Office of the President

Committees

Academic Grade Appeals Board

 

Functions:

  1. To review academic grade appeals forwarded by departmental chair, dean, Graduate School, Dean or Ombudsman.

  2. If upon review a subcommittee of the Board determines that a final course grade should be changed, the chair of the board will direct the Registrar's Office to assign an appropriate grade.

Composition and Tenure:

The University Grade Appeals board shall consist of sixteen tenured faculty members, including at least one member from each academic college and campus. The faculty members shall be appointed to staggered three-year terms by the President of the University upon the recommendation of the Faculty Senate. All terms shall begin and/or end on August 15. The Board shall elect a chair and vice chair. The role of the chair shall be to convene a subcommittee (of five members) when an appeal is brought to the committee. The chair upon recommendation of the subcommittee will institute the findings of that subcommittee. When there is no clear conflict of interest, consideration should be given to including an appeals board member from the involved department, college, or campus on the subcommittee.


Commitee Process:

  1. As specified in Academic in Academic Regulation 105, Academic Complaint Procedures, a final course grade appeal may only be brought forward to the University Grade Appeals Board by the chair, dean, Graduate School Dean, or ombudsman within one semester of the posting of the grade (excluding summer term). When a grade appeal is brought before the Board, a subcommittee of five members selected by the chair shall meet to hear the appeal. This subcommittee shall have access to any information it deems necessary to make a decision. This information may include, but may not be limited to, any of the following: visits with the student, instructor, chair, and/or dean; access to grade books and/or records; and access to assignments and/or examinations.

  2. Should the majority of the University Grade Appeals Board subcommittee determine that the evaluation of a student's work in a course was not made solely on the basis of a professional and ethical judgment of a student's academic performance, the subcommittee may decide that a student's grade in a course be changed to a [W] (withdrawal), a [P] (passing, credit toward graduation but not toward grade point standing), or, if such determination can be made, an appropriate letter grade. If the subcommittee awards a student a [P] in the course, it shall appear on his/her academic record, and the academic unit must accept that course just as if the student had passed the course with a letter grade (except that the [P] grade is not used in calculating the student's g.p.a.).

  3. The University Grade Appeals Board shall have jurisdiction over decisions of any faculty member and/or administrator on matters of University course grading appeals. The decision of the Board is final and not subject to further appeal.

Committee Membership:

Bayne, Tina - Committee Chair - College of Nursing
Committee Term End: 

Barabasz, Arreed - Educational Leadership & Counseling Psychology
Committee Term End: 2009

Busch, Karen - College of Nursing
Committee Term End: 2008

Emerson, Roberta - College of Nursing
Committee Term End: 2010

Fischer, Tom - College of Engineering and Architecture
Committee Term End: 2008

Fox, Lawrence - Veterinary Clinical Sciences (VCS)
Committee Term End:  2010

Jassaume, Ray - Community & Rural Sociology
Committee Term End: 2010

Latham, Claire - WSU Vancouver
Committee Term End: 2009

Madison, Chuck - WSU Spokane
Committee Term End: 2008

Manzo-Robledo, Francisco - Foreign Languages & Cultures
Committee Term End:  2010

McNamara, John - Animal Sciences
Committee Term End: 2008

Miller, Darcy - Center for Teaching and Learning
Committee Term End: 2009

Wherland, Scot - College of Sciences
Committee Term End: 2009

Young, Terrell - WSU Tri-Cities
Committee Term End: 2009.

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