Temporary Policy Changes and Advisor Advice—Spring 2020

The registration period has opened for all continuing students at Moravian as well as new transfer students. Academic advising continues virtually. Faculty advisors are encouraged to use Zoom technology for virtual advising meetings but may use other internet-based means.  For support with Zoom, advisors should access these resources.  For technical questions, reach out to the IT Help Desk at help@moravian.edu or 610-861-1500 if you have questions or issues.

Faculty advisors are also strongly encouraged to use Momentum for advising appointments.  Please use the resources linked on this page to set up your Momentum appointment calendar and link with a Google calendar.

Faculty and staff using Chrome can install this add-on and easily convert any Google calendar meeting to a Zoom meeting without prior preparation.  Please do close and reload any calendar tab after installation.  Please also note that Canvas should not be used for advising Zoom meetings, as it always creates all-class meetings.

Students register, online, via AMOS (student portal) during predetermined registration dates/times.  The link for the electronic form is found under College Students and Forms in AMOS.  

It is the undergraduate students' responsibility to consult their faculty advisor and secure “registration clearance” (granted by the advisor, through AMOS). Undergraduate students normally take four (4) course units in a term. In addition, they may schedule physical education activities, music ensembles (choir, women's chorus, orchestra, marching band, wind ensemble), music performance (private lessons), and certain other courses up to a maximum load of 4.5 course units.

A student requires an advisor's approval to schedule an overload. A student with sophomore, junior, or senior standing at the time of application and a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher at the time of registration may schedule a fifth unit at no additional charge in either the fall or spring term. In doing so, the student will be restricted to just 4 attempted units in the other term (5 units in the fall/4 units in the spring or 4 units in the fall/5 units in the spring).

Students who register for more than 9 units total for one academic year (fall and spring terms) will be subject to overload fees.

The fifth course is subject to normal restrictions on enrollment, such as prerequisites or seating availability. Students are not permitted to enroll in more than five units during any term.

Registration for Writing Fellows, Amrhein Investment Club, Leadershape, ROTC, and Emerging Leaders is excluded from the course load restriction.

Students may enroll in Moravian summer courses as usual but should be aware that all courses in Summer 2020 will be delivered online. Advisors may suggest Moravian courses to advisees who were planning to enroll elsewhere because they would not be on campus or able to attend campus-based courses in the summer.

Students who enroll in summer courses at another institution will still need to submit the appropriate information required by the Registrar for courses to transfer back to Moravian.  All current Moravian policies remain in effect surrounding taking courses at another institution.

Students should use the appropriate form to guide virtual approvals and permissions, gather all approvals virtually, and submit a single email or email chain to registrar@moravian.edu.

Undeclared students with 16 units or more are expected to declare a major in Spring 2020. Any student may elect to declare a major or minor while off campus in Spring 2020.

The Registrar's Office is willing to have this process take place in email.  Students should be guided by the approvals required to complete the Major or Minor Declaration Form, gather all approvals virtually, and submit a single email or email chain to registrar@moravian.edu.

For Spring 2020, students will be able to withdraw with a W until the last day of classes, May 2, 2020. Any request for a W up through May 2 does not require special approval from the dean.

Withdrawal Process

When an advisee is considering withdrawing from a course, the advisor must be aware that this withdrawal could impact Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) calculations at the end of the semester. As a reminder, students are expected to successfully complete at least 70% of all courses attempted at Moravian (including courses taken at other institutions since matriculating at Moravian). Advisors need to review an advisee’s current status (Good Standing, Probation, Readmitted on Probation, etc.) and help students not in good standing plan how to reach this 70% threshold for their course work while making this decision.

To withdraw from a course without coming to campus, students should first email their advisor and the instructor for the course they want to withdraw from. The advisor needs to reply-all with approval, and the instructor needs to reply-all with approval and give the last date of attendance for the student. The student should forward the email chain to the Registrar’s Office at registrar@moravian.edu.

Part-time Status

An increased number of students may be dropping to part-time status. It is important for advisors to know:

• At this point in the term, financial aid is not impacted as long as the student remains enrolled for the spring semester.
• Most students have already been sent home, and those that are still on campus have already made a justification to remain in housing. So, their residence status will not be impacted.
• The student, the advisor, and Housing will be notified when a student will be shifting to PT status, but no additional approvals or steps are needed.

