September 1998

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New +/- Grading System Goes into Effect This Fall Attention all faculty! The start date for the plus-minus grading system the Faculty Senate approved three years ago is now. Effective this semester, you can more accurately grade your students' mastery of the material you taught, and reduce endless discussions over the grades they believe they really should have gotten. The impetus for the change, says Don Gantz, faculty chair of the ad hoc committee that considered the issue, was an April 1995 proposal by Jack Censer, History and Art History, to enable faculty to make finer distinctions in grades, especially for graduate students. After the committee issued a draft report recommending the change, and comments were solicited from faculty and students, an amended motion was approved by the Faculty Senate in November 1995, with the plan to implement the new system in fall 1998 to allow time for the Registrar's Office and University Computing and Information Systems to adjust their systems. The new grades for undergraduates, with corresponding grade points, are as follows: A (4.00), A- (3.67), B+ (3.33), B (3.00), B- (2.67), C+ (2.33), C (2.00), D (1.00), F (0.00). Pluses and minuses do not apply to grades below C, which are considered unsatisfactory. Graduate students receive grades of A, A-, B+, B, C, and F. There is no B- because grades below B are considered unsatisfactory. Law school students are not affected by the new system. The grading system applies to all undergraduate and graduate students; "grandfathering" proposals to allow students to continue in the old system was not approved. For more information, refer to the University Catalog or contact the Registrar's Office.