New policies starting Fall 2008

There are some new university policies taking effect starting Fall 2008 that students need to be aware of. Of particular note is item number 4 and the number of course withdrawals a student can make. To clarify matters, any courses dropped prior to fall 2008 do not count against that total.

1) The Drop/Add period has changed slightly – for all courses, there is now an extra day for adding courses only. The Drop/Add dates for undergraduate and graduate level courses are below.

For registration of an undergraduate level course (courses numbered 0097-5999), the Drop/Add dates are:
Drop/Add Begins: Monday, August 18, 2008 at 7:00am
Drop Deadline: Thursday, August 21, 2008 at midnight
Add Deadline: Friday, August 22, 2008 at midnight

For registration of a graduate level course (courses numbered 6000-9999), the Drop/Add dates are:

Drop/Add Begins: Monday, August 18, 2008 at 7:00am
Drop Deadline: Monday, August 25, 2008 at midnight
Add Deadline: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at midnight

2) The Withdrawal Deadline is now two weeks after the semester midpoint. The Withdrawal Deadline for Fall 2008 is Thursday, October 23, 2008.

3) The grading system for withdrawals has changed. The W (Withdrawal) has been changed to a WP(Withdrawal Passing).

4) For undergraduate students, there is now a limit of four (4) career withdrawals at UGA before all subsequent withdrawals receive an automatic grade of WF (Withdraw Failing). The count will begin Fall 2008 regardless of when a student matriculated and of any withdrawals in previous terms. All withdrawals are included in the count except: Hardship Withdrawals, Withdrawals from Audited Courses, and Military Withdrawals.

Presentation

Dr. Loch Johnson is featured in a video of his April 2007 presentation at BYU's David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies entitled, "Spies in the Movies: Hollywood's Take on Lese Majeste." The entire video is approximately 43 minutes long.

Faced

SPIA has created a group on Facebook for its alumni. If you're a recent graduate or will soon be graduating, sign up to stay in touch with the School and current news & upcoming events. The link to the group is here. If the link doesn't work, log in to Facebook and search for 'SPIA Alumni' under the groups section.

Faculty news

Regents Professor Loch K. Johnson was recently named this year’s ‘Most Outstanding Professor’ by the Dean William Tate Society. A student-operated organization, the Dean William Tate Society recognizes 24 outstanding freshmen each year and one outstanding professor, who are then invited to be members of the Society. Student members of the organization dedicate themselves to academic, extracurricular, and personal excellence. Faculty members inducted into the group are asked to serve as resources to students.

Op-ed

International Affairs student Maggie Mills says “Candidates owe solid answers on Iraq” in an op-ed for the Athens Banner-Herald.

Getzen Lecture

Lee H. Hamilton, the co-chair of the Iraq Study Group and former vice-chair of the 9/11 Commission, will highlight the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs’ annual Getzen Lecture on Government Accountability on Wednesday, April 9, at 2 p.m. in the Chapel.

Hamilton is currently president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University. Beginning in 1965, he served as a U.S. Congressman from Indiana for 34 years. During his tenure, he served as the chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, the Joint Economic Committee and the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress.

Phishing alert

There is an email making the rounds on campus bearing the subject line, "Confirm your email account." It's meant to look like it came from UGA, including a link to webmail.uga.edu, but it's not. The actual addy for UGA's webmail is ugamail.uga.edu. This message is a phishing scam. Just delete the message and know that your UGA email account will be just fine.