Faculty Handbook

Part VII. – OTHER POLICIES

Part VII. – OTHER POLICIES

Section 1. GRADUATE THESES, RESEARCH PROJECTS, OR PAPERS

  1. Compensation For Supervision
    1. Compensating faculty for graduate thesis, research project, or paper supervision is essential for the purpose of ensuring equitable forms of remuneration, endorsing a high level of quality supervision, and acknowledging significant commitments of faculty time and energy required to fulfill this responsibility.
    2. The plan provides for two forms of compensation for thesis, research project, or paper supervision: (a) teaching load credit, or (b) financial payment.
      1. At the discretion of the respective chair and/or dean, load credit may be granted to faculty serving as thesis, research project, or paper supervisors. Load credit is calculated as part of a faculty member’s teaching obligation and is implemented concurrently at the time of supervision.
      2. Payment for each completed thesis, research project, or paper will be authorized upon submission and acceptance by the associate provost for graduate programs and continuing education, and will be determined by the respective chair and/or dean, and the provost. With the recommendation of the respective chair, dean, and associate provost for graduate programs and continuing education, partial payment may occur for incomplete theses, research projects, or papers that a student paid tuition for and the faculty member spent significant time advising.

Section 2. HONOR SOCIETIES

Honor societies are organizations that serve to recognize the academic achievements of students who are among the highest in their class in scholarship. Honor societies may also have other requirements for distinction such as in leadership, service, academic discipline, or co-curricular activity in the university.

Honor societies at Pacific Lutheran University base their membership criteria in whole or in part on students’ academic achievement. An honor society is defined as a student organization with membership criteria containing a standard for high achievement in scholarship. All honor societies at Pacific Lutheran University serve to enhance the mission of the university.

The faculty determines honors bestowed by the university (Faculty Bylaws, Article III, Section 2.A) and therefore all honor societies are reviewed by the faculty to assure both that the academic standards are appropriate to PLU and that the focus of the honor society is an appropriate fit with the PLU mission.

A recommendation for instituting a new honor society is to be approved by the faculty through the following procedure:

  1. A proposal for a new honor society which must include a rationale for the addition of the honor society to the PLU community is discussed and approved by the department, school or college of origin and approved by the corresponding dean as appropriate.
  2. The proposal is then submitted to the provost and the Educational Policies Committee for review.
  3. The Educational Policies Committee reviews the proposal and publishes it online for a 30-day review period, during which objections may be submitted in writing.
    1. If no objections are received, the proposal will be automatically approved.
    2. If objections, mediation and hearings may be conducted as necessary. If the dispute cannot be resolved, then the committee will make its recommendation to the Faculty Assembly at the next regular meeting.

Section 3. INSTRUCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND COURSE PROCEDURES

