A. Winter Term and Course Structures
1. Faculty and students are involved in only one academic credit- bearing course during winter term, providing unique opportunities for study. Among these are extensive field work, independent study, internships, senior work, and interdisciplinary study. A minimum of eight contact hours per week is required for all winter term courses.
2. Departments are encouraged to designate winter term courses as acceptable for credit toward majors, minors, and distribution requirements.
3. Winter term courses may be integrated with fall or spring term courses. A fall term course may be a prerequisite for a winter term course, or a winter term course may be a prerequisite for a spring term course.
4. All courses must be approved by the Curriculum Committee.
5. All members of the faculty not on leave or released time are expected to participate in an approved winter term course. Unless an exception is granted by the Curriculum Committee, enrollment will normally be limited to 23 students per instructor in any winter term course, or 38 for a team-taught course unless special arrangements are made through the Curriculum Committee. The enrollment limit for a Winter Term course that satisfies the College Writing requirement will be 12 students.
6. Winter term courses are graded on an A-F basis unless special arrangements are made through the Curriculum Committee.The same grading system applies to all students taking a particular course for credit. Exceptions are internships (graded credit/no credit), student-led courses (graded credit/no credit), andoccasional independent projects or other courses where the instructor decides that the special nature of the course is better suited to honors/pass/fail grading. All winter term course work must be completed by the end of the winter term. Grades of incomplete will be submitted according to existing procedures, and such work must be satisfactorily completed by the last day of classes of the following spring term.
Students who fail winter term courses, independent winter projects, or internships will be placed on probation and required to make up a course credit.
Theses, honors projects, and other work undertaken or completed during winter term as part of a larger project will be graded under the regular grading system, the grade to be based upon an evaluation of the project as a whole.
B. Independent Work
Students may elect independent work from the following categories instead of regular winter term course offerings. Note that a student must be in residence and enroll in a regular winter term course during his or her first winter term. No more than two units of winter term may be taken as independent work. Students who have already completed the required credits for winter term may pursue independent work without petitioning the Curriculum Committee for approval.
1. Independent work proposed through a student's major for winter term is considered an 0500 project and must be approved by the chair or director of that department or program. These proposals do not need to be submitted to the Curriculum Committee.
2. Independent projects proposed outside a student's major must be approved by the Curriculum Committee. Approved projects will be listed as 0600 courses which are preceded by the four-letter department designation of the faculty sponsor.
3.Proposals for study abroad in an accredited program for winter term credit must be submitted to the Office of Off-Campus Study in the Sunderland Language Center. These proposals do not need to be submitted to the Curriculum Committee.
Independent projects are permitted in two categories. Projects are expected to culminate in substantial written work, research materials or results, artistic production, or performance. The faculty supervisor and student should determine the nature and length of a written project. (However a minimum of five pages is expected.)
Category A: Independent projects that follow demonstrated student interest, indicated by grades of B or better earned in at least three courses relevant to the proposed project. These projects require approval of a faculty supervisor and support of the department.
Category B: Independent projects that stem from a course taken in the immediately preceding fall or the most recently completed spring term. These must be approved and supervised by the instructor of the fall or spring course and have the support of the department.
All students wishing to pursue independent projects that require Curriculum Committee review must obtain signatures from their faculty adviser, the faculty supervisor of the project, and the department chair. Proposals should clearly state the nature of the project, what the final, graded project consists of, date the final project will be submitted for grading, and all required signatures provided on the form. Applications for category B independent projects may be submitted through the last day of classes in the fall term. Independent projects are normally graded A-F. A request for the grading of an independent project honors/pass/fail must be justified in the application to the Curriculum Committee.
Applications can be obtained from the Academic Affairs web page. The deadline for submitting applications for all Winter Term 2006 independent projects (except category B) is October 19, 2005.
2. Internships involve significant, high-level exposure to and participation in the work of an established career. Mere by-standing is not sufficient, and a distinction is made between professional careers and work experience. In order for an internship application to be approved, the members of the Curriculum Committee must be convinced that the internship will provide the internwith either an opportunity to grow intellectually or a professional experience directly related to the intern's major or intended postgraduate career. Internships are available to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Routine office experience, clerical work, or the continuation of a summer job or internship is not suitable. According to Middlebury College policy, internships for academic credit are unpaid career experiences, although students may receive a stipend towards their living expenses.
Credit toward Middlebury graduation requirements cannot be granted for internships done outside the time period of the winter term. Students applying for internships must be in good academic standing. A student may not repeat the same winter term internship for credit. A maximum of two internships may be taken during any student's four-year college career. A second internship must be substantially different from the first. Generally, the Curriculum Committee will not look favorably on an application that involves work in the same organization as an earlier internship, or work that involves repeated application of the same skills and experiences used in an internship previously completed.
