SECTION 7: FACULTY TITLES, AWARDS, OTHER POLICIES AND SERVICES
7.6 Academic Support Services
7.6.1 Simpson Library The library holds an excellent collection to support the curriculum and provide for the research needs of students and faculty. The library has been a selective depository for US federal government documents since 1940 and a depository for Virginia government documents since 1981. The Library’s collections include over 360,000 cataloged items, 1,500 current magazine and newspaper subscriptions, and an extensive microform collection of newspaper and periodical back issues. In addition to more than 35,000 electronic books, the Library also provides access via the Internet to an extensive array of electronic databases. More than 6,000 new volumes are added to the collection each year to support a wide-ranging curriculum. The Library also maintains a rare book collection and the archives of the University. The University of Mary Washington is an active member of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA), a consortium of colleges and universities in Virginia that gives students and faculty access to a rich array of electronic resources through the campus network. The library faculty are committed to fostering and promoting the library’s place in the educational program through a variety of instructional services aimed at teaching students to identify, locate and use the information they need. Library faculty are also prepared to work with individual instructors to provide class instruction in library use and information retrieval relevant to their needs. Complete details about Library policies and services, interlibrary loan, reserves, circulation, material selection and ordering, and collections review are available at the Library or at http://www.library.umw.edu/. (Select the option for Library Services.”)
7.6.2 Information Technologies The Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies in the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) supports the University’s academic mission through instructional design, opportunities for professional development, consulting, troubleshooting, and other services. The Division focuses entirely on the academic mission of the University, is led by a faculty member, and features a team of Instructional Technology Specialists working one-on-one with faculty and students to find and make good use of technologies that improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning. The Technology Assistance Center (TAC) provides support for the computers in many classrooms and computer laboratories as well as those in faculty and staff offices. The TAC provides technical troubleshooting and support, primarily through over-the-phone service. Staffed by student aides and staff, the TAC ensures that all faculty, staff and students have access to the campus network and provides assistance for software and hardware issues. Tickets for issues that cannot be resolved over the phone are created, and forwarded to staff members who can provide timely and effective support. A Media Resource Center (MRC), located in Combs Hall 211, houses a non-print media library comprised of over 1500 titles on DVD, VHS, and Laserdisc. Students may view these titles in the MRC viewing carrels, and faculty may check out video titles for use in their classes. These titles may also be scheduled for screening in Chandler Hall 102. Additional information about information technology services and support is available at http://www.umw.edu/doit/dtlt.
7.6.3 Writing Center The Writing Center located on the Fredericksburg campus is a part of the Writing Intensive Program and is open to all students. It expresses the University’s belief in writing competence as an essential ingredient of a liberal arts education. Operating within the Honor Code, the Writing Center offers free tutorial assistance to students, regardless of major, both for course assignments and for personal writing needs. The Writing Center works with student writers at every skill level to improve their writing performance. Staffed by an administrative faculty director, an assistant, and well-trained student tutors, the Center provides advice in getting started on papers, developing ideas, achieving unity and coherence, reviewing troublesome parts of papers, understanding and correcting recurring grammatical and punctuation errors, and overcoming writer’s block. The Writing Center welcomes students writing research papers, short essays, letters of application, and laboratory reports. It also provides access to various writing guides. The director conducts several workshops each year on writing skills important to success in college work.
7.6.4 Speaking Center The Speaking Center supports the Speaking Intensive Program by providing free consultations to students interested in developing oral communication skills. The Speaking Center is staffed by an administrative faculty director, and houses a collection of instructional resources (books, handouts, videotapes, and equipment) that address a variety of topics ranging from public speaking anxiety to constructing effective visual aids. Trained student consultants are available to videotape practice presentations and to provide feedback. The Center adheres strictly to the Honor Code: consultants will not compose any portion of a presentation for a student, nor will they do research for a student’s presentations. Consultants also are prepared to offer advice on special types of oral communication activities such as speeches, group presentations, debates, or interviews.
7.6.5 Academic Services In addition to each student’s designated academic advisors, the Office of Academic Services offers a variety of advising services for students. The Associate Dean of Academic Services, supported by Assistant Deans, counsels students in academic jeopardy (i.e., those placed on academic probation and/or suspension). Additionally, any student can schedule a general advising session with any of the academic advisors in the Office. Free tutorial services and study skills workshops are available as well to degree seeking students.