  1. Course Load
    Normally, the minimum full teaching load of a faculty member is 24 equated semester hours per school year. Reductions for administrative duties are made in the case of departmental chairs, interdisciplinary program chairs/directors, and school and college deans. The minimum of 24 semester hours per academic year should not be regarded as a faculty member’s total responsibility to the university. Rather it is a general guide in assigning classes. Advising, committee assignments, and other activities are also included in the scope of a faculty member’s basic responsibility.
  2. Office Hours
    1. One of the hallmarks of a PLU education is faculty-student interaction. Faculty members are available to students in a variety of ways: faculty maintain fixed in-person office hours, meet with students outside of these fixed hours, and interact with students via email and other electronic communication. Successful faculty are available to students, but also set limits in order to maintain a balance in their own work responsibilities.
    2. Faculty are expected to spend at least five hours per week interacting with students outside of class. At least three of these hours should be fixed in-person office hours scheduled to accommodate a wide range of student schedules. The remaining hours may be flexible and include additional in-person office hours, meetings with students outside of these fixed hours, and email and other forms of electronic communication. Fixed in-person office hours should be posted and arrangements for scheduling appointments should be communicated to students at the start of a term. As far as possible, fixed in-person office hours should not be held during chapel period.
  3. Examinations
    1. Faculty members are expected to give tests or examinations or make assignments which will evaluate students’ comprehension at frequent intervals so that both faculty and students will have a clear conception of progress in a course. The university wishes to avoid any accusation at the end of a semester that an instructor provided no evaluation information that could serve as advance warning that a student was doing inferior work.
    2. According to faculty legislation, no major examination weighing more than 10% of a final grade may be scheduled in the week before final examinations.
    3. Final examinations in all courses are scheduled by the registrar, and all faculty members must adhere to the regular examination schedule. Any deviation from the final examination schedule must be approved by the appropriate departmental chairs and school or college deans.
    4. The faculty’s policy regarding final examinations states:
      1. A two-hour block of time will be scheduled Monday through Thursday in the last week of the regular semester for each course. The time is to be used for final examinations or other learning experiences related to the course completed. Friday of the final exam week is available for make-up examinations, follow-up of examinations already given, or student conferences.
      2. Students in quarter or partial-semester courses may be evaluated prior to final examinations.
    5. Faculty members are required to take all necessary precautions to prevent the circulation of any examination material which is to be used at a later time.
    6. All instructors are expected to keep their final examination papers at least thirty days.
    7. The faculty member in charge of an examination is asked to secure the aid of other faculty members if additional proctors are needed for administering a test.
    8. See references in the general catalog and the Educational Policies Committee manual for information about credit by challenge examinations in the various departments where they are given, about Advanced Placement examinations through the College Board, and about CLEP examinations.
  4. Major Examination Immediately Preceding Finals
    No major examination (i.e., one weighing more than ten percent of the total class grade) shall be scheduled during the week prior to final examination week. One-credit-hour courses and laboratory sections are exempt from this policy.
  5. Reporting Concerns about Students
    Faculty members are strongly urged to identify students experiencing difficulty in the courses they instruct, especially in the first six weeks of a fall or spring semester. Poor performance on assignments, lack of participation, irregular attendance, or other criteria may contribute to academic progress concerns depending on the nature of a given course. Faculty members shall be provided a mechanism by which they can communicate concerns about students to initiate an appropriate response from relevant campus partners.
  6. Grading and Grade Books
