Attachment B

Proposed for the Graduate Catalog:

Attendance Policy for Students

Attendance and Engagement

Education at the graduate level requires students’ active involvement in the learning process. Therefore, graduate students have the responsibility to attend classes and to actively engage in all learning assignments or opportunities provided in their courses; unless expressed otherwise, students should consider class attendance to be mandatory. Instructors have the responsibility to provide a written policy on student attendance that is tied to course objectives and included in the course syllabus.

Excusable Absences

There may be times and/or circumstances that require a student to be absent from class. In these situations, the student is responsible for making timely arrangements with the instructor to make up work missed, including the timeframe during which the work is to be completed. Such arrangements should be made in writing and prior to the absence, when possible.

Examples of excusable absences may include (noting that this is NOT an exhaustive list):

Student illness;
Serious illness or death of a member of the student’s immediate family, or other serious family crisis;
University-sponsored activities for which the student’s attendance is required by virtue of scholarship or leadership/participation responsibilities;
Attendance at a professional conference related to a field of study;
Religious observances (see the Religious Observances policy tab);
Jury duty or subpoena for a court appearance;
Military duty;

The instructor has the right to require that the student provide appropriate documentation pertaining to any absence for which the student seeks to be excused.