ACADEMIC
TERMS
Academic calendar – A list of dates showing when fall, spring and summer terms begin and end, as well as other related dates, such as drop/add periods, final exams and commencement. Academic dean – The administrative head of each college: the College of Arts and Humanities, College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, College of Social Sciences, and the Luter School of Business. Academic department – Division of a college dealing with a particular field of knowledge. Academic standing – A reflection of student performance; a student who meets or exceeds minimum GPA requirements for his/ her academic unit is considered to be in “good standing,” whereas a student not meeting those standards may be placed on academic “probation,” “suspension” or “dismissal.” Academic year – Timeline that begins in August with fall semester, continues through spring semester, and concludes with a May term and two summer sessions. Add/Drop – Period during which students can electronically make a change to their schedule by removing or adding a course; this usually takes place the first week of fall and spring terms, and the last date to add/drop is always listed on the academic calendar. Note that changes in the total number of credit hours taken for the semester can have an impact
on financial aid and other matters, so always
Degree evaluation – Electronic advising
carefully consider add/drop choices.
tool designed to assist in tracking a student’s progress toward graduation; this allows
Alumni – Individuals who have attended
students to run a “what if?” analysis to see
and graduated from a particular college or
how curricular requirements of their catalog
university.
and area of interest relate to courses they have taken or will need to take.
Area of Interest – The preliminary area of study a student focuses on before declaring a
Electives – Courses students take for
major in the second semester of the sophomore
degree credit that are not already required.
year.
There are major or minor electives, which are topic-specific courses students can choose
College/school – Group of academic
from within their specific area of study that
departments administered by an academic
will count toward their major/minor credit but
dean; Christopher Newport has four: College
are not specifically required; there are also
of Arts and Humanities, College of Social
non-program electives that provide degree
Sciences, College of Natural and Behavioral
credit for courses outside of their specific
Sciences, and the Luter School of Business.
area of study or requirements.
Corequisite – Specific requirements that must
FERPA – Abbreviation for the Family
be met during enrollment in a given class; these
Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a
may consist of labs, courses, etc.
federal law applying to educational agencies and institutions that receive funding under
Credit hour – Standard unit of measuring
a program administered by the U.S.
coursework.
Department of Education. Under FERPA, schools must generally afford students
Declaring a major/minor – Indicates that a
who are aged 18 or over, or are attending
student wishes to pursue a particular major and/
a postsecondary institution, access to their
or minor; many majors have specific admission
education records, an opportunity to seek
requirements. At Christopher Newport, students
to have the records amended and some
formally declare their major/minor(s) during
control over the disclosure of information
spring semester of their second year.
from the records. At Christopher Newport, responsibility for authorizing the release of
Dean’s Academic Honor List – Students
student information rests with the university
who, in any given fall or spring semester, are
registrar.
enrolled in at least 12 credit hours, have earned no final grade below C, have not received the
First-generation student – A student
temporary grade of I in any course during the
coming to college where neither parent has
semester, and whose term grade-point average
completed a bachelor’s degree.
is at least a 3.50, are placed on the Dean’s Academic Honor List for that semester.
GPA – Grade-point average, a calculation derived from dividing the grade points earned by the number of credits attempted.
