Planet College End of Term Checklist #1

The term is ending. Lots to do. Paper's due. Finals. Pack for home. Work more. Spend more. It can get to be a blur. And a hassle. So. Here is a Planet College end of term check list for you. Number one. Are you registered in the class, course and section you have been attending all semester. Seriously. This is simple and important. Look at your schedule. Ask your instructor or the TA. Make sure you are on the roll sheet for every class you have been taking. Don't stop with the instructor. Go to the registration office or where ever the records are kept at your school. Ask. Find out for sure if their records match the classes you have been taking. Find out. For sure. Compare the course, the section number and the times and days that you have been attending with the records office record of your current schedule. Important? No, critical.

Your Instructor on Planet College

During your time on Planet College you will have many, many, many instructors. So, read this carefully.
Your instructor may be a professor, an assistant or associate professor, an instructor, a guest lecturer, part-time instructor or even a TA, a teaching assistant. Whoever they are and whatever they are called, they are the person who is responsible for assigning your grade. Pay careful attention to what they say during class. Pay careful attention to what they deem is important for the course. Examine the syllabus, course outline and every handout the instructor hands out. You are at a university, in a college, in a department, in a program and in a class to get a passing grade. Passing grades in your courses will enable you to finish your program, graduate with a degree and get a real job back on Planet Earth. Think about it. No more smelly roommates who stiff you for the cable bill, no more crappy old car that won't start when you’re late, no more waiting ‘till 2am to do your laundry, no more papers due, no more late fees, no more library fines. Sound worth it? OK then, quit staring out the window and get to work. Planet Earth is calling.

What does this have to do with me?

You, as a student, are at a university and in a college. If you are in your first two years you are probably in lower division. You are working on general education requirements and some pre-requisites if you have a major in mind. If you have declared a major you may be working within a department and you are most likely in a program. If you have not decided on a major you are at this point undeclared. No matter where you are in your schooling, except on rare occasions such as an appeal you will primarily be concerned with your Instructor. Your instructor is the person who will assign your grade for any course you are taking. That is what this has to do with you.

If you are a student at a community college most of the above still applies. If this still isn't clear read the above post again.

So who runs it?

The head of the Department is called the Chair (man or woman). The chair has a PhD. So go ahead and call her Doctor, she’ll like that. Among other things the Chair hires the instructors who teach in the department. The main instructors the Chair hires are Professors. A professor is someone whom the chair has deemed fully qualified to teach or “profess” a subject. Rather than a job a professor receives an appointment. Within a department the Chair may have appointed several professors. A professor is often the head of a particular program within that same department. Professors nearly always have a PhD but this is not always necessarily true. In fact, you may be surprised to learn, a professor need not necessarily even have any college degree at all. She or he simply needs to have been determined to be qualified by the Chair to teach the subject. If a professor lasts long enough in a department he may be granted tenure. Depending on the school this can mean this professor cannot be fired. This can explain why, at times, some professors behave in a peculiar fashion. How would you act at work if you couldn't be fired?

What is your department?

Colleges on Planet College are divided into departments.
Department.
A Department is a section of a college. This section of a college is always dedicated to one particular discipline within the college. The College of Arts may have a Department of Theatre Arts. The College of Physical Science may have a Department of Biology. Within a department there are often specific courses of study called programs. For example within a College of Natural Sciences, The Department of Health Sciences may have a Nursing Program. What department are you in? Do you know? What program are you in? If you don't know you better find out.

College Tour Degree Designations

Colleges grant degrees.

These degrees indicate the level of mastery a student has achieved in a particular subject. Degrees usually granted by a college include; BA or Bachelor of Arts, BS or Bachelor of Science, BFA or Bachelor of Fine Arts, MA or Master of Arts, MS or Master of Science, MFA or Master of Fine Arts. Community colleges grant degrees known as AA or Associates of Arts.

Colleges also grant credentials and certificates. A credential indicates having completed a course of study, such as teaching. A certificate is granted after completing a course in a skill or set of skills such as word processing or bookeeping.

Doctorates.
There is one additional classification of degrees. These are called Doctorates and the scholastic designation is PhD. While people with a BA are rarely called “Bachelors” and those of us with Masters are almost never called Master, people with PhDs really like being called, “Doctor.”

Planet College the tour continues.

This is the next stop on the Planet College College tour. This tour stop is college itself.
College. The term college connotes a collection of like-minded individuals gathered for a common purpose. We get the words colleague and collegiality from the same root word. The colleges, when grouped become a university. The individual colleges within a university are usually dedicated to one overall discipline. Your campus may include a College of Arts, a College of Science, a College of Engineering or any others of many disciplines possible.

Dean. The head of a college is called the Dean. He or She is the other person on the platform who will be shaking your hand after the president hands you the fake diploma everyone gets at the graduation ceremony. Deans move around a lot. In fact during the time it takes you to read this your college probably got a new Dean.

Basic Planet College Terms

By now you may have realized that Planet College has its own terms. Some of these may be clear and others more obscure. Believing that it is never too late for a campus tour here are some Planet College terms and their definitions. These explanations are generally accurate for most schools. For a more in depth explanation check your school's catalogue, bulletin or website.

University. A University is so designated because it represents an entire universe of learning. A university is often a collection of colleges. The head of a university is usually referred to as the President. In a system with more than one campus, such as North Carolina or California State University the overall head of the University is called the Chancellor. On any one of the campuses within a university you will find a president. A college president’s main job is fund raising. Unless it is your graduation, if you personally end up talking with the president and he is smiling and shaking your hand it is probably because you just gave the school a whole bunch of money. Other than that the president will probably just smile and nod as he hurries by you on campus to his next meeting with a potential donor.

Deadlines. Be Aware

Fee payment deadlines. Drop deadlines. Late add deadlines. Change of schedule, change of major, they are all due soon. Deadlines. Don't get caught past one. Because it always means fees. More fees. So. Be aware. What deadlines are due at your school? Get on it.