Faculty are expected to attend all class meetings and to begin and end classes at the scheduled times.  If a professor is fifteen (15) minutes late for class for any reason, then the students are officially dismissed and will not be held responsible or penalized for the work that would have been completed in that class period.  At the next class meeting, the teacher is responsible for clarifying what assignments are due and what additional work must be completed to make up for the class time missed.

 

If a professor knows in advance that he/she must miss a class due to a family emergency, illness, inclement weather, or a professional commitment, then the professor should attempt to notify the students in as many of these ways as possible:  announce the absence in the class prior to the absence, post a sign at the classroom, leave a message about the absence on voice mail, and inform the School Administrative Assistant or Academic Affairs Office.

 

Instead of canceling a class due to the professor’s absence, the professor should make every effort to provide a relevant and valuable class experience in an appropriate way, such as one of the following:  ask a colleague to cover the material, invite a guest lecturer to make a presentation, show an appropriate video, send the class to the library for a library assignment, assign group work to be completed during the class period, post an electronic assignment.

 

Faculty may not ask an administrative assistant or other non-faculty staff member to cover a class.

 

Faculty must report any absence and submit an official Faculty Absence Form to the School Dean.  The form will then be submitted to Office for Human Resources and placed in the personnel file.