INC Policy Change

Faculty and students who arrange an incomplete (INC) for Spring 2020 will have until December 5 (the end of Fall 2020) to resolve the incomplete. Specific deadlines for assignments are still to be determined between the student and faculty instructor, and the INC can be resolved anytime after Spring 2020 grades are submitted but before December 5. If the student and faculty instructor need to extend the INC past that date, they need to consult with the relevant school dean.

INC Process

Instructors should consult with the vice provost, the appropriate school dean, the dean of student success, or, if appropriate, the director of accessibility services regarding such circumstances. This consultation ensures fair and equitable treatment of students. Students should also consult their academic advisors about the impact of an INC grade and its timeline for completion on Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) as well as determinations of academic standing at the end of Spring 2020.

The faculty instructor is expected to determine a reasonable timeline for the student to complete the required assignments. Instructors will work with the student and create a Success Plan in Momentum for the INC, listing missing assessments and a timetable for completion. All INC grades from Spring 2020 need to be resolved by December 5, 2020, the end of the Fall 2020 term. Advisors should consult the Success Plan for INC and work with students, as needed, to support academic success.

One of the members of academic leadership will approve the plan and assign it to the registrar who will record INC for the course grade. At the expiration of the date provided in the Success Plan, the INC will be replaced by a grade assigned by the instructor or, if the work has not been completed, by an F.

For written directions on how to create a Success Plan in Momentum, click here.

PC/PD/NC Policy

For Spring 2020, the following change to the P/NC policy is intended to recognize the disparate impact that the COVID-19 outbreak may have on individual students. The college will provide students the option to consult with their academic advisor and determine whether shifting to a Pass-No Credit option would ease the pressure of meeting personal commitments while still making positive academic progress. For any given course, the undergraduate student may opt to change the grading rubric to a non-grade-based rubric until May 2, 2020.

Note that this policy applies to all students in the undergraduate curriculum. Students in the various graduate programs, including the seminary should consult with their advisor directly.

For such courses: There will be no grade on the transcript to impact the student’s cumulative GPA. On the transcript, one of the following marks will be assigned based on instructor grade assignment:

• PC: This reflects student performance in the class at the level “C” or better.
• PD: This represents a passing grade, but not necessarily one that indicates performance at the level of “C” or better.
• NC: The student has not satisfactorily completed the work of the course.

Please also note:

• This option is available for a student to consider for any course, although the student should consult with their academic advisor before requesting. 
• The choice to designate any course Pass/Fail resides with the individual student, with approval from either the advisor or the provost’s office.
• Courses that satisfy LinC or major/minor requirements may be shifted to this Pass/Fail rubric.
• A course with a PC mark is considered to have met the requirements when a prerequisite requires “C or better” in a given class.
• Students who wish to be considered for the Dean’s List must complete at least three units with a letter grade.

PC/PD/NC Process

Students initiate this process by raising their hand with the appropriately named flag in Momentum. (To "Raise My Hand" in Momentum, students should login and click on the three bars on the upper left corner of their screen—sometimes called a "hamburger"—and select "Raise My Hand." They will then have a drop-down menu that includes the Pass/No Credit option.) Ideally, students will have consulted their academic advisor before raising this flag, but advisors will be notified when the student raises the flag. A student may elect to make this change to as many or as few courses as they would like in the Spring 2020 term.

Primary advisors should approve these requests after consulting with a student, but advisors may also consult with the director of academic advising and support or an appropriate dean in determining approval. Notes from the advisor in the flag or elsewhere on the rationale for the change in grading rubric are strongly encouraged. The flag must be assigned to the Registrar’s Office to make the change in grading rubric.

To download directions to process the PC/PD/NC option, click here.

The intricacies of balance among Ws, INCs, and PC/PD/NC for any student is an important conversation with the academic advisor. Advisors seeking guidance beyond what is included here should contact Monica Jacobe, Director of Academic Advising and Support at jacobem@moravian.edu.

Satisfactory Academic Progress and GPA

Please know that any class chosen as PC/PD/NC for this term does not count toward the "maximum count" policy for P/NC courses in the catalog, which has the official cap at one per term (and 4 units overall toward the degree). However, as with withdrawals, a PC/PD/NC could impact Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) calculations at the end of the semester. This change in the grading rubric for a student may also have GPA implications (positive, negative, neutral) for any student not in good academic standing beyond the desire to have an ungraded option. Advisors need to review an advisee’s current status (Good Standing, Probation, Readmitted on Probation, etc.) and help students weigh the decision to change the grading rubric for any course. This consideration may need to be for cumulative GPA, major GPA, or GPA in specific course categories. For graduating seniors, advisors need to consider GPA requirements for graduation.