    1. Formal grade reports are recorded on student transcripts at the end of each term in the academic year: fall semester, January Term, spring semester, and summer sessions, according to a student’s registration.
    2. Specific information about the grading system, changing of grades, and student withdrawal from classes is in the general catalog.
    3. Detailed instructions for completing grade sheets are issued by the Office of the Registrar before the end of each term. Instructors must comply with deadlines since many other areas of the university are affected by delays that result from grade reports that are either incomplete or late.
  7. Teaching and Course Feedback Forms
    1. All persons teaching courses in conjunction with their contractual obligation to the university shall ensure that teaching and course feedback forms are administered to each class (other than independent studies) in a manner consistent with the procedures set forth below. The primary purpose of the teaching and course feedback form is to provide instructors with feedback they can use to reflect upon and improve their pedagogy.
      1. The instructor shall provide instructions for completing the teaching and course feedback form including a recounting of the primary purpose of the form. Where possible, the teaching and course feedback form will be completed in class, with adequate time allowed by the instructor. If completed in class, the instructor shall leave the room until the teaching and course feedback forms have been completed. If in-class administration of the teaching and course feedback form is not possible, students may complete the evaluation outside of class. Evaluations will be completed within the last 20% of the course or during the final examination period for the course.
      2. In the case of team-taught courses, students shall provide feedback to each instructor individually. The instructors shall determine the timing of the administration of the teaching and course feedback forms. (For example, if Professor A teaches the first half of the course and Professor B the last half, A and B shall determine whether it would be more appropriate to administer the teaching and course feedback forms for Professor A at the end of the course or at the conclusion of their active participation in the course).
    2. Faculty legislation requires that students be informed that the teaching and course feedback forms and a summary of the teaching and course feedback form data will be provided to the instructor only after grades have been processed. In addition, the results will go to the instructor’s academic unit head(s) for review. They will also be reviewed by the Rank and Tenure Committee, the provost, and the president in deliberations regarding promotion and tenure, and by interdisciplinary program chairs for decisions regarding program staffing. Hence, instructors should encourage students to complete the teaching and course feedback forms thoughtfully and carefully.
    3. The procedure for appraising the results of the teaching and course feedback forms is as follows:
      1. After the instructor has submitted final grades to the Office of the Registrar, the provost shall provide access to teaching and course feedback form data to the instructor and shall also retain access to this data. Candidates for tenure and promotion are responsible for providing this data to the Rank and Tenure Committee.
      2. At the same time, each instructor’s teaching and course feedback form data shall be shared with the appropriate academic unit head(s).
      3. Instructors shall keep the teaching and course feedback form data and any summary reports for five years.
      4. Teaching and course feedback form data and any summary reports play an important role in periodic faculty review according to the procedures spelled out in the Faculty Personnel Policy (Section IV, Part IV).
    4. Individual academic units may add additional questions to the teaching and course feedback forms or add processes which are deemed desirable for purposes of faculty development and appraisal within their respective units.
  8. Orders for Instructional Materials
    The Higher Education Opportunity Act requires that the university have instructional materials selections and prices linked to the student schedule at the time students register for classes. The due date for faculty to submit requisitions for instructional materials for subsequent terms shall be communicated to faculty by the Office of the Provost at the beginning of each semester. Faculty must submit their requisitions for instructional materials by the announced date.
  9. Room Assignments
    Requests for classroom assignments are submitted through department chairs to the Office of the Registrar. Insofar as possible the registrar attempts to schedule classes as requested, contingent on availability of rooms, projected class sizes, and time preferences.

