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Adjunct Faculty Handbook: Your Class

Policies

Academic Program Bulletin & Handbook

The Bulletin & Handbook of Policies for our academic programs reflect the current policies of the UNM School of Law and are intended as a source of information for questions concerning program rules and regulations.

Law School Website

Policies and scheduling information can also be found on the School of Law website, particularly under the Academics tab.

Textbooks

The Faculty Support unit can assist as you consider textbooks for adoption in your course by reaching out to publishers to request examination copies (for instructors who are considering using a text but have not adopted it) or desk copies (for instructors who have adopted the book for a class).

Submitting textbook requests as early as possible helps students obtain the materials they need at competitive prices. Send review requests and textbook orders to FacultySupport@law.unm.edu.

Course Syllabus

The UNM Center for Teaching and Learning provides guidance and templates to assist with syllabus construction. See https://ctl.unm.edu/instructors/support/syllabus-templates.html

UNM updates its mandatory syllabus content each semester. This information is communicated via the Adjunct Email List.

Waitlists & Conflicting Enrollment

Professors may not take a student off a waitlist ahead of other students on the waitlist. If a student asks you to do that, refer them to the Registrar for more information.

A student may not enroll for two classes with overlapping time slots.

Your Classroom

Classroom Equipment

Requests for projectors, computers, and class taping require one business day advanced notice. Submit a request for classroom technology: https://forms.unm.edu/forms/media_services_request_form

Room Changes

For permanent scheduling changes for a course or a permanent room change, contact the Registrar. If you need a one-time scheduling change, to arrange a make-up class or review, or to change rooms for a single class session, contact the Reception Desk.

Midterms and Final Exams

Examinations at the School of Law are administered by the Law School Registrar.

Mid-Term Exams: Occasionally a faculty member may structure a course such that interim or mid-term examinations are administered, and the examination grades earned are included in the calculation of the final course grade. Contact the Registrar by the third week of classes to arrange for the administration of mid-term exams.

Final Exams: If a faculty member plans to use something besides a traditional final exam to evaluate their class, they must advise the Registrar by midterm week so that the final exam schedule can be set.

Anonymous Grading: The UNM School of Law uses an anonymous grading system. To preserve anonymity, students must contact the Registrar, not the professor, to request testing accommodations or to reschedule an examination. If students have conflicts with the scheduling of an exam, they should not discuss these with you. They should go to the Registrar for assistance.

Course Reserves

The Library’s course reserve service makes course materials readily available to students with a two hour checkout period. Items will be removed from Course Reserve at the end of the designated semester and all personal materials returned unless other instructions are provided.

To add material to course reserves Contact the Library.

Course Management Platform

Use one of these to facilitate communication, content delivery, and assessment.

  • The Canvas Learning Management System is available to adjuncts with a Net ID.
  • Westlaw TWEN and Lexis Classroom are available to adjuncts with a law.unm.edu email domain.

Westlaw and TWEN Support: https://lawlibrary.unm.edu/faculty/instruction.html

Emergency Class Cancellation

Inform the Registrar if you have an emergency class cancellation. If you are unable to reach the registrar, contact the Reception Desk or Faculty Support.

Cancelled classes must be rescheduled. The Media Center may be able to videotape make-up classes if you must schedule them at a time when all students are unable to attend.

COVID
The University's guidance on COVID can be found at https://www.unm.edu/covid.

Accommodations

Professors do not design accommodations for students. If a student requests an accommodation, refer them to Bonnie Stepleton and to UNM's Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) for an assessment. If ARC determines that a qualifying disability exists, they will craft an accommodation. If a student tells you that they already have an accommodation, ask them to get ARC to send the documentation to you. You should not know that a student has an accommodation unless it affects the classroom environment (in particular, you should not know whether a student gets extra time on an exam and a student who has that accommodation should not tell you that they do). If you are planning to have exams or quizzes, you should consult with the Registrar's office to ensure that students who have extra time can be accommodated. Students who have a short-term disability may be eligible for temporary accommodations; they should be directed to Bonnie and Lobo Respect for support in those circumstances.

Student Services

If you have concerns regarding the wellbeing of one of your students, such as attendance issues or missed deadlines, feel free to discuss them directly with the student. Please also consider contacting Bonnie Stepleton, the Director of Student and Career Services.

Additionally, all UNM law students have access to Student Health and Counseling (SHAC) servies.  A SHAC counselor can be reached at shac@law.unm.edu or 277-3136.  After hours or on weekends, a crisis counselor is available by calling 277-3136 (select option#3).

Fair Use

The fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law allows limited use of copyrighted works without the permission of the owner. Use this Fair Use Checklist to help determine whether items you want reproduced fall within Fair Use. If they do, have the Copy Center scan the relevant portions of the work so that you can distribute it electronically or have them photocopy it so it can be put on reserve and checked out from the Law Library. If you determine that you need permission to use the material, ask Faculty Support to contact the publisher and request permission to use it in your class.

Class Lists & Email

A few days before the semester begins, faculty receive an email with their class roster, student photos, and instructions for accessing an email group that has been set up for their class. To request assistance creating seating charts, attendance sheets, and for other class-related clerical or administrative support, contact Faculty Support.

Weather-Related Closures

To check for weather related closures, call 277-SNOW (505-277-7669) or look for an alert at the top of the UNM website. To receive notifications and emergency communications by email and/or text, sign up here.

UNM Inclement Weather Policy: https://policy.unm.edu/university-policies/3000/3435.html

Grades

The grades awarded in all courses are indicative of the quality of work done. In general terms:

A = Excellent; B = Good; C = Satisfactory; D = Barely Passing; F = Failed.

The University of New Mexico utilizes a fractionated standard letter grading system.

A complete breakdown of grades, grading practices, grading options and exceptions, along with information about auditing law courses, incomplete grades, incomplete course work and submission of grades is available in the JD Program Bulletin and Handbook of Policies..

Office Space

Office 3250, located in the Mountain Wing, is set aside for adjunct faculty to meet with their students. Contact FacultySupport@law.unm.edu to reserve a time.

Since this room is shared by many, it is suggested that you not leave personal items in it.

Faculty Evaluations

During the final two weeks of classes, a teaching evaluation will be electronically distributed via email to the students in your class. To encourage student participation, please set aside 15-20 minutes during your last or second to last class to ask students to locate the email and complete the evaluation. Evaluations will be made available to the individual faculty member after final grades have been submitted.


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