Student Success Center

The Student Success Center (SSC), directed by the Vice Provost,) supports the academic achievement, personal success, and professional aspirations of our students. The academic assistance and resources provided through the SSC include academic advising, tutoring, test proctoring, help with study skills, time management strategies, accessibility services, and accommodations. Faculty members should direct students to the SSC if they have questions or concerns regarding the assistance or resources provided through the SSC.

To provide reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities or for students with other special circumstances, the following is available:

1. Untimed proctoring of tests for both those students who require this as related to their documented disabilities and for international students who may need extended time.
2. Trained tutors who teach to the unique individual learning styles of students.
3. Note takers are made available within classes on an as-needed basis.
4. Coordination of services with the Student Affairs office is made for students who have physical disabilities.

Accessibility Services

Benedictine College complies with ADA requirements for reasonable accommodations for individuals with documented disabilities that may affect their performance in the classroom. To provide reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities or for students with other special circumstances, the following is available:

1. Test proctoring for students who require this as related to their documented disabilities and for international students who may need extended time.
2. Trained tutors to assist individual students who need additional assistance. Note takers are provided within classes on an as-needed basis.
3. Note takers are provided within classes on an as-needed basis.
4. Additional accommodations as needed may be available, and should be discussed with the Accessibility Services Coordinator.
5. Coordination of services with the Student Life Office is made for students who have physical disabilities.

If a faculty member receives a request for academic accommodations from a student, the faculty member should direct the student to the Student Success Center.

Career Development

      Career Services provides opportunities for students to gain real-world career-related experiences and helps to prepare students for their job search. Career Services assists students by providing help with résumés, interviewing skills, career assessments, internships, graduate school support, and networking. Career Services also supports involvement in student life and collaboration with faculty, staff, and alumni as essential components of the career development process. All students seeking employment are encouraged to access the “Raven Walk” networking platform.

Academic Advising

Each student is assigned an academic advisor upon matriculation. Faculty are expected to take their responsibility as advisors seriously. Training is provided for new academic advisors. Specific training for majors in the department is provided by the department chair.

Faculty Access to Student Records

Benedictine College expects its faculty to be judicious and discreet with student education records. These records are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Subject to certain exceptions, FERPA’s general rule is that the education records of a student cannot be disclosed to third parties without that student’s prior written consent. FERPA permits a faculty member of the College to review a student’s education records without that student having given prior written consent only when the faculty member has a legitimate educational reason for doing so. Your status as a faculty member does not give you uninhibited access to all education records of all students at the College. If you have any doubt about whether you have a legitimate educational reason to access a student’s records, you should consult with the Registrar, Senior Vice Provost, or Provost prior to doing so.

The College may give Department Chairs electronic access to the College’s student records system. As a general matter, Department Chairs have a legitimate educational interest in accessing the records of students within their department for purposes of considering their suitability for a particular major, monitoring their academic progress for a major or degree, advising students with respect to course selection, and considering students for a departmental award or nomination. With the exception of applicants for a program within the department, Department Chairs generally do not have a legitimate educational interest in reviewing the records of students outside their particular departments and must obtain written approval of the Senior Vice Provost, Provost, or Registrar before accessing records of such students through the College’s student records system.

Office Hours

One of the best ways for a faculty member to assure out-of-class contact with students is to post office hours and be available during those times. Faculty members should set aside, at a minimum, five hours a week for office hours; to the extent possible those hours should be at different times throughout the week to allow students more options. If a faculty member wishes to set aside time for class preparation, it is recommended that these times not include office hours. If a faculty member knows in advance that she or he will not be able to keep posted office hours, students need to be made aware of this and a note posted on the instructor’s office door stating such. Use of Navigate “Appointments” feature is an easy and handy way to have students schedule appointments with a faculty member. It is also helpful because this system reminds students of upcoming appointments and is easy to cancel an appointment if he or she needs to do so. Faculty are encouraged to make use of this service.

Advice to Students 

Faculty members should make certain they are accurate when giving advice to students concerning matters clearly indicated in the College Course Catalog handbooks, or in pronouncements from the various offices of the College. Such matters may include dropping courses, changing course sections, making up examinations, etc. When providing advice or recommendations to a student regarding degree planning, it is often helpful to keep a record of this. The “Notes” in Navigate provides the ideal place to do so. This note is then available for reference for the faculty member, the student, and others who have access to the student’s Navigate record.

