MEMORANDUM TO: Auburn University Graduate Students
FROM: Paul F. Parks
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
SUBJECT: Conversion to Semester Calendar
Auburn University will switch to the semester system in fall 2000. Although courses and hourly degree requirements will change, the credits you will have earned under the quarter system will convert to semester credits without penalties or undue delay in your progress toward graduation.
Course requirements under the semester system will be structured to enable students to graduate as anticipated. Your GPA will not change because of the conversion to semesters. And if you are receiving financial aid or are on an assistantship, the amount you are awarded or earn each year should not change as a result of the conversion to the semester system.
The key to successful transition from the quarter to the semester system is to begin working with your major professor, departmental graduate program officer, and the Graduate School to plan your remaining course work. Their goal is to keep you on track, but you have a responsibility to maintain the plan of study mapped out with them.
The goal of the transition process is to convert our curriculum from the quarter to the semester system in a way that maintains and improves the quality of the curriculum and enhances Auburn University's high standards of academic excellence. Students who are affected by the transition to semesters must work closely with their advisors to ensure that the transition is made successfully. Mandatory student advising will begin January 1999.
Strategies for making the transition:
Faculty and graduate program officers in each department and the staff of the Graduate School will work with you to approve degree requirements during the transition. For courses not completed under the quarter system, you will have to take semester courses equivalent to the quarter courses that were part of your degree requirements or make approved substitutions.
Should you have any questions, please contact your major professor, your departmental graduate program officer, or the Graduate School.