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.