Specific Programmatic or Departmental Considerations

If the concern is an internal requirement, faculty and departments may examine policies to allow for these exceptional times. However, it is important for advisors to note that a PC designation indicated work of C-level or higher, which will meet many minimum course grade requirements for major gateway courses.

If the concern is an external accrediting or certification requirement, departments will need to determine how to act in accordance with the overseeing agency. Department-specific advice for academic advisors:

Education

Education majors and students intending education programs need to maintain a 3.0 overall GPA for teaching certification, 3.0 in their major, and 3.0 in education to proceed to student teaching. Students also are required to have a C or above in major and related courses (including a lab science, American History, and Literature courses).

Students seeking exemption from the Basic Skills Test math module will still need to receive a B or higher in MATH 197.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has confirmed it will uphold these standards, per a message shared with stakeholders on April 2, 2020. Academic Advisors with questions should contact Tristan Gleason at gleasont@moravian.edu.

Nursing

The Breidegam School of Nursing discourages using the Pass/No Credit option for any nursing or science course required for entry into or progression through the nursing program. The Student Development and Progression Committee will consider any grades of Pass/No Credit as not meeting the progression standards. The School of Nursing anticipates that students will receive the following in determining semester QPA:

• PC= C (2.0)
• PD = D (1.0)
• No Credit = F (0)

Students will also be required to submit an exception to the progression policy as outlined in the School of Nursing undergraduate handbook. Intended or declared Nursing majors are further encouraged to recognize that Pass/No Credit grades in certain courses may impact their ability to take the PA NCLEX exam for certification at the completion of the program.

Academic Advisors with questions should contact Dawn Goodolf at goodolfd@moravian.edu.

Rehabilitation Sciences

The Department of Rehabilitation Sciences will not accept Pass/No Credit grades in prerequisite courses from either internal or external applicants for its graduate programs (MSAT, MSOT, MS-SLP, and DPT). Academic Advisors with questions should contact Jay Scifers at scifersj@moravian.edu.

Specific Population Considerations

Faculty advisors working with international students should be aware that those sponsored by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) have been given permission (as of April 8, 2020) to take the P/NC option for classes in Spring 2020. Advisors may approve such requests from SACM-sponsored students and other international students on study visas without specific concerns or prohibitions based on funding status or national origin.

Post-Graduate Planning and PC/PD/NC Health Professions Graduate Study

Currently, there is no consensus among health professions schools regarding whether P/NC grades will be accepted in place of letter grades for graduate study. Given these uncertain times, students require guidance and advice to prepare them for their future health professions admissions process.

Advisors of students intending health professions graduate study should strongly recommend maintaining the graded rubric for science courses, especially prerequisite courses. The hope is that various graduate health professions programs will understand the unprecedented circumstances of this term, so if a student feels that they need to switch to PC/PD/NC in a science course, talk the decision through and make note of the rationale, ideally in Momentum. That rationale will be very important for colleagues to understand when the student is in the application process. Students preparing for health professions graduate study may more easily choose the PC/PD/NC option for non-science courses but still need to think fully through the decision with the advisor, as requirements for specific graduate programs and degrees will vary.

As always, students should think about how they are demonstrating academic readiness for the rigor of their professional health program by engaging in robust graded science preparation, securing strong academic letters of recommendation, and doing well on standardized tests.

Other Graduate Study

All students planning for graduate study should think about how they are demonstrating academic readiness for the rigor of their intended programs in this decision-making process. Advisors should think carefully with students about possible post-graduate plans and the PC/PD/NC option in discussing graduate school planning. Selecting which courses make the most sense for this option will depend on the current semester’s course and the intended program. In general, maintaining graded status for courses in a student’s major might make more sense for a student intending a graduate program in the same field, but faculty advisors in the major are best equipped to help students weigh options. First-Year Advisors should not generally need to help students factor in post-graduate study when weighing the PC/PD/NC decision for Spring 2020 courses with the exclusion of specifics noted above.

Employers & Internships

Students are used to being evaluated by grades, as that has always been their reality. They may not know that the choice to take an ungraded option this semester, and even their GPA, will not be a significant concern to most employers or internship sites. If students have specific concerns, advisors should help students investigate and resolve them, but it may be important to assure an advisee that making the choice to take the PC/PD/NC option will not harm their career development or chances of post-graduate employment.