Section 4. CLASS SCHEDULES

Each semester, a tentative schedule is prepared within each department or school. The tentative schedule indicates courses to be offered, instructors, times, and classrooms. The tentative schedules are transmitted to the registrar for the preparation of the master schedule. Large enrollments require that classes be widely distributed throughout each available hour of the day and week. Changes in the master schedule, including time or place of meeting, may not be made without approval of the registrar, on recommendation of the appropriate chair(s) or dean(s).

Section 5. ACADEMIC CALENDAR GUIDELINES AND PROCESS

  1. The following guidelines are to be used by the registrar in developing a draft of the undergraduate academic calendar. Once prepared, the registrar’s draft is to be reviewed by the provost. The provost presents a draft calendar to the President’s Council for review after which a draft goes to the Faculty Assembly for consideration. The authority to adopt the calendar rests with the Faculty Assembly. Once approved by the Faculty Assembly, the calendar shall be published.
  2. The graduate academic calendar follows the same process as above except that the Graduate Council shall review the registrar’s draft before it is submitted to the provost.
  3. General Policies
    1. In accordance with federal financial aid regulations, Fall and Spring Semesters in the undergraduate academic calendar are 15 weeks in duration, a period of time that includes Final Exam Week. A “week” is defined as any calendar week in which classes meet for at least one class day. For most courses a “class day” is any day Monday through Friday, although for some courses a “class day” may include Saturday. No classes are to be held on school holidays.
    2. Graduate calendars may differ from undergraduate calendars. Graduate programs must publish their schedules on a regular basis and inform their students of changes to those schedules in a timely manner.
    3. Calendars are to be adopted at least two years in advance of their starting date and may be amended in accordance with the usual process for calendar adoption.
  4. Guidelines for the Undergraduate Academic Calendar
    1. Summer Semester
      1. Summer Semester for undergraduates organized as follows:
        1. Summer Term I – 4 weeks that include 19-20 class days (starts one week after Memorial Day weekend)
        2. Summer Term II – 4 weeks that include 19-20 class days (starts one week following Summer Term I)
        3. Accelerated BSN Summer Full Term – 14 weeks (starts the week immediately following Memorial Day weekend)
      2. Memorial Day, Juneteenth, and Independence Day are school holidays. No classes are held and offices are closed.
      3. The Summer Semester calendar should allow residence halls to be cleared of occupancy at least two weeks prior to the start of the Fall Semester.
      4. Summer Term I and II grades are due five business days after the end of the term.  Accelerated BSN Summer Full Term grades are due before the first day of Fall Semester.
    2. Fall Semester
      1. Fall Semester is 15 weeks in duration. Fall Semester begins the day after Labor Day except when doing so results in fewer than two weeks between the end of Fall Semester and the first class day in J-term, or fewer than two full weeks between Thanksgiving Break and Final Exam Week.
      2. Labor Day is a school holiday. No classes are held and offices are closed.
      3. Fall Semester shall begin on a Monday or Tuesday.
      4. Convocation is held at 10:00AM on the first day of classes in Fall Semester. If this falls on a Monday, classes resume at 12:30PM; if this falls on a Tuesday, classes resume at 11:50AM.
      5. Fall Mid-Semester Break is the Friday of the 7th week of classes.
      6. If Veterans Day falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, classes shall end at 10:55AM and resume at 11:50AM. If Veterans Day falls on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, the class schedule is not affected and Chapel may be devoted to recognition of the day.
      7. Thanksgiving Break begins at 1:35PM on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Classes resume at 8:00AM the following Monday. PLU offices are closed on Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving Break.
      8. Fall Semester grades are due no later than one business day prior to the beginning of J-term. Here, a “business day” is defined as a day in which PLU offices are open.
    3. January Term
      1. J-term is 4 weeks (19-20 class days) in duration and should begin no sooner than two calendar weeks after the end of the preceding Fall Semester.
      2. Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. is a school holiday. No classes are held and offices are closed.
      3. J-term grades are due no later than one business day prior to the start of Spring Semester. Here, a “business day” is defined as a day in which PLU offices are open.
      4. J-term Study Away courses must return by the last day of the J-term, must conform to the standard deadlines for submission of grades, and may not extend any deadlines into Spring Semester.
    4. Spring Semester
      1. Spring Semester is 15 weeks in duration and should begin no sooner than one calendar week after the end of J-term unless doing so will result in Spring Semester ending after Memorial Day weekend. If that would occur, Spring Semester may begin directly after J-Term.
      2. Spring Semester may begin on any day of the week.
      3. Presidents’ Day is a school holiday. No classes are held and offices are closed.
      4. Spring Break begins after seven weeks of the semester and is one week in duration. Classes resume at 8:00AM on the Monday following Spring Break.
      5. When Easter falls at the beginning of Spring Break, Good Friday is a school holiday and classes resume on Monday after Spring Break at 8:00AM.
      6. When Easter falls at the end of Spring Break, classes resume on Monday at 8:00AM following Spring Break.
      7. When Easter is separate from Spring Break, Good Friday is a school holiday and classes resume on Monday at 8:00AM.
      8. Commencement follows the Final Exam period.
      9. Spring Semester grades are due no later than one business day prior to the start of Summer Term I. Here, a “business day” is defined as a day in which PLU offices are open.

Section 6. ACADEMIC YEAR RESPONSIBILITIES

Normal fulfillment of a faculty contract entails a variety of on-campus responsibilities outside the classroom throughout the 4-1-4 academic year. This includes January Term even when a faculty member is not teaching then.

Section 7. REGISTRATION

  1. The Office of the Registrar supplies faculty members and students with appropriate information about registration as required.
  2. The normal course load for undergraduate students in good standing is 12-17 semester hours of credit per semester, with 5 hours maximum during the January Term and 6 hours in the summer sessions. Provisional students, students on probation, and students reinstated after having enrollment terminated for academic reasons, are advised to carry the minimum full-time load of 12 semester hours.
  3. Changes in registration that involve adding or dropping courses may be made during the first two weeks of a term in accord with provisions in the general catalog. Students who drop a course after two weeks must obtain the instructor’s signature and thus secure authorization for a withdrawal (W) to be entered on their transcripts.

