Office of the University Registrar

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Registrar's Handbook for Faculty

I. SAGE AND ACCESS TO STUDENT RECORDS
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Sage is the university's student records database. Instructors have access to view class rosters, advisees records, and to submit mid-term and final grades through sage. Access to sage is governed by your UNet id and password. If you are have problems in accessing sage, please contact the UNet Help Desk, 781-736-7782. Please note that when logging in to sage you should not enter the "@brandeis.edu" portion of your username.

II. REGISTRATION
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-Each student is responsible for managing his/her class schedule and therefore must add and drop classes as necessary using either the registration system on sage or by following the appropriate manual registration process. An instructor may not add or drop students from a class.
-Students register using the online registration system in sage (except for undergraduate, 90-level classes which use the manual add/drop form). Early registration is held in October/November for the spring semester and March/April for the fall semester. After early registration, departments and the dean's office review courses that are under-enrolled as well as over-enrolled to determine what action should be taken. A class drawing fewer than eight students may be canceled, unless special approval from the dean's office is granted.
-Classroom assignments are made by the registrar's office based on current or projected enrollment as well as the educational technology needs as requested by the instructor. During the add/drop period at the start of the semester, instructors may find that additional seating is needed to accommodate students who are "considering" (i.e., attending but not officially enrolled in) the class. Please inform our office (Janet Driscoll ext 62015) if you find your room is too crowded and we will do our best to try to make an adjustment. If you feel that you need to cap enrollment in a class, those requests must be made through your department chair. Please note that our office may impose a cap if the enrollment in a class approaches or exceeds the seating capacity of the assigned room.

III. SIGNATURE/CONSENT CODES
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Instructor signature codes are needed by students to add classes that are controlled by instructor permission or to override a numeric limit, as well as to allow students to drop a class in accordance with the drop policy. Codes and the details of the drop policy can be obtained by the instructor by logging into sage and clicking on "View My Class Consent Codes."

IV. CLASS LISTS AND STUDENT PHOTOS
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The instructor of a class has access to class lists and student photos for that class by logging into MyCourses. Courses which are using LATTE can also access the class email function to email all registered students in the class. Department Administrators DO NOT have access to LATTE or MyCourses at this time. The class lists in LATTE, MyCourses, and WebCT should not be considered the official registration record of the class. For official enrollment numbers and the class roster, please use sage. The sage system is the authoritative source for student records.

V. WAITLISTS AND DEMAND LISTS
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During early registration for the following semester and during summer first year registration for fall term, the waitlist function is activated for all classes that are controlled by a numeric limit. Once a class is closed, the student is given an option of placing his/her name on the waitlist. At the end of the registration period, the lists are sent to the dean's office, the academic department, and class instructor for review. Additional sections may be added or instructors may be asked to increase the capacity of the class.

At the start of the semester during the add/drop period the waitlist function is not activated. Once a class is closed, students may approach instructors directly about obtaining consent codes to override the limit and register for the class.

VI. FINAL EXAMS
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The schedule for final exams is set and published a year in advance. Classes are assigned particular slots based on the time block the class is scheduled in. Classes that fall outside the block system have their exam time assigned via the block that is closest to the meeting time of the class. If you have any questions about the scheduling of exams please contact our office.

Since not every class requires a final exam, early each semester our office requests information from instructors regarding whether or not they are planning on giving a final exam during the scheduled exam period. We ask that you get us that information back to us as soon as possible as you should already know it.

Do not agree to give exams before the scheduled exams. University policy does not allow final exams to be given in advance of the published exam time. If you have students who are requesting this due to conflicts, they must request an "excused absence from a final exam" through the Office of Academic Services and will have to make-up the exam at the start of the next semester. In the event that students have two final exams at the same time (or three exams scheduled within 24 hours) we have a designated "conflict resolution" time at the end of the exam period when the second exam can be taken, or the make-up exam can be taken at the start of the next semester. All re-scheduling of make-up exams happens through our office.

All instructors and Teaching Assistants are expected to be present during a final exam. If you have an emergency, please contact your dept chair and Richard Cunnane. Instructors are responsible for providing a proctor if they are unable to attend their exam. Additional proctors will be provided by our office to the extent that we are able to.

If you are teaching multiple sections of the same course and are interested in using a common block for a final exam, please contact our office about how this can best be handled.

VII. GRADING
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Midterm and final grades are submitted via sage. Midterm grades are typically due in October/March. Final grades are due shortly after the end of the semester. However, grades for seniors have EARLIER special deadlines. Please be sure to check the Academic Calendar for these dates. Grade changes are submitted via a paper form obtained from your department administrator.

VIII. CLASSROOMS
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The Office of the University Registrar is responsible for assigning all general University-shared classrooms for classes and other academic events. Classrooms are assigned, please do not move your class without getting prior approval from our office. Just because a room is empty do not assume that it is available. Classroom assignments are based on current enrollment (or projected final enrollment), but students may attend without enrolling during the Add/Drop period, if you find that your classroom is too crowded please contact our office and we will try and make adjustments. If you need to use a classroom for non-academic uses, please contact Conference and Events Services.

-To report a usability problem (heat/AC, seating issues), please contact your department administrator
-For assistance with AV equipment, contact the ITRC at ext 64739
-For a campus map, use the online map
-For information on what equipment is available in our classrooms, please use the Classroom Technology Resource Finder
-To report a safety emergency or if you are locked out of your classroom, contact Public Safety ext 63333
-For non-urgent safety concerns, contact Public Safety ext 65000

IX. COURSE TITLES AND DESCRIPTIONS
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All new courses follow a particular process for approval; the details of the process can be found on the New Course Form (Word doc format). If you find that you need to adust the title or description of a course you are teaching, please contact Gabrielle Harder as we can make some adjustments to the online Bulletin and to sage. Courses are approved to satisfy certain University requirements through a number of committees. Students will sometimes approach you about having a class fulfill a certain requirement, in order for this to happen the instructor must request the appropriate committee to approve it. Please contact our office for guidance to the appropriate venues.

X. CONTACT INFORMATION
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