We found 698 results that contain "msu libraries"

The first fellow in her college, Kanza spent the majority of the Fall building relationships and raising awareness of the fellowship and her as a resource. Early Spring, she worked with stakeholders within the college to determine a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She was about to host an event related to her fellowship work, known as a “Human Library,” but had to cancel it due to COVID-19. The purpose of the event was to showcase and celebrate the diversity with the College of Law, in hopes of starting a conversation about authenticity and lived experience in the college.

The MSU Ombudsperson is a confidential and neutral resource whose job it is to help members of the MSU community resolve disputes.

MSU Attendance Policy:
"No person is allowed to attend a class unless officially enrolled on a credit or non-credit basis with the appropriate fees paid. Students who attend, participate and strive to complete course requirements without formal enrollment will not receive credit for their work...It is the responsibility of the instructor to define the policy for attendance at the beginning of the course."


Attendance policies and the repercussions for non-attendance are the purview of the class instructor. MSU suggests the following guidance related to COVID-related absences: 



Clearly state the class expectations for attendance and consequences for non-attendance in the syllabus, including your policy for illness 



Consider how you will accommodate students who might need to be absent for two or more weeks 


Instructors are encouraged to give students the benefit of the doubt and not require medical evidence and make accommodations as best as possible. 



Clearly state the class policies related to missing quizzes and submitting late work and the consequences for missing or late work. 






Suggest to students that they reach out to their advisors, College Student Affairs offices, and instructors if they will need to miss class due to COVID. 


Encourage the students to establish a peer network of support in case they need to miss class. To get the name out of a few students in class or teach them how to use D2L, so they can reach out to appear if they need assistance or to get notes. 


Provide information about the grief absence process and consider being generous if students report they have experienced a loss; consider putting in links to CAPS and other support services listed on the Keep Learning Website. 



In addition to the Attendance Policy, your syllabus should also include:

Effect of attendance on final grade, if any
Excused or unexcused absences
Policy on missed or late work

Check out this article for more information on syllabus basics. Photo by Roel Dierckens on Unsplash

An Overview of the Syllabus and its Role at MSU
In this resource, we describe the purpose and history of the syllabus and describe the required and recommended elements of syllabi at Michigan State. We end with links to MSU’s many existing syllabus guidelines and resources. While what to include in your syllabus is flexible, we encourage educators to keep students’ needs in mind and think about how your syllabus can contribute to their learning. 
What a syllabus is
A syllabus is a synecdoche for a course of study—a part of the curricular experience that represents the whole. They are often the very first course texts our students encounter and, accordingly, they frame and preface learning in powerful ways. On one hand, they communicate practical and structural details—where and when a course meets, what to read, and how to contact an instructor. But they also express intellectual and discipline-specific expectations. 
As a special genre of educational texts, syllabi have taken various forms and played various roles over many centuries. In the 17th century ‘syllabus’ was synonymous with ‘table’ or ‘index.’ They served as a structural preview for manuscripts or a list of speakers and topics for a lecture series—they were a means of organizing texts, ideas, and experience. Although that core function remains, post-secondary syllabi have expanded significantly in volume and purview over the past forty years. 
What a syllabus needs at MSU
There is no universal definition or template for contemporary syllabi. There are, however, some critical things that effective syllabi share. At Michigan State University, our Code of Teaching Responsibility states  “Instructors [are] responsible for distributing a course syllabus (either in print or electronic form) at the beginning of the semester [that] minimally includes:

instructional objectives;
instructor contact information and office hours;
grading criteria and methods used to determine final course grades;
date of the final examination and tentative dates of required assignments, quizzes, and tests, if applicable; 
attendance policy, if different from the University attendance policy and especially when that attendance policy affects student grades;
required and recommended course materials to be purchased, including textbooks and supplies; and any required proctoring arrangements to which students must adhere.”