7.6.6 Office of Disability Services The Office provides and coordinates reasonable and appropriate accommodations to qualified students with disabilities. These accommodations may include – but are not limited to – extended time on tests, note-taking assistance, air-conditioned dorm rooms, sign language interpreters, enlarged print materials, permission to tape record lectures, and distraction-reduced testing sites. In order to receive services, students must provide professional documentation of a substantially limiting condition and discuss appropriate accommodations with the Director of Disability Services. Documentation guidelines for specific disabilities may be found on the Disability Services Web site at http://www.umw.edu/disability/ or by requesting it from the office. The Director verifies the disability, assists in arranging reasonable accommodations, and acts as a liaison between students, faculty, and administration on issues relating to services or accommodations.
7.6.7 International Academic Services A number of summer, semester, and full-year study abroad programs are available in a variety of locations for nearly all academic disciplines. The University also sponsors several faculty-led summer abroad opportunities based on the expertise and interest of the instructor. Students considering studying abroad work with the Office of International Academic Services (IAS). IAS assists students in program selection and approval, transfer credit, and other administrative and cultural preparations, and supports them while abroad and upon re-entry to the University. IAS also assists international students from approximately 25 countries with immigration, and academic and social adjustments.
7.6.8 Career Services The Office of Career Services coordinates the program of academic internships, through which qualified juniors and seniors work in off-campus settings. Academic departments sponsor these pre-professional internships, under the joint direction of a faculty member and an on-site supervisor, and award academic credit for their successful completion. Career Services maintains files of internships both on-line and in print. Current internship policy and procedure guidelines are available from the Office of Career Services.
7.6.9 Office of the Registrar The University maintains an official academic record in the Office of the Registrar for each student. The permanent academic record, which is maintained by the Registrar, contains all completed course work, grades, grade-point average, and notes on the student’s academic status. The student’s application file, containing the application for admission and accompanying transcripts, is maintained for five years following the student’s last date of enrollment. Access to academic records is allowed in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as amended in 1974. In addition to maintaining official academic records, the Office of the Registrar is responsible for organizing activities related to course registration and grading, and the Office also manages an electronic degree auditing system enabling faculty advisors to track the progress of their advisees in meeting graduation requirements. Faculty members access rosters for their courses through the online records and registration system managed by the Registrar’s Office, and they submit course grades online.
7.6.10 Printing and Copying Services Classroom materials may be reproduced on copy machines located in each academic building; large scale copying and printing services beyond simple copying are available at the Document Center in Seacobeck Hall. Photocopying on Simpson Library photocopying machines of non-circulating library materials may be charged to the department. Copyrighted materials will only be reproduced under certain very limited conditions in accordance with the guidelines for fair use as outlined in §15.6.1.1 of the United States Code unless written permission from the copyright owner is on file at the University. Personal copies should be made on the copiers located in the library, the Document Center, and at the Bookstore entrance, at the user’s expense.
7.6.11 University Bookstore The Bookstore serves as the agent through which course textbooks are ordered and sold. Instructors will find the textbook requisition and course pack request forms on the Bookstore web page at http://www.umw.edu/bookstore/. (Select the option titled “faculty.”) To facilitate ordering, all information requested on the requisition forms must be provided when they are submitted. Textbook, course pack and supply adoption orders are due to the Bookstore in October for the spring semester and in April for the fall semester. Specific due dates are published annually at http://www.umw.edu/bookstore/, on the “faculty” page. Late adoptions of currently in-use titles cause unnecessary costs to students as well as to the University, and should be avoided. Most publishers will supply faculty with desk copies of adopted texts at no charge. See the “Instructional Resources for Faculty” pamphlet (provided by the Bookstore) or contact the textbook department at 540-654-1650 or 540-654-1649 for publisher information. To contact the textbook department by e-mail, use either textbooks@umw.edu. The Code of Virginia § 23-4.3:1, “Policies Addressing Textbook Sales and Bookstores,” requires that Virginia public colleges and universities make available to students in a central location and in a standard format on the relevant institutional website the listings of textbooks required or assigned for particular courses at the institution. In order to meet this requirement, the University Bookstore will post textbook adoptions on the Bookstore website once titles have been researched and confirmed, a minimum of 6 weeks prior to the beginning of classes.