Background
Motion: The Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences recommends that the departments of the college shall have the option to report grades for graduate studies including designations of "plus" and "minus." Departments may individually decide whether or not to participate in "plus-and-minus grading." Should a department elect the "plus-minus" option, that option must be available to all graduate programs in the department. (source: Faculty Senate, 11/23/15 approval)
Plus-Minus Grading Questions in Response to Faculty Senate
- Courses offered at a 300/400 level will require separate grading for undergraduate and graduate students and this should be reflected in the syllabus and submitted as a change for the Bulletin.
- If the course is cross-listed with another department or outside program, +/- grading will apply to the departmental listings only for those departments that have voted for +/- grading.
- If the course is not cross-listed, +/- grading will apply to all students registered for the course regardless of their departmental home. The Registrar in recording the grades will convert to the grading scheme of the student’s departmental home. (Note: This is consistent with MSASS’s +/- grading.)
- The same will apply to students in dual programs.
(source: Memo from CAS Graduate Committee to CAS Executive Committee, 3/17/15)
Participating Departments
Academic departments in the College of Arts and Sciences that award plus-minus grades to graduate students include:
| Effective Term | Code | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2016 | ARTH | Art History |
| Fall 2016 | ARTS | Art Studio |
| Fall 2016 | ASTR | Astronomy |
| Fall 2020 | CLSC | Classics |
| Fall 2016 | DANC | Dance |
| Fall 2017 | ENGL | English |
| Fall 2016 | HSTY | History |
| Fall 2016 | MUSC | Music |
| Fall 2016 | POSC | Political Science |
| Fall 2016 | RLGN | Religious Studies |
| Fall 2016 | THTR | Theater |
Departmental Guidelines
Opting In
An academic department may opt in to award plus-minus grades by communicating in writing to the university registrar with a copy sent to the College of Arts and Sciences Office of the Dean. The department must institute the grading change before the Schedule of Classes deadline for the effective term.
A department is responsible for communicating to students their opt in (or subsequent opt out) to the new grading policy. It is also responsible for updating the General Bulletin accordingly.
This grading option is available only at the departmental level, not by individual program.
Assigning Grades
Once a department opts in, faculty members will be able to assign plus-minus grades to all graduate students enrolled in graduate-level courses offered by that department, regardless of when the student matriculated.
All grading options, including whole-letter grades, are still available for the department’s graduate courses.
If the student is in a department that is not participating, the instructor will be able to assign a plus-minus grade to the student, but when the grade is recorded on the student’s record, any plus or minus will be dropped from the grade. This is the grade which will appear on the transcript, be calculated into the GPA, etc. The original grade awarded by the instructor, however, will be stored in SIS.
IGS Students
IGS students have course work duplicated across transcript careers (i.e., each semester’s courses are copied from the graduate record to the undergraduate record).
If the student is in a program in a participating department, the student’s graduate level plus-minus course grades will be truncated to the whole letter grades when transferred to the undergraduate record. This could result in the undergraduate GPA being different than the graduate GPA for the same course work for the same semesters.
Cross-listed Classes
If a class is cross-listed with an undergraduate level class, such as 300/400, only students registered for the 400-level course can be assigned plus-minus grades.
If a class is cross-listed with a department that is not participating, the instructor will be able to assign plus-minus grades to all students in graduate-level offerings of a course owned by a participating department. The appropriate grade will be recorded when the grade posts to the student’s record based on the student’s department or school, and this is the grade which will appear on the transcript, be calculated into the GPA, etc. The original grade awarded by the instructor, however, will be stored in SIS.