Registrar Policies for Faculty

College faculty legislation requires departments to evaluate their teaching. This can be by either:

• Online evaluation (Fall 2025): Available to students beginning at noon on TBD through 11:59pm on TBD.
• Online evaluation (Spring 2026): Available to students beginning at 12:01pm on TBD through 11:59pm on TBD.
• Paper evaluations: should be completed in the last week of classes, and must be collected in ways that preserve student anonymity. The instructor should not collect them, and the instructor should not have access to teaching evaluations until after final grades are submitted.

• Final Fall exam schedule
• Final Spring exam schedule
• Final exam and related policies

• Fall 2025 semester grades must be submitted via Faculty Center. Grades are due at 8am on Wednesday, December 24.
• Spring 2026 semester grades must be submitted via Faculty Center. Grades are due at 8am on TBD.

If you are not submitting your own grades, be sure your department office has your grades in time to meet the deadline. If you are unable to submit your grades by your department’s deadline, please contact the Arts & Sciences Student Services Office (as-studentserv@cornell.edu).

• Per university regulations, grades must never be transmitted via e-mail.
• The Fall 2025 grade roster will be created on Wednesday, December 10. The first partial grade post will be on Monday, December 15.
• The Spring 2026 grade roster will be created on TBD. The first partial grade post will be on TBD.
• Grades are entered into the grade roster in Faculty Center for each student individually, or multiple grades may be uploaded from an Excel spreadsheet.
• The Grade Roster status should never be changed. If the grade roster status is changed to "Ready for Review" you will not be able to enter any more grades. If you accidentally change the status to "Ready for Review," please e-mail as-studentserv@cornell.edu to have the Grade Roster unlocked.
• Please assign everyone on your grade roster a grade.
• For more information, see Faculty Center Documentation.

INCOMPLETE and FAILING GRADES

Beginning summer 2025, Cornell University transitioned the processing of Incomplete Requests, Grade Change Requests, and Unearned Grade Information from the Online Grade Adjustment Application (OLGAA) to Faculty Center. When assigning a grade of INC (Incomplete) or F (Failing) grade, you will follow the associated prompts in Faculty Center. More information about unearned grade information, incomplete requests, and grade change requests can be found in the Faculty Center Grading Quick Guide.

A grade of Incomplete (INC) may not be given merely because a student fails to complete all course requirements on time. An Incomplete is only permissible when two basic conditions are met:

1. The student has substantial (normally > 50%) passing equity in the course, e.g., all requirements have been completed satisfactorily except for a term paper or final exam.
2. The reason(s) for failure to complete all course requirements is convincing to the instructor and beyond the student's control.

This policy is in place to prevent abuse; deferring the completion of some major course requirement could give a student an advantage over his or her classmates by obtaining additional time to do a superior job. The option of an incomplete is purely an instructor decision, and may not be elected at the student’s own discretion. Any student making up an incomplete should not sign up for the class again. On the incomplete request form that must be completed in Faculty Center, the instructor will be asked for the following information:

• Attest that the incomplete request meets the Faculty Handbook requirements
• Remaining Work to be completed by the student
• Remaining Work Required by date
• Expected Grade if Completed (if unknown, TBD)
• Current Final Grade
• Registrar Action if deadline is missed by student
  • Fail/Unsatisfactory Grade
  • Assign based on current final grade

It is also possible to request, via Faculty Center, an Incomplete (INC) extension.

GRADES OF R

An R is a temporary grade and must be assigned after the first half of a two-semester course. The grade assigned at the end of the whole course is the final grade for both halves.

CHANGING GRADES

The college accepts grade changes only when you explain that the original grade was assigned in error. It is not permissible to allow a student to complete a course or hand in additional work after you have submitted a grade for that student; you should not change a grade simply due to pressure from a student, unless the grade you assigned was wrong. (See the Faculty Handbook 6.1 Instruction/Grade Changes) If necessary, refer students to the Arts & Sciences Student Services Office (as-studentserv@cornell.edu). Official grade changes can be requested via Faculty Center.