Section 8. CANCELLATION

Neither an instructor nor a department has sole authority to cancel instruction in a subject. Unusual situations should be brought to the attention of the appropriate school or college dean for recommendation to the provost.

Section 9. CLASS LISTS

Class lists are distributed to all instructors on the first day of each term. The second class lists are distributed on the sixth day of each term. A more final list is distributed after the tenth day of each term, after changes in registration have been processed. No names may be added or deleted from class rosters after the deadline date for adding courses to a student’s registration. Any discrepancies in the class list should be reported to the Office of the Registrar immediately.

Section 10. CLASS ATTENDANCE—STUDENTS

  1. The university assumes that every student has freely accepted personal responsibility for regular class attendance. Although attendance itself is not a measure of successful learning, and course grades are issued on the basis of academic performance and not on the basis of attendance alone, such performance normally includes regular participation in the total class experience and is evaluated accordingly. In the event of unavoidable absence, students are strongly encouraged as a matter of courtesy to inform their instructors and may be required to do so. Any arrangements for missed work are discretionary between instructor and student, except as specified below.
  2. Undergraduate students officially representing the university off campus for a performance, competition, or academic presentation shall not be penalized solely for missing class due to such events (including travel time). With prior documentation of such involvement, these students shall be allowed to complete missed exams or, at the discretion of the course instructor, substitute an alternative assignment. However, whether a missed lab, clinical, or other in-class activity may be made up shall be up to the academic unit.
  3. The burden is always on the student, not the faculty member, to take steps to remedy the effects of absences from class. In particular, the student is responsible for making prior arrangements with the instructor to complete missed work or to substitute comparable work instead. An academic unit may adopt shared policies to govern such assignments, including an expectation that the work be submitted, or the test taken, prior to the absence.

Section 11. CLASS ATTENDANCE—FACULTY

  1. Instructors who know in advance that they will be away from campus during scheduled class periods are responsible to arrange that their classes are covered during their absence. Arrangements should be cleared through department chairs or deans. Emergency absences should be reported at the earliest hour to the department chair or dean concerned.
  2. If an instructor is absent because of their own illness—or that of a family member—lasting more than three days, procedures outlined in the Family and Medical Leave of Absence policy should be followed.

Section 12. INSURANCE COVERAGE

The comprehensive liability insurance policy of Pacific Lutheran University provides coverage to the institution for any activities it conducts on or off campus. The coverage has been broadened to extend to trustees, officers, employees, and even volunteers for any activity they undertake that is sanctioned by the university and that furthers the interest of the university. To a limited extent, the personal liability of a student is also covered, but this coverage is restricted to those activities required of students by the university as a condition to students accomplishing their course work. Specifically, for students, it does not apply to extracurricular activities.

Section 13. INTEGRATIVE LEARNING OBJECTIVES OF PACIFIC LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY

