2023-24 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
    Oct 11, 2024  
2023-24 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Glossary


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Academic calendar - official schedule of each semester’s beginning and ending dates, final exams, commencement, and holidays

Academic discipline - subject area (i.e., biology, communications, special education, etc.)

Academic Fresh Start - admission policy by which grades below C will not calculate into GPA. Entrance through Academic Fresh Start must be requested and approved in advance.

Academic year - period of time beginning with fall semester and ending with summer semester

Academically eligible - 2.00 minimum cumula­tive undergraduate GPA; 3.00 minimum cumula­tive graduate GPA

Academically eligible-warning - action taken when a student fails to maintain academic eligibility

Audit - registration in a class but no credit earned or grade received

Baccalaureate or Bachelor’s degree - program of undergraduate coursework including general education courses, a major, and electives; a mi­nor may also be required. BA signifies Bachelor of Arts, BS signifies Bachelor of Science, BIS signifies Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies.

BeanSwitch - UT Martin literary and visual arts magazine

BIS - Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies

Bluebook - blank notebook with blue covers in which to write college tests and examinations

Bursar - university official who oversees student financial transactions

CAPP (Curriculum Advising and Program Planning) - a system used to monitor a student’s progress toward completion of degree requirements

Classification - level of student status according to cumulative hours earned (freshman, sopho­more, junior, senior)

College - academic unit of the university represent­ing related departments (UT Martin colleges are College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences; College of Business and Global Affairs; College of Education, Health, and Behavioral Sciences; College of Engineering and Natural Sciences; College of Humanities and Fine Arts)

Commencement - ceremony to confer degrees and recognize graduates; also known as gradu­ation

Concentration - a focus within a major (i.e., civil, electrical, industrial, and mechanical are con­centrations within the engineering major)

Contact hours - number of hours a course meets each week

Corequisite - specific courses or actions that must be completed the same semester as, or prior to, another course

Course - specific subject matter studied in a particular period of time. A course may include lecture, laboratory, workshop, seminar, intern­ship, practicum, or independent study.

Course load - total of courses taken during a particular semester/term

Course number - three-digit number that identi­fies each course and indicates content level

Course title - name of a course that identifies the course content

Credit - academic value assigned to a course and awarded to student upon satisfactory completion of the course

Credit hour - time-based reference measuring collegiate educational attainment

CRN (Course Reference Number) - unique five-digit number that identifies every course and section offered

Cumulative - accumulation of undergraduate hours attempted, undergraduate hours earned, and undergraduate quality points earned. Graduate coursework results in cumulative totals separate from undergraduate totals.

Curriculum - program of coursework required to satisfactorily complete a particular degree program

Degree - academic title conferred on student upon completion of curriculum requirements

Discipline - academic subject area

Dismissal - action taken when a student fails to achieve and/or maintain academic eligibility

Drop/Add - to revise a student’s course schedule by dropping course(s) but continuing with reduced course load or adding course(s)

Electives - courses selected by student to fulfill degree requirements. Electives may be restricted in some fashion or be unrestricted (free elec­tives).

FAFSA - Free Application for Federal Student Aid

Final exam - examination given at end of semester

FYI (First Year Initiative) - program designed to help students transition to college life

General Education requirement (Gen Ed) - core of courses required in all degree programs

Grade-point average (GPA) - calculation of academic performance obtained by dividing GPA hours into quality points earned. (four-point scale: A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1)

Graduate-level - courses numbered at 500, 600, and 700 level; offered for graduate credit

Graduate student - individual who has completed a baccalaureate degree and is eligible to enroll in graduate level coursework because he/she has been admitted to graduate school

Incomplete - grade assigned to a student who is passing a course satisfactorily but, because of unavoidable circumstances, cannot complete all course requirements

Lab (laboratory) - hands-on application of principles learned in class; typically experiments and projects

Lecture - method of teaching course in which fac­ulty presents material orally and students listen and take notes

Lower division (LD) - freshman and sophomore level courses numbered at 100 and 200 level

Major - student’s principal field of study

Matriculation - first enrollment as a student fol­lowing admission

Maymester - mini-session between spring and summer semesters

Minor - student’s secondary field of study

Option - coursework approved to create a spe­cialty within a major

Plagiarism - to use another’s work and submit it as one’s own. Plagiarism is a serious offense and subject to disciplinary action.

Post-baccalaureate - undergraduate classification for individual taking additional coursework after completion of the baccalaureate degree

Prerequisite - specific course(s), actions, ap­provals which must be satisfactorily completed before enrolling in a particular course

Quality points - value given based on student’s final grade in course and used to calculate GPA

Registration - to enroll in coursework

Section - one of multiple offerings of a particular course in the same semester

Semester - designated period of time when coursework is offered. Fall, spring, and summer semesters comprise an academic year. Summer semester is comprised of two parts of term.

Sequence - a series of courses (ordinarily two courses) in a single content area, taken in numeric order (i.e., Chemistry 121-122 General Chemistry)

Skyhawk - UT Martin official athletic mascot

SOAR (Summer Orientation and Registration) - an event for incoming freshmen to receive orientation and register for coursework

Survey course - a course consisting of an overview of a broad topic or field or knowledge

Syllabus - document prepared by instructor providing an outline of course topics, specific course requirements, schedule of activities, grading and attendance criteria, and other infor­mation pertinent to a specific course

The Pacer - student newspaper

The Spirit - softbound yearbook

TOAR (Transfer Orientation and Registra­tion) - an event for transfer students to receive orientation and register for coursework

Transcript - official record of each student’s coursework and grades

Undergraduate student - individual who has graduated from high school and been admitted to the university to enroll in undergraduate level coursework

Upper division (UD) - junior and senior level courses numbered at 300 and 400 level

Withdrawal from school - officially dropping all courses for a given term; must be processed through the Student Success Center