Most student dealings with the Office of Academic Records and Registration have deadline dates. If the faculty member does not know the deadline date in a particular instance, please check with the Office of Academic Records and Registration before giving the requested advice. Most deadlines are published in the official College calendar, which is available in Canvas > Faculty Forum > General Information. The Registrar also sends out regular emails with reminders about deadlines.

Absences from Class - Students

If a student has three successive absences in a given class, this should be reported using the Navigate Alert system. Ordinarily, students should not be withdrawn from a class unless a written notice to this effect is supplied to the students when they are at or near the maximum number of absences and the next absence will result in their withdrawal from the class. Issuing a Navigate “Alert” is an excellent way to alert a student about excessive absences.

Field Trips

All forms for all field trips are available on Canvas > Faculty Forum. Forms are to be reported to the Director of the Student Success Center, including those that are short off-campus trips where the class does not leave Atchison, Kansas, and are only for a minimal period of time. If a class time is changed due to a field trip, please notify the Registrar in advance.

Field trips requiring students to be absent more than one day/overnight must be approved by the Senior Vice Provost to ensure compliance with College policies. Approval should be obtained from one week to several months in advance of the trip depending on the length and distance of the trip. Please complete all the necessary forms well in advance of the planned trip—whether local, in the U.S., or abroad.

Petition for a Major and/or Minor

A student who wishes to declare a major or minor uses the Petition for Acceptance to a Major (or Minor) Program form available online at “Registrar’s Office” Canvas course. (All faculty and students should have access to this as one of their “courses” in Canvas.) The student meets with the chair of the department to obtain the chair’s approval. Upon acceptance into a major, when the student returns the completed form to the Office of Academic Records and Registration, he or she is assigned an academic advisor in that department as recommended by the chair. Advisors are urged to remind students to file a petition as soon as a major is decided. Students must have a major declared before reaching 80 hours completed. If a student fails to declare a major by this time, she or he will not be allowed to register or make any other schedule changes until a major is declared. If there are extenuating circumstances and a student is unable to declare a major by this time, s/he may receive an extension from the Registrar.

Application for a Degree

A student who plans to receive a degree must file an application for the degree with the Registrar by the deadline specified in the academic calendar. The application for degree is to be completed on RavenZone by the candidate. Upon submitting the application, the student is assessed a $100 graduation fee. Any student who fails to submit an application by the published deadline will be assessed a $50 late filing fee in addition to the $100 graduation fee. 

Waiver of Degree Requirement

A department chair may request the waiver of a departmentally required course for a student if a substantial reason exists for making an exception to a requirement in the student's major field. Online forms to waive a requirement or to substitute a requirement are available on Canvas > Faculty Forum > Academic Forms. Paper forms are no longer accepted.

If a student wants to waive or substitute a general education requirement, she or he needs to know that this type of substitution or waiver is not given lightly, and waivers, in particular, can only be granted in truly exceptional circumstances. The process of seeking a waiver or substitution starts with a student meeting with the Senior Vice Provost or the advisor consulting with the Senior Vice Provost to determine the feasibility of such a request. Department chairs are not able to waive or substitute general education requirements.

Only substitutions and waivers that have been explicitly approved by the Senior Vice Provost or the Provost and then noted in a student’s Degree Audit (“My Progress”) in RavenZone or on RavenZone will be considered as official. Advisors and Department Chairs should not wait until the last minute to secure waivers or exceptions.

Advisors, please do not tell students that “this will count” or “you should be able to get a waiver for that” or give students any reason to misconstrue what they are being told. Please put everything in writing. It is recommended and very helpful to put recommendations and advice in the “Notes” section in Navigate. This serves as a reminder for the faculty member, the student, any future advisor, and the Registrar’s office. Undocumented exceptions to degree or other graduation requirements may not be accepted during the degree audit process.

Academic Misconduct

The complete procedure for dealing with academic misconduct is available on Canvas > FacultyForum > Academic Forms. This includes the form needed to submit an instance of academic misconduct to the student and the Vice Provost. A condensed version of the academic misconduct process is given in the College Catalog.

Withdrawals 

When a student withdraws from the College, the Director of the Student Success Center will notify the pertinent administrative offices of the College. The Office of Academic Records and Registration will then notify the faculty in whose classes the student is enrolled and the student’s academic advisor. In accordance with Federal law, faculty must provide the last date of attendance for the student who has withdrawn.  This is to be done in a timely manner using Self-Service as directed by the Registrar. Note that, as such, the College does not require faculty to take attendance, but faculty members must be able to report this last date of attendance accurately. An accurate last date of attendance is necessary for financial aid purpose and other reporting to the U.S. Department of Education.

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