Yesterday I read about a 99-year-old woman who set a world record for her age group by swimming 400 meters in 12:50. (Yes, she had competition in her age bracket!) All day I was troubled by this news: I’ve been swimming for almost a year every MWF morning, and I wasn’t sure I could swim a 400 in 12:50.

Well, the Lord was aware of my consternation. This morning listed on the Orem Masters Swim Club’s workout whiteboard was “4×400 free.” I had four chances to see if I could swim faster than someone twice my age!

I am relieved and happy to report that if I met Betty Brussel in the pool I would beat her with my time of 9:52! Cha cha cha! Of course, for it to be official, I would need to start our race by jumping off the starting blocks, something Betty can do but I cannot. Yet.

The truth about Ws

This week I have sent emails about my class attendance policy to three students—three students who have already missed two classes! As I wrote these emails, I envisioned future emails: “You may want to consider withdrawing and taking WRTG 150 when your life is not falling apart.”

Nearly every semester I have the withdrawal conversation with a student, and I always feel half-informed about withdrawals—I’m not exactly sure how they work and what impact they have on students’ transcripts (and possibly their future!).

Enter Cielle Davis, a fellow chauffeur (we sat by each other at our daughters’ horse-riding lessons) and academic advisor for the College of Humanities. She was happy to meet with me this week and explain the World of Withdrawals.

Here are four things to know about withdrawals

• Ws do not count for or against a student’s GPA—scholarships can be saved with a W!

• Ws do not disappear when a student retakes the class: the W for Round 1 of WRTG 150 is a permanent part of their transcript.

• When a student fails a class and then later retakes it, BYU averages the F earned in Round 1 with the grade earned in Round 2, which makes a C the highest grade a student can earn. This makes withdrawing an attractive option!

• Patterns—not one or two Ws but patterns—of Ws hurt students’ chances of getting accepted by any type of grad school.

Here are two things students need to consider before withdrawing

• Students who have Pell Grants or some private scholarships will have to pay back money for the class they withdraw from if their credit hours fall below full-time status (12 credits).

• Withdrawing from a class may mess up a student’s major’s roadmap to graduation—some majors have prereqs that must be completed before passing GO!

After talking with Cielle, I realized that the best thing we can do is to encourage failing students to talk with an academic advisor and with financial services. They are trained in talking about withdrawals, futures, and money: we are not.

Academic advisors, our students need them!

By the end of my conversation with Cielle, I was this close to turning my life over to her. Seriously. She truly is what her official title is: Academic and Professional Development Manager.

Fortunately, the university recognizes our students’ need for life managers—the office of Liberal Arts Advisement & Careers office (1041 JFSB) is expanding—starting in March nearby walls will be coming down.

So encourage your students to reach out to their advisors—students who haven’t declared a major can go to the University Advisement Center (2500 WILK) to find a life manager to talk with.

A shoutout to the financial services!

One cautionary note about academic advisors—not all colleges’ advisement centers are fabulous. My friend’s son, a STEM major, received more help from his financial aid counselor than his advisor. The help he received wasn’t solely regarding money—they helped him figure out how to pay for college and how to create a schedule that enabled him to pass his classes while he managed his depression.

Students who would like to meet with a financial aid counselor can stop by or call Enrollment Services (D155 ASB, 801-422-4104) to make an appointment.

The new later withdraw deadline

Last semester some of you may have noticed that the withdraw deadline was awfully close to the end of the semester, just two weeks before the last day of class!

The deadline was moved to cut down on all of the students’ petitions to withdraw. (Apparently, at midterms most students still think they’ll pass their classes.)

This semester’s withdraw deadline is April 3.

Stuff for your calendar

It’s a new year! Take a few minutes to check out The English Department Calendar. 

FEBRUARY

February 13: Treat Yo’Self to a Professional Development Book! This is just a reminder that you can spend your $200 professional stipend all 2024 long.

February 15: Narrative Sharing Time. Get new ideas, mingle with colleagues, and enjoy some tasty snacks at 11 am in 4186 JFSB! Please send your narrative ideas, activities, and assignments to me, Katie, by February 13. Your contribution doesn’t have to relate to WRTG 150—any and all narrative stuff is wanted! If you missed my email, here’s how Narrative Sharing Time works.

MARCH

March 7–8: The English Symposium. Check out its awesome new website!

March 18–22: Adjunct Faculty Book Club Lunch. Sometime during this week we’ll meet to chat about Verified over lunch. For those of you who signed up, keep an eye out for an email to vote for the best day and time to meet.

March 28: Student Ratings Start! Encourage your students to complete ratings for all of their classes, but especially yours.

APRIL

April 3: Withdrawal Deadline. Use the week before this date to have the a-W-is-better-than-a-F conversation with your students who have many absences and/or are failing. You’ll be grateful you did.

April 18: The Adjunct Faculty Biennial Conference! One of the best days of the year! Great presentations with new ideas and strategies! Please consider presenting! And please come! Your teaching lamp will be refilled! Keep an eye on your email for more information.

April 18: The Adjunct Faculty Award Luncheon! After the biennial conference, we’ll meet for lunch and celebrate all of our good works. Both the conference and the luncheon will take place in the WILK.

April 18: Student Ratings Close. Perhaps request a rating analysis from the Center for Teaching & Learning SCOT program—and go for the big picture: ask them to sort and categorize your last three years of student ratings (don’t worry if you’ve been at BYU that long :).

April 30: Grades DUE by NOON!

Our makeshift website

As I’ve noted before, Ansalee Greenwood, Greyson Gurley, Kelsey Smith, and I are hard at work writing content for our Adjunct Faculty Website (and we are continually surprised at how much stuff we need to cover!). Until this website is up and running, here are links to some helpful Google docs (which you can also find in your “swag” folder that’s sitting in your mailbox right now):

Adjunct Faculty Sunshine Fund

Book and Travel Stipends

How to Train to Teach Other WRTG Courses

Meet Your Course Coordinator

Observation Opportunities—sign up to be observed or find someone to observe!

Syllabus Requirements: I just added another option—the RWC’s official syllabus statement that you’re welcome to customize!

Write NOW!—want to get some of your own writing done? Write NOW! can help!