Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Study and Finals Weeks

October 29, 2021
Debra S. Larson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Daniel S. Grassian, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Dear faculty,

Providing students with regular schedules and sufficient time to study is part of our ongoing commitment to student success. As part of this effort, we are writing to remind you of an important University policy (EM 17-004) concerning final exams as well as some specific information pertinent to ChicoFlex instruction.

As stated in EM 17-004, "All classes are required to meet for one two-hour period during finals week for instruction or examination. Faculty are required to give final examinations at the time and place scheduled, normally specified in the schedule of courses.” Consistent with in-person courses, “for fully online courses, the course must be active during finals week for instruction or examination.” For all course sections in which there is a scheduled final examination time, in-person, fully online, blended, or any other form, “Faculty are required to give final examinations at the time and place scheduled, normally specified in the schedule of courses."

For asynchronous online and some hybrid courses, faculty are required to give the final exam or provide the equivalent instruction sometime during finals week if there isn't already a scheduled exam time that week. For ChicoFlex classes (MOIs X and F), faculty should take into account that some students are or may now be fully online and unable to come to campus because of the vaccination requirement. If this is applicable, such students should be provided with an alternative, remote option, to an in-person final exam.

We recognize that, in special circumstances, faculty may have compelling reasons to diverge from the EM. Toward that end, the EM states, "Requests for exceptions to this policy must be in writing and approved in advance by the department chair and by the college dean." Exception requests should be forwarded to APSS, as detailed on their website: https://www.csuchico.edu/apss/scheduling/schedule-building/final-exams.shtml

Should you have any questions, please contact your dean or department chair. For a copy of this memo, please refer to the Final Exams Memo F2021 pdf (PDF).