If you are creating a new course or new to teaching at MSU, it can be helpful to request sample syllabi from your Departmental Chair, from past versions of the course you're teaching or even adjacent courses. These samples can help you learn more about general and discipline-specific expectations within your department. Syllabus templates are also available from different colleges; for example, CANR has a downloadable template.
Additional considerations
Beyond the fundamental requirements listed above, contemporary syllabi often include additional information or passages. We encourage MSU educators to consider including the following policies, keeping empathy and flexibility in mind: 

notify students about MSU’s religious observance policy
describe available mental health resources 
include equal opportunity/affirmative action and inclusion statements
include statements on civil discourse and the civil discourse policy
consider including your attendance policy
acknowledge the indigenous land(s) on which their teaching will occur
provide an accessibility statement, link to the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities
list institutional resources to support students
describe policies for student athletes
explain the technologies students will be required or asked to use
describe the instructor’s communication preferences or instructions for scheduling office hour appointments
describe COVID-specific health and wellness guidelines or emergency measures
provide information about academic dishonesty
provide study or writing tips and link to the Writing Center
include other course- or college-relevant policies 

Some instructors include these and other statements in a ‘policies’ section, while others prefer to write a shorter syllabus that refers students to other course documents containing these and other course and university resources. 
Flexibility for students
It's best to communicate expectations in the syllabus for students that need to miss class or discuss adjustments to due dates with you for excusable reasons, such as religious observance, bereavement, health, or athletic competition. We strongly recommend that educators consult the university’s academic calendar and a current interfaith calendar when planning your course and make accommodations for students’ religious observance, or when courses directly conflict (e.g. final examination conflicts). Educators should make every effort to avoid scheduling exams and oral presentations during days of religious observance. It's best to remember that if the absence is excusable, and you'd do it for one student, you should apply your method consistently for all students. Your syllabus should include when and how to contact you to make arrangements for excusable absences. Instructors should provide a university expectation/deadline by which students need to inform instructors of an accommodation (i.e., 2 weeks after the start of the semester) in the syllabus, and this expectation be iterated during the first day of class. We encourage you to be flexible and empathic with students, and to act consistently and equitably. 
Innovative models for syllabi
Many educators, especially over the past few decades, have experimented with syllabi and created texts that reach far beyond basic documentation. For instance, some instructors use a fill-in-the-blank syllabus whereby students are asked to expand a set of learning objectives or required texts in order to customize their learning. The ‘annotated syllabus’ model gives students the opportunity to make suggestions for the syllabus at the beginning of the course, making it more of a living document.  Others have reconfigured the syllabus as a course textbook and used it throughout the semester to support learning (instead of just the first week). Other models reimagine the aesthetic potential of the document, approaching it as a graphic novel (Barry, 2017), mixtape, or chapbook (Lockett and Wong, 2018). Although their approaches differ, these educators have questioned the role and conventions of syllabi and found creative ways to expand the educational potential of these ubiquitous texts. 
Additional MSU syllabus resources 

MSU Syllabus Checklist with in-depth descriptions of potential sections of the syllabus.

Syllabus Checklist (2-page version)


Revised MSU Syllabus Checklist for [Fall 2020] online and hybrid courses
Inclusive Pedagogy Syllabus & Template
Civil Discourse Syllabus
Discourse Policy on Syllabus
Attendance Policy on Syllabus
Syllabus Resources from the Office of the University Ombudsperson
Generative AI Syllabus Guide  (with examples and sample language)
Calendar of Religious Observances from MSU's Office of the Provost
Guidelines for Online Camera Policies
Advice for MSU students about using a syllabus

Additional readings

Rocha et al. (2022) The syllabus as curriculum: A reconceptualist approach.  
Hsu (2020). A celebration of the syllabus.
Germano and Nicholls (2020) Syllabus: The remarkable, unremarkable document that changes everything.
Lockett and Wong (2018). Reframing syllabi as aesthetic encounters.
Barry (2017). Syllabus: Notes from an accidental professor.

MSU's Health eGuide, powered by Healthwise Knowledgebase, provides information related to personal health for MSU faculty, staff, employees, students, and spouses/partners of members of these groups.

Information Technology at MSU provides an overview of available classroom technology, including active learning classrooms.

Submit an application on or before the end of the first week of the semester you expect to complete your degree requirements.

This is website maintained by the MSU Library of external funding and granting institutions with links to their programs and applications. It also includes links to some of the other directories and databases within this playlist.