  1. Pacific Lutheran University’s Integrative Learning Objectives (ILOs) are designed to provide a common understanding of how learning at PLU is targeted. These objectives offer a unifying framework for understanding how our community defines the general skills or abilities that should be exhibited by an individual who is granted a PLU bachelor’s degree. Therefore, they are integrative in nature.
  2. University policy, adopted by the Provost’s Academic Council and the President’s Council in the summer of 1998, lodges responsibility for the singularly academic components of assessment directly with academic departments, schools, and cross-disciplinary programs and their administrators. The ILOs are intended to provide these units with a conceptual reference in their efforts to build on and reinforce the goals of the General Education Program elements in their own particular curricula, as well as to assist the university in such assessment related activities as general student and alumni surveys. Academic units may refer to the ILOs in their annual assessment reports. Not all ILOs are expected to be dealt with equally by every program, much less by every course. (Any change in the current university policy that lodges primary responsibility for academic assessment with academic units and programs will include consultation with the faculty through its standing governing structure.)
  3. The ILOs do not represent, by themselves, all of our understanding of education. Rather, they are a part of a more complex web of education. One can conceptualize the outcomes of a PLU education in three general categories: knowledge, skills or abilities, and values and attitudes. These outcomes occur simultaneously at the individual course, program or major, and institutional levels. Work to develop and measure or evaluate the learning outcomes of students is connected to and informed by the learning outcomes set by groups of faculty in departments, schools, and programs. Likewise, these activities are guided by the outcomes established by the whole faculty for all PLU graduates. Students’ perceptions of the educational process should provide useful feedback at all three levels.
  4. The ILOs, which relate primarily to the skills/abilities domain at the whole institutional level, range from the ability to critically analyze and resolve complex issues and problems to being able to work in and understand constantly changing environments, cultures, and times. They transcend disciplines and specialized knowledge, but are not meant to replace or change the contextualized knowledge base of disciplines and fields. They are meant to serve as a useful framework that unifies education throughout Pacific Lutheran University while disciplinary study provides students with the knowledge and understanding of a field that will allow them to function effectively in their chosen area. With respect to this base of knowledge, these global statements can be made:
    1. The PLU graduate is expected to have a broad knowledge of the basic liberal arts and sciences.
    2. The PLU graduate should have an understanding of the interconnections among these basic liberal arts and sciences that provide the broad framework for living with the complexities of life.
    3. The PLU graduate is expected to develop an in-depth knowledge of a specified area of knowledge designated as a major within the university.
    4. The PLU graduate should have an understanding of the interconnections among the basic liberal arts and sciences and the in-depth knowledge of her/his specified major area.
  5. The Integrative Learning Objectives
    In addition to the knowledge base described above, and an awareness of how different disciplinary methodologies are used, every student at Pacific Lutheran University is expected to develop the following abilities:

    1. Critical Reflection
      1. Select sources of information using appropriate research methods, including those employing technology, and make use of that information carefully and critically.
      2. Consider issues from multiple perspectives.
      3. Evaluate assumptions and consequences of different perspectives in assessing possible solutions to problems.
      4. Understand and explain divergent viewpoints on complex issues, critically assess the support available for each, and defend one’s own judgments.
    2. Expression
      1. Communicate clearly and effectively in both written and oral forms.
      2. Adapt message to various audiences using appropriate media, convention, or styles.
      3. Create symbols or meanings in a variety of expressive media, both verbal and nonverbal.
    3. Interaction with Others
      1. Work creatively to identify and clarify the issues of concern.
      2. Acknowledge and respond to conflicting ideas, principles, and traditions, identifying common interests where possible.
      3. Develop and promote effective strategies and interpersonal relationships for implementing cooperative actions.
    4. Valuing
      1. Articulate and critically assess one’s own values, with an awareness of the communities and traditions that have helped to shape them.
      2. Recognize how others have arrived at values different from one’s own, and consider their view charitably and with an appreciation for the context in which they emerged.
      3. Develop a habit of caring for oneself, for others, and for the environment.
      4. Approach moral, spiritual, and intellectual development as a life-long process of making informed choices in one’s commitments.
      5. Approach one’s commitments with a high level of personal responsibility and professional accountability.
    5. Multiple Frameworks
      1. Recognize and understand how cultures profoundly shape different assumptions and behaviors.
      2. Identify issues and problems facing people in every culture (including one’s own), seeking constructive strategies for addressing them.
      3. Cultivate respect for diverse cultures, practices, and traditions.
      4. Note: even though these objectives are listed here as discrete elements, they are highly interconnected.

