Undergraduate Programs Policies

The Department of Marketing at The University of Arizona employs a consistent set of teaching policies to facilitate a smooth and productive learning environment in its undergraduate classes.

By adhering to a consistent set of teaching policies for undergraduate courses, the department attempts to focus student attention on course content and learning, rather than on keeping track of widely disparate policies in each of their marketing courses. Through the implementation of these teaching policies, the department attempts to educate the student not only in marketing concepts, strategies, and procedures, but also in professional behavior.

The purpose of this Policy Document is to outline what the departmental teaching policies for undergraduate courses are, to explain the rationale behind employing them, and to insure student understanding and adherence to these policies.
  

Course Content

Individual faculty retain autonomy with respect to course content. Each faculty member designs a course syllabus, and plans assignments and examinations to fit with course objectives. Any questions about course content should be directed to the faculty member teaching the course.

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Class Attendance

The teaching faculty have an obligation to meet their classes or make adequate arrangements for notifying students if there is a need for a last-minute change.

It is expected that all students will attend all class sessions, that they will be in their seats ready to listen when the class begins, and that they will be attentive to the person speaking in the class. The purpose of holding a class session is to allow the faculty to simultaneously communicate with all students. If students expect to miss a class session, it is expected that they will notify the faculty member as soon as possible, preferably via e-mail. Students are responsible for all course content covered, even when they miss a class session. In order to stay current on the class content, students who need to miss a class session may ask one or two other students for copies of their notes from the missed class. Teaching faculty do not provide copies of notes to students who miss a class session; however they will provide students who miss a class session with any materials that were handed out to other students, as long as the request for such materials comes promptly before or after the missed class.

Just as it is expected on a job that the employee will come to work, it is expected in courses that students will come to class. Repeated and frequent absence will have a negative effect on the student's learning and course grade.

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Papers, Projects, and Other Out-of-class Assignments

In addition to teaching conceptual material about marketing, many of the undergraduate marketing courses require students to apply their learning through a paper, project, or other out-of-class assignment. All papers are to be typed, unless the faculty member explicitly states otherwise. In order to apply evaluation standards equally to all students, all assignments are to be turned in on time. A paper is defined as late if it is turned in after the instructor collects the papers. Some instructors apply a penalty to the score if a paper is turned in late; other instructors do not accept late papers. The specific policy regarding late papers is specified by each instructor in the course syllabus, and this policy will be applied to all students in that course.

All papers, projects, and other out-of-class assignments are to be the original work of the individual student (or group of students, if the faculty member has specified that the assignment is to be completed by a student team). Individual assignments are to be completed alone, while group assignments are to be completed by only those students assigned to the team. The work must be original, that is, it must be completed specifically for the assignment at hand. It should not be based on or derived from any coursework that was completed or is in progress for another class, unless explicitly approved, in advance, by the faculty member conducting the course.

It is the student's responsibility to allow enough time to prepare a paper, so that computer problems do not prevent the student from turning in a completed paper on time. Having computer problems late at night before a paper is due the next morning is an indication that the student has not allowed sufficient time to complete the project. It has been the faculty's experience that students who run this risk repeatedly will at time find themselves in a situation when the paper is not available to be turned in when it is due. Students are reminded that marketing managers must meet deadlines. If students experience disk failure or printer failure, they can go to a 24 hour copy center or all-night computer center to complete their work there.

Students are expected to keep all course materials (syllabus, handouts, notes, papers, assignments) until course grades have been filed at the end of the semester. Students are expected to keep a backup copy of all assignments that have been turned in, as well as all graded assignments that have been returned to the student. These back-up copies will be needed in the unlikely event that a recording error is made.

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Examinations

Examinations are an important means of assessing student learning. Students are encouraged to approach examinations as an opportunity to review, integrate, and demonstrate their learning, rather than as a game in which they strategize to score points.

In order to support the teaching faculty's ability to counsel students about their course performance, exams will not be returned to students. Students will be given an opportunity to review their examinations through a means designated by the faculty member.

In case of serious illness or death in the immediate family, students are expected to contact the instructor as soon as possible, and in all cases, prior to the administration of the exam. Decisions about how to handle such unanticipated events will be made by the faculty member; physicians do not have the authority to excuse a student from class or from an exam. In such cases, students should provide the instructor with written third party documentation concerning the situation (newspaper obituary, hospital admission documents) as soon as possible in order to assist the instructor in making a decision. The lack of appropriate documentation may result in a score of zero for the missed exam.

