and co-requisite requirements for all courses as listed in the Undergraduate Catalog. The registration system does not block a student from registering for a course where they do not meet the pre-requisitie requirements. Faculty members are encouraged to dicuss this information during the first day of classes to be sure students are properly prepared for the course.
10. Policy of Exams and Returning Students' Work.
Scheduling Exams. No examinations totaling more than one half-hour may be given in the week prior to final examination week. Any deviation from this regulation must be approved by the dean of the college concerned. Returning original exams, paper, and projects The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) guidelines states that students are entitled to review and copy their exams, projects, papers, etc. Access to these items must be provided, to comply with the law, however, return of original work is strongly encouraged so that students may create portfolios and learn from their work. If faculty members insist on retaining students' original work, it must be kept in the departmental office for one year.
11. Undergraduate Academic Advising. Upperclass students are assigned a faculty advisor based on the first letter of their last name. The advising structure is explained to students during the "Becoming a Sophomore Meeting" in the Spring semester of the freshman year. In addition to faculty advisors, Ellen Zierk provides academic advising to all upperclass ECE students. Faculty are notified of advising assignments usually during the Spring semester. All advising materials can be found on the ece website under the advising link. Any additional questions regarding advising should be directed to Ellen Zierk in 404 Dana..
12. Additional resources: Go to the registrar's website (www.neu.edu/registrar) to find detailed information on academic planning and scheduling for the University. You can find :final exam schedules, semester course descriptions, semester course sequences, and the academic and registration calendars..
Sharon Heath - heath@ece.neu.edu x7529 - Staff Assistant
Linda Bonda - lbonda@ece.neu.edu x4159 - Adminstrative Coordinator
Paulette Deery - deery@ece.neu.edu x5403 - Administrative Officer
Ellen Zierk - ezierk@ece.neu.edu x2165 - Undergraduate Coordinator
Faith Crisley - f.crisley@neu.edu x5281 - Graduate Coordinator