Section 14. STATEMENT ON LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

  1. With learning at the heart of our enterprise, Pacific Lutheran University must insist on high standards for the physical and virtual environments in which we engage our students. These spaces should communicate to students that their learning is our highest priority and facilitate with smart design and appropriate resources our ability to pursue our mission. Well-designed and maintained environments positively affect concentration, morale, and behavior; help attract and retain both students and faculty; and are essential to activities of learning, whether this means encouraging lively, thoughtful, and inclusive verbal exchanges or conducting inquiry using specific technology in the lab, classroom, studio, rehearsal room, online, or elsewhere.
  2. Thus, Pacific Lutheran University supports excellent and well-maintained learning spaces (including, but not limited to, classrooms, laboratories, studios, rehearsal rooms, clinical and athletic spaces, and offices) in keeping with the following statement of values:
    1. Learning spaces should be comfortable, convenient, spacious, acoustically well-designed, well-lit, aesthetically pleasing, and equipped appropriately for the instruction assigned to that space.
    2. Information technology should be thoughtfully deployed to give students exposure to up-to-date platforms, extend the boundaries of the classroom, facilitate communication, and make informational resources more accessible.
    3. Strong initiatives regarding faculty development will empower instructors to make best use of available resources and shape the new instructional landscape as technological advancement leads to the design of imaginative learning environments that extend beyond classrooms and class times.
    4. The process of continually updating our teaching spaces and instructional technology will ideally combine long-term vision about optimal design with a systematic approach to improvements that includes input from the faculty utilizing those spaces, as well as rigorous adherence to a rising minimum standard for every learning space.
    5. Systems for reporting and addressing problems will optimize communication and response time.
    6. Dedication of funds to all of these efforts—as determined long-range in the campus master plan development and in procedures for allocations over shorter terms (such as through capital improvement and equipment budgets)—will be as transparent as possible, so that the university community can cooperatively set priorities.

Section 15. JANUARY TERM RATIONALE

  1. The January Term’s intensive, four-week format is a unique pedagogical opportunity. It supports study away, in-depth focus on a single theme or topic, and the use of student-centered and active-learning pedagogies. The January Term’s intensive format also supports other pedagogical activities that contribute to building an intentional culture of learning inside and outside the classroom.
  2. Taking advantage of January Term’s unique format will strengthen PLU’s academic program, contribute to the flourishing of the university’s academic culture, showcase the themes that PLU 2010 identifies as defining a distinctive education, and allow PLU to distinguish itself among universities in the region.
  3. The January Term offers an opportunity for an intensive First-Year Experience Program that combines rigorous academic study with co-curricular activities that serve the goals of the First-Year Experience Program—thinking, literacy, and community. Further, the January Term offers the opportunity to orient students to PLU’s mission, support them in understanding how they position themselves within the PLU community and the world, and support them as they embrace their role as active citizens.
  4. Academic offerings in the January Term should be those that are suited to the intensive, four-week pedagogical context.
  5. Offerings particularly suited to the January Term include:
    1. International and domestic study away.
    2. Service-learning.
    3. Student-faculty research.
    4. Major and minor program offerings particularly suited to an intensive format.
    5. First-Year Experience courses.
    6. Some internship opportunities.
    7. Experiential learning opportunities (courses that link intellectual study with active experiences based on that learning).
    8. Courses appropriate to the intensive format because of individual faculty style and pedagogical decisions.
    9. Other courses that, for pedagogical reasons, are effectively offered in an intensive term.
    10. Curricular and co-curricular programming that contributes to an intentional culture of learning and so supports a flourishing academic culture at PLU.

Section 16. SUMMER SESSIONS

  1. Summer Sessions Salaries
    1. Each year, summer salaries are set after considering summer tuition rates, annual PLU salaries, and regional salary trends. Payment of full salary is contingent upon adequate minimum enrollments, with exceptions made by the Provost’s Office, in consultation with deans, chairs, and faculty, to support courses in selected areas. Each year information for determining summer session salaries will accompany faculty contracts.