Announcements for the Week of May 6 to 13 2011

Housing

The University has worked to accommodate the unforeseen events from last week and ensure students have time to arrange travel home by extending the time that the residence halls will remain open. Those facilities will remain open until Sunday, May 8 for students that need housing.  Any student with questions or who needs additional time should contact housing directly to make their request.

Campus Shuttle 

The Friday night campus shuttle to the University Drive Wal-Mart and Madison Square Mall will be running today at the usual times and pick-up locations.

ISSO Walk-In Advising Hours

The ISSO walk-in advising hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10am-12 noon AND Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 1:30-4pm and will be in effect next week.  We ask that students respect the schedule and not try to see an advisor before or after to maximize efficiency and ensuring the advisors get quickly caught up on processing student requests and required Immigration reporting. 

Students are welcome to drop off documents during business hours, 8:15am to 5:00pm but should drop off documents during walk-in hours if they have questions about those documents.  We thank students for their patience and understanding that advisors will have multiple student requests to attend to and all of them will require immediate attention due to the time lost as a result of the tornadoes/power outage.

Clarification regarding Completing Degree Requirements & Commencement

Students who finish all coursework/exams/thesis required to receive final grades are considered to have completed their degrees. The advisors are required to shorten the I-20 record in SEVIS to reflect when a student completes their degree (initiating the start of the 60 day grace period). Commencement is a ceremony that a University has to celebrate and award degrees to students who have completed their degrees. While the commencement date for students who completed their degrees in the spring 2011 semester has been moved to August, 13-14^th, the completion date remains May 7, 2011. The change in the commencement date DOES NOT impact students who have applied for OPT provided they complete all degree requirements to receive final grades for classes they were enrolled in spring 2011.

EAD cards/ USCIS Receipts 

Advisors have been picking up mail and have received EAD cards and USCIS Receipt Notices while the school has been closed.  We ask that students are patient and wait for an email notifying you to come to the office to pick up documents.  As the cards come in, advisors will notify students accordingly. 

Revised Finals Schedule

The university has announced a revised final exam schedule for those students choosing to take their exam. Students can log into their BANNER student account to view their grades as of April 27^th to help make a decision if they want to take the final exam. If a grade is not yet listed it is because the faculty member has not yet had the ability to enter. All grades should be entered by early next week allowing time for students to make decisions regarding taking a final exam or not. If a student is not interested in taking a final exam then as soon as all of their grades have been submitted by faculty, the student can visit Charger Central to request a final transcript. The revised final exam schedule can be seen at http://uah.edu/news/images/revisedexamschedule.pdf

Thank you,

International Student Advisors

International Student and Scholar Office