Office of the Registrar - California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of Technology

 Newsletter  Winter 2010-11

       

Reminder: Add Day is Approaching

Just a friendly reminder that the last day for adding courses and removing incompletes is this Friday, January 21st.  Please remember to bring your add cards to the Registrar's Office by 5:00pm on Friday. 

Freshmen Progress Reports and Midterm Grades

With Add Day approaching, right around the corner is the February 14th deadline for Freshman Progress Reports, shadow grades for freshmen, and midterm grades for everyone. It is essential that students have feedback on their work in classes prior to Drop Day which is February 23rd. If you are teaching classes in which freshman are enrolled please do take the time to jot down a comment about the student’s progress. TAs with access to REGIS can make a great contribution to the freshman’s experience by entering narratives about the students’ work to date. Some of the most constructive comments that freshman receive are from dedicated TAs.

TQFR Prize Winners and Excellent TAs for Fall Term

Many thanks to all of the students who evaluated their courses through the TQFR. Your feedback and comments are very helpful to the faulty and TAs. Here are the lucky prize winners of $20 gift cards to Amazon.com from fall term:

Evan Biggs, Junior

Laura Conwill, Junior

Kei Gonyea, Junior

Stephanie Laga, Freshman

Melody Morris, Sophomore

Nicholas Scianmarello, Senior

Stephanie Tsuei, Junior

 We wanted to also congratulate two outstanding TAs who really made an impact on the freshmen and sophomores.

Paddy Bartlett, Instructor and TA for Ma 8 – Paddy is a G3 in the PhD program in Math.  Paddy stopped by the Registrar’s Office and told us that teaching at Caltech is very much a reward in and of itself and that the students are amazing to work with!    Here’s Paddy working at the board at a summer camp last year!

                                                         (Kelly Griffith of Closed Circle Photography)

Jon Arnold for Ph 2a – Jon is also a G3 in the PhD program in Physics. The following adjectives were used to describe Jon in the classroom – excellent; really awesome; fantastic TA; very friendly and approachable; very helpful; very good at explaining concepts and answering questions!  

      Thanks Paddy and Jon, for making a difference in the academic lives of the undergraduates. We appreciate all of the time and effort that you put into your work with students. Again, thanks so much for doing such a great job in the classroom!

Clarification of Signatures on Drop/Add Cards  

Both graduate and undergraduate students always need the signature of their academic advisor on the blue and yellow drop/add cards. The option representative signature is only necessary if the student’s advisor is not available to sign.  There are some older style blue cards in the departments which list the signature of the Research Advisor at the bottom of the card – this second signature for the research advisor has not been required for quite some time so it can be disregarded.  The Undergraduate Dean may also sign for undergraduate students. If undergraduates want to drop a core class, this also requires the Dean’s signature.

 We are investigating if we can change the practice of requiring signatures for all drops. More on that to come!

Language Courses Used for Advanced Humanities

Just a reminder that the language courses beyond the fourth term (i.e., beyond second term of any intermediate course) may be used to fulfill the requirement for Advanced Humanities EXCEPT for courses in the student’s native language. For example, if you are a native speaker of Chinese, you may not use Chinese language course to fulfill this requirement. This is outlined on pages 176-177 in the Catalog. Please contact us if you have any questions.

 Still have questions about the general HSS requirements? For a guide on the Institute's Humanities and Social Science requirements, check out the guide from ARC published on the Advising Arena.

Other Course Updates

The Registrar’s Office has been informed of the following updates regarding courses this year:

 BEM 106 Competitive Strategy will not be offered this year. Professor Cvitanic, the BEM option representative, has approved the following courses as substitutes: BEM 111 Risk Management or  BEM/Ec 187 Corporate Finance and Financial Intermediaries.

 For Bioengineering students, ChE/BE 169 Bimolecular Cell Engineering will not be offered this term. Professor Pierce, the Bioengineering option representative, has approved BE 159 Transduction and Biomechanics in Eukaryotic Cell Morphogenesis offered third term as a substitute.   

 Professor Flagan, ChE option representative, has announced that ChE 105 Dynamics and Control of Chemical Systems will be offered in third term taught by Professor Seinfeld.

 Students, if you have other questions on substitutions for option requirements, please contact the appropriate option representative. A listing of the option reps is posted on the Registrar’s website

 

Important Dates

 

January 21

Last day for adding courses and removing incompletes

 

February 2-8

Midterm examination period

 

February 14

Midterm Deficiency Notices due - 9:00 a.m.

 

February 21

Presidents' Day (Institute Holiday)

 

February 23

Last day to drop classes or to exercise your P/F option

 

February 24

First day of registration for spring term

 

March 9

Last day of classes and last day to register for spring term without a $50 late fee

 

March 10-13

Study Period

 

March 14-16

Final examinations

 

March 16

End of winter term 2010-11

 

March 17-27

Spring Recess

 

March 23

Instructors' final grade reports due - 9:00 a.m.

 

March 28

Beginning of instruction spring term

 

Previous Registrar's Newsletters:

 

FA 2010-11

SP 2009-10

WI 2009-10

FA 2009-10

SP 2008-09

WI 2008-09

FA 2008-09
SP 2007-08
WI 2007-08

 

back to Registrar's home page

last updated: 01/19/2011