COVENANT

History and Philosophy of Biology: Life and Consciousness

NOTE: Remaining in the Program constitutes acceptance of this covenant. Please read it carefully.

FACULTY RESPONSIBILITIES

Faculty members will fully participate in all designated program activities.

· Faculty will be assigned one of the seminar groups with whom they will meet at the times and on the topics indicated by program schedule. Each faculty will read and provide written feedback to his seminar students for the major writing assignments. Faculty will conduct an evaluation conference for these students and prepare a draft student evaluation. After the conference faculty will submit a final evaluation

· Faculty will be expected to organize and deliver lecture and workshop sessions as indicated on an annotated schedule.

· Faculty will be available to meet with students by appointment set up in class or by e-mail.

· Faculty will attend and actively participate in faculty seminar. They will have prepared by reading the designated text.

· Faculty will carry out the following other (administrative) assignments as well as other tasks to be assigned equitably:

Kevin—coordinate program, handle budget, handle room assignment, liaison with bookstore

David—deal with problems of student group process or other interstudent grievances, handle media technicalities and liaison with the computer center, act as webmaster

· Faculty will hold a joint evaluation conference during or shortly after evaluation week quarter for which both member of the team will prepare a written self-evaluation and draft evaluation of each of the other members of the team in accordance with the faculty handbook requirements. A final version of the evaluation will be conveyed to each of the other faculty within a week of this conference at the end of the quarter.

CREDIT AND EVALUATION POLICY

The evaluation process is a central feature of education at Evergreen. It is part of the learning process. In the act of writing self and faculty evaluations students reflect on their learning for the quarter. The evaluation conference is an important opportunity for the student and faculty to communicate about their perspectives on the quarter's work. Students are required to submit a self-evaluation and an individual faculty evaluation for each faculty when they finish the program in order to receive credit.

Credit is not the same as positive evaluation. Students receive credit for fulfilling minimum requirements and standards. The evaluation is a statement describing the quality of the student's work. It is possible for a student to receive credit, but receive an evaluation that describes poor quality work and receive lower rather than upper division science credit. It is also possible for a student to attend regularly yet receive no or reduced credit because of unsatisfactory performance. Incompletes will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances after consultation with the full program team. Evaluation will be based on how well students satisfy the following requirements:

(1) ATTENDANCE/PARTICIPATION--Students are expected to attend and participate in all program activities. In case of unavoidable absence students should inform their seminar leader before class by phone message or E-mail. If you miss class, you should arrange with your fellow students to obtain notes for the session. Several absences constitute grounds for possible reduction of credit. Sign up sheets will be circulated at program activities to record attendance as long as necessary to promote the unity of the program. It is the student's responsibility to locate and sign these sheets. Further, seminars and other group activities are not "spectator sports." Consequently, students should take an active role in discussion. Students are expected to be alert and sober in class and at program activities. Students who significantly disrupt class may be asked to leave and in cases of serious or continuing disruption may be dropped from program with resulting loss of credit

(2) READINGS--Students are expected to complete all the assigned reading prior to the seminar or class in which they are discussed and should reflect this reading in their seminar comments or questions.

(3) ASSIGNMENTS--Students are expected to complete and submit all assignments. The faculty responsible for evaluating them will return them in a timely manner.

(4) PROGRAM NOTEBOOK (aka Portfolio)--Students are expected to maintain and submit a program notebook that includes their written work as well as other assigned material (including the project paper and associated material for the project presentation). This will serve as the basis for evaluating their performance. The notebook should also contain annotated reading notes or seminar/workshop notes that indicates the quality of work in the program. Such additional material is especially important for students who think that their seminar/workshop participation does not give a full indication of their work.

(5) GROUP WORK-- Students are expected to work in various groups within workshops and as part of the program project. When group projects are undertaken, students will be required to evaluate each other. In addition, group collaboration is generally encouraged and in some cases required; however, plagiarized work on papers and other material designated as "individual" is not acceptable and may be noted in evaluations, result in loss of credit, and in flagrant cases be referred to the Deans for further action. Plagiarism includes any unattributed direct quotation as well as the misrepresentation of the work of others as your own. It includes but is not limited to

· A student paper that chiefly consists of sentences copied intact (or with only a few words changed or rearranged) from one or more sources, with or without reference to the author, without explicit use of quotation marks, italics, or appropriate indentation to indicate direct quotation

· Major sections of a student paper copied exactly (or with only a few words changed or rearranged) from one or more sources without reference to the author.

· A paper or program notebook item submitted by one person as their own but authored by another person

· A graphic, figure, chart or graph downloaded from the Internet and used in an assignment or the project presentation without identification of source.

For additional information, please consult the College’s policy on plagiarism in the student advising handbook (see section on “Academic Honesty”) and talk to faculty if you are confused at all about this issue.

(6) SEEKING HELP--Students are expected to take the initiative in seeking help from faculty or program aides whenever significant difficulty exists with the pace or content of the program. Even a quick message or email to your seminar leader might get you the help you need.

(7) EVALUATION--Student Evaluation conferences will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of Evaluation Week with your seminar faculty. Faculty will set up a schedule near the end of the quarter; students should plan to be on campus at that time for their conference. Do not expect your faculty to make exceptions and arrange a special conference for you at another time. Students are expected to write a self-evaluation and faculty evaluations at the end of the quarter. A draft of the self-evaluation will be submitted to seminar faculty at or before the conference. The evaluation of faculty may be submitted at the conference or delivered to the faculty secretary (Sherri Willoughby, Sem 2 A2117) to be held until after a faculty evaluation of student work is completed.

(8) CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR. Students are required to abide by the principles of the Evergreen Social Contract and the Sexual Harassment Policy.

GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

Evergreen has long promoted the policy that conflict and grievances should be first dealt with face-to-face. Grievances between students, between students and faculty or among faculty should first be dealt with between the parties themselves. Should no satisfactory resolution be obtain the following procedures should be followed:

· unresolved student-student disagreements should be discussed with the students' seminar leader(s).

· unresolved student-faculty disagreements should be brought to the attention of other members of the faculty team who will attempt to mediate the dispute.

· unresolved faculty-faculty disagreements should be discussed by the team as a group. The faculty agree to discuss fully, promptly, and openly any personal or professional disagreements with an air of mutual respect. In this regard, they agree to handle any such problems as a complete team first and will not seek out assistance from the deans until they attempt resolution themselves. They will strive to provide high quality instruction to their students, and agree that work may be changed by mutual agreement to create a more satisfactory experience for them and their students. They agree to respect each other's needs for full and satisfying personal and family lives.

If grievances still remain unresolved, students or faculty should follow the college-wide grievance procedures, which involve contacting the academic deans or the college affirmative action officer as outlined in the Student Handbook and other college documents.

Kevin Francis David W. Paulsen