Students should consult the course syllabus regarding policies on make-up exams. In some courses, make-up exams are not given; instead the grade for the course is calculated based on a re-weighting of other scores in the course. In some courses, the final exam substitutes for all missed exams. In other courses, a make-up time is scheduled for each exam. Make-up exams are not scheduled for individual student convenience.

By University policy, no exams are given in regular class sessions during the week in which final exams begin. All final examinations are scheduled according to the university's published final exam schedule.

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The faculty understand that students are interested in timely feedback on their performance on course work and will strive to give students feedback as soon as possible. Each student inquiry about whether a particular exam or paper has been graded delays the feedback on that assignment for all students, as it directs the faculty member's attention away from completing the grading. Students are therefore asked to trust that faculty will provide feedback on exams and papers as soon as the grading process is completed.

Scores on exams and assignments along with summary statistics for that component of the course grade will be distributed to students, posted on the bulletin board in the hallway outside the Marketing Department, or posted on the faculty member's web page. Each faculty member will notify students of the way scores will be communicated to students in that course. Students interested in understanding their level of performance should track the relation between their individual score and measures of central tendency (e.g., the mean and median).

Letter grades will only be given at the completion of the course for performance in the course as a whole. Letter grades will not be posted on the bulletin board. Students can access their individual grades through the university's touchtone grade reporting system (RSVP), accessed by dialing 884-7787 from a touchtone telephone.

To combat grade inflation and eliminate wide disparities in grading distributions across classes, the Department of Marketing has adopted a set of guidelines regarding the distribution of grades in each course. These guidelines indicate the maximum percentage of students in a class who can receive A and B grades. The grade distribution guidelines state that no more than the specified percentage of students can receive either A or B grades in the course. The actual percentage of A and B grades given is determined by the instructor and can be lower than this specified maximum if deemed appropriate by the instructor. These specified percentages vary by level and nature of the course, and are detailed in a separate policy document for the teaching faculty. Instructional faculty can provide students in each course with more specific information about how these guidelines impact a particular course.

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Many student questions about a course can be answered by carefully reading the course syllabus and other course assignment instructions. This should be a student's first approach to getting answers to questions.

Where other questions or concerns about their classes emerge, students are encouraged to contact the teaching faculty outside of class. In addition to their in-class teaching time, all teaching faculty in the department hold regular, scheduled office hours which will be listed for students at the beginning of the semester. Each of the teaching faculty has an e-mail address which will be given to students at the beginning of the semester. Students are expected to bring their questions or concerns to the attention of the faculty member as soon as possible either by coming to the regularly scheduled office hours, or by contacting the faculty member via e-mail. Many student concerns can be handled via e-mail by asking a specific question of the faculty member in an e-mail message; an advantage of this form of communication is that it is likely to give the student an answer fairly rapidly. If the student's concern requires face-to-face contact with the faculty member, and the regularly scheduled office hours conflict with the student's schedule, the student should e-mail the faculty member to set up a special appointment outside of the scheduled office hours.

The faculty want to be able to respond to all students on an individual basis when needed. However, faculty teach multiple classes, and therefore typically are in contact with more than 100 students each semester. In order to manage the demands of preparing lectures, developing exams, and grading student work in a timely fashion, faculty need uninterrupted blocks of time. So that they can complete all of these tasks as well as maintain individual student contact, faculty ask that students not drop by their offices outside of the scheduled office hours without a prior appointment.

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Integrity is expected of every student in all academic work. The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a studen's submitted work must be the student's own unless the instructor explicitly tells students to work with other students. For example, copying from a student's paper who took the course in a previous semester and representing that work as one's own, or copying from published works without enclosing the quoted excerpts in quotation marks and giving appropriate reference to the source constitute violations of the Code of Academic Integrity. Students engaging in academic dishonesty diminish their education and bring discredit to the academic community.

The Department of Marketing enthusiastically supports the University's Code of Academic Integrity. Marketing faculty follow the listing of rights and responsibilities detailed in the Code, and follow the enforcement procedures detailed there. Those students who are not familiar with the Code should obtain a copy from the Office of the Dean of Students, Room 203, Old Main and familiarize themselves with it.

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To learn more, read the Undergraduate Program of Study, or contact us.