Office of the Registrar: Practical Information for New Faculty

• Office of the Registrar Website 
  • Find announcements, forms, procedures, and instructions
    
    
• Registrar's Calendar 
  • Find announcements, forms, procedures, and instructions

• Polaris 
  • Bowdoin’s student and course information system
    • Class Finder- detailed course information by semester
    • Student Look-Up- reference for student info, release advisor hold
    • Faculty- class lists, giving students registration permissions and overrides
    • Enter Grades- only available at the end of each semester, official grade entry

• Bowdoin College Catalogue and Academic Handbook 
  • Official resource for all academic policies, degree requirements and course information
    
    
• Degree Progress 
  • Electronic audit of student progress to the degree and advising tool for faculty and students, not an official transcript or verification of completion

The 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA, primarily affects faculty regarding grades. Do not put grade information in an email. Do not post grades by student names or ID numbers. If you leave tests or papers in a box for students to pick up, be sure the grades are not visible. Do not cite specific grades in a letter of recommendation without a student’s permission to do so.

• Giving Permission for Students to Add Courses:
  • Instructor Permission, given in Polaris, is required for any student to add any course during any add/drop round of registration. Instructions are available here, https://www.bowdoin.edu/registrar/polaris-guides/instructor-permission-overrides.html along with descriptions of each available permission and override.
  • If your class is full, you may manage your own waiting list offline and have the option to override your class size where appropriate.
  • After the Add/Drop II deadline, students may only add classes if approved by the Recording Committee https://www.bowdoin.edu/registrar/students/course-registration/recording-committee.html
• Dropping Courses: During Add/Drop II, students may choose to drop courses (without permission) or to add courses with instructor permission. In consultation with their advisors, eligible students may use an Extended Drop during weeks 3 through 7 of the semester. After the Extended Drop deadline, any further adjustments to course schedules must go through the Recording Committee.

• Comment Cards: Faculty are strongly encouraged to communicate with students throughout the semester concerning their performance using Comment Cards- sent through Polaris. They will automatically copy the student’s support team, so proper follow up can occur.
• Deadline for Final Coursework: All course work for the semester must be due on the last day of classes. All final exams, projects, papers, or other final work must be due during your assigned final exam time slot.
• Incompletes: A temporary grade of INC (incomplete) represents a formal agreement between the instructor, a dean, and the student for the submission of unfinished coursework under prescribed conditions. Students must initiate their request for an incomplete on or before the final class day of the semester.
• Online Grade Submission: You will use the “Enter Grades” section in Polaris to submit final grades and will receive detailed instructions towards the end of the semester.
• Grade Changes: except in the case of a clerical error, no final grades change after submission. Email registrar@bowdoin.edu to request instructions for correcting a clerical error; do not put any grades in the email.