The Curriculum Committee has established a list of pre-approved internships undertaken by students in previous years, which will not require additional approval by the committee. Students interested in these internships, as well as in submitting those of their own design, should contact the Career Services Office. Application for all internships must be made in writing to the Career Services Office. The deadline for submitting applications to the Career Services Office for January 2006 internships is October 28, 2005.
Applications for internships other than those established by the Curriculum Committee shall contain a clear and well-supported statement describing how the internship relates to the student's educational program. Proposals that involve the association of a student with a close relative will require clear evidence of educational merit. The relative may not function as the intern's supervisor. If the internship is to be undertaken in a foreign country, the committee will expect competence in the language of the country.
The work supervisor must provide a clear statement of the responsibilities of the intern and how the intern will be evaluated.
Internship proposals must be endorsed in advance by the student's faculty adviser and approved by the Career Services Office in consultation with the Curriculum Committee. The faculty adviser's endorsement indicates the internship is viewed as appropriate to the student's educational objectives. All applications must also be endorsed by the member of the faculty or administrative staff who will serve as the academic sponsor of the internship. The academic sponsor will recommend a grade of credit or no credit on the basis of the intern's written work, either in the form of a journal or a substantial paper, determined in advance by the academic sponsor. The student shall also file a three-to-five-page summary report on the internship with the Career Services Office. These reports will be placed in a file to be consulted by students considering internships in the future. An evaluation by the intern's supervisor is also required at the end of the internship in order to assure credit is posted to the intern's transcript.
3.Proposals for student-led courses may be submitted to the Curriculum Committee. Such proposals will ordinarily originate with a student or group of students. The proposals must be reviewed and supported by a department or program prior to their submission to the Curriculum Committee. The participants in a student-led course are normally presumed to have studied at the college level in areas relevant to the proposed course. However, some student-led courses may be designed to provide an intensive introduction to a new area. The number of participants in student-led courses may normally be no smaller than five and no larger than 12.
The department supporting the course endorses the student leader, who will organize and conduct the course and propose its syllabus. The department shall designate a faculty supervisor. Student leaders shall consult with the faculty supervisor on a regular basis. The faculty supervisor shall determine credit. These courses are graded credit/no credit. Student-led courses are subject to the following restrictions:
a.The proposal shall be submitted to the Curriculum Committee by the end of the second week of the fall term.
b. A proposal must include a departmental recommendation of the course and its leader, a detailed syllabus, and a list of interested students who will participate in the course if it is offered. Proposed work assignments and meeting schedules must also be submitted.
c. If the student leader drops the course, it will be canceled automatically.
C. General Procedures for Winter Term
1. The Curriculum Committee is responsible for the general administration of the winter term academic program.
2. A minimum of two and a maximum of four winter term courses will count toward the graduation requirement of 36 credits. Upper class students with sufficient credits may elect not to participate in winter term, but no student may remain on campus during winter term unless he or she is enrolled in a winter term course, credit-bearing independent project, on-campus internship, or off-campus internship in the local community.
3. A student must be in residence and enroll in a regular winter term course during his or her first winter term.
4. Each winter term course proposal should contain the following items: title, description, class format, prerequisites, maximum effective size, budgetary requests (if any), and recommendations concerning credit toward departmental, academic distribution, and cultures-civilization distribution requirements.
5. The Curriculum Committee may make or suggest adjustments in proposed courses in consultation with the departments concerned.
6. A department normally may require its students to take no more than one of its winter term courses, in addition to winter term senior work, during four years. Students are urged to take winter term courses in substantially different academic areas in their first and second years. Over four years a student may take no more than three winter term courses in one department, and no more than two winter term courses, in addition to winter term senior work, in his or her major department. A student may take up to four interdepartmental winter term courses during these four years.
7. Winter term course registration and subsequent changes in it are subject to the following regulations:
a.Students complete their registration during the registration period in early November, with the following exception: students may register for category B independent projects through the last day of classes in the fall term. Students who are not on campus during the fall term may register for the winter term with the aid of the Registrar's Office.
b.Changes in course registration may be made only during the first three days on which classes meet during winter term.
c.A student who misses the first class of winter term must be excused by a Commons dean or it will be assumed that the student has dropped the course.
d.The priority for registration for Winter Term courses is (1) sophomores (with 8-16.99 credits earned); (2) first-year students (with 4-7.99 credits earned); (3) juniors and seniors (with 17-36+ credits earned).