Notes from Academic Affairs- End of Year Dates

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

As the academic year draws to an end, we want to thank you all for all of your work throughout this year to ensure a rigorous, meaningful, and exceptional academic experience for our students.  We know that this year has, again, been filled with challenges.  The Academic Affairs team would like to commend you all for meeting these challenges, being creative in your solutions, and working, always, with student success as your outcome. 

One of our favorite times of the year is when we get the chance to recognize our Outstanding Faculty Award winners. This year, 15 faculty members were honored for their exceptional teaching, research, and service.  The five faculty recognized as Outstanding Researchers were: 

• Arunima Datta (History)
• Thom Hasenpflug (Music) 
• Courtney Jenkins (Chemistry) 
• Mary Nies (Nursing) 
• Ellen Rogo (Dental Hygiene)  

The five faculty who were recognized with the Outstanding Service Award were: 

• Zackery Heern (History) 
• Ryan Lindsay (Community and Public Health) 
• Dave Martin (Physician Assistant Studies) 
• Dani Moffit (Human Performance and Sport Studies) 
• Renee Robinson (Pharmacy Practice and Administrative Sciences)  

The five faculty who were recognized as Master Teachers were: 

• Paul Bodily (Computer Science) 
• Jennifer Briggs (Practical Nursing)
• Nancy Devine (Physical Therapy) 
• Anna Grinath (Biological Sciences)
• David Lawrimore (English)

Congratulations to all award winners!

We also wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the following important dates and pieces of information that signify the completion of our academic year.

Finals Week Schedule and Policy:  Finals exam week is May 2 - May 6.  Please use the Spring 2022 Final Exam schedule to schedule your final exams.  The ISU Final Exam Week Policy states that, if a class requires a final exam, the exam be held in its allotted time during finals week and that it be no longer than the scheduled time. Faculty may, however, work with individual students to provide a special exam time during finals week if there is a special circumstance, such as the student having more than two exams on the same day. 

Grading Policies: Final grades are due on Tuesday, May 11 at 5:00 p.m.  For guidance on grading, specifically situations that may necessitate an Incomplete, X, or Withdrawal,  please see the ISU Credit and Grading Policies section in the academic catalog. Students often ask about incomplete grades near the end of the semester. 

Incomplete Grades: Incomplete grades may be assigned at the discretion of the instructor of a course, though students must meet eligibility requirements. In particular, a substantial amount of the course material must have been completed by a student in order to be granted an incomplete grade. If a faculty member wants to provide an incomplete grade to a student who meets this condition, then the instructor will work with the student to fill in a Course Completion Contract, which indicates the work that remains to be completed. Both the faculty member and student must agree to the contract and sign the form before the grade of I is entered as a grade. 

Commencement:  We are excited to be able to have all of our university commencement ceremonies in person again this year. Commencement will be held on the Pocatello Campus on Saturday, May 7, and in Meridian on Monday, May 9.  Please visit the ISU Commencement page for more information.

Good luck with the end of the semester, and thank you for everything you have done to advance our students and their success throughout the year.  We hope to see you at our various end-of-the-year events to celebrate with you!

The Academic Affairs Team