Academic Services and Resources

ACADEMIC/PERSONAL ADVISING

Upon admission to the program, each student is assigned an academic advisor.  These advisors make every effort to be available to answer your questions, listen to concerns, offer support, and help you understand the educational system.

Advisor Responsibilities

• Provide information on policies, procedures, and programs
  • How to drop/add/delete a course and the corresponding deadlines
  • Payment policy and deadlines
  • Graduation process and degree audits
• Facilitate student development in the decision-making process
• Review transfer coursework for a preliminary evaluation
• Offer long-range program planning
• Discuss schedule and course selections
• Work with students who need to complete an academic/financial aid plan
• Assist students in making contact with other offices within the college

Advisee/Student Responsibilities

• Investigate your career interests
• Think about how you will make school work for you
  • Work schedules/Time to come to class
  • Family/Children’s schedules
  • Payment/Financial Aid
• Read your catalog and learn the college’s requirements.
• Know dates and deadlines and give yourself ample time to meet them.
• Take an active role in class, participating fully in class discussions and activities throughout the term.
• Review the course syllabus thoroughly before class begins.
• Submit assignments and papers on time.  Be prepared to take tests on the assigned day.
• Complete the course evaluation at the end of each class.
• Be honest and forthright in your academic endeavors.
• Familiarize yourself and follow the academic integrity policy as outlined in this handbook.
• Recognize that failure to comply with this policy may have significant consequences.
• Treat everyone at Doane respectfully including other students, faculty and staff.

Student Rights

• The opportunity to be active learners in a stimulating and challenging educational environment.
• A course outline or syllabus that provides information about class expectations, course content, course objectives, grading procedures, and attendance policy.
• Instructors who are responsive and take time to discuss student progress, course content and assignments at mutually agreed upon times.
• Pursue your academic studies in a positive and ethical environment where high academic standards are upheld.
• Have your academic work assessed fully and fairly, and receive feedback on your progress.
• Receive your Doane education in a stimulating, welcoming atmosphere that supports free expression of ideas, responsible criticism, and the pursuit of truth.
• If confused, know when to ask for help, and who can assist you.

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

The dean of the Lincoln & Grand Island campuses supervises all undergraduate academic areas.  If you have a question, concern, or suggestion about an academic program, advisor, teacher, or academic policy, make an appointment to see the dean.

Career Development and VA Certification Office     

Susan Rocker is the Director of Career Development and VA certification officer.  Susan manages the veteran educational benefits of undergraduate students on the Lincoln, Grand Island, and Omaha campuses students.  She also provides the full range of career development activities including career and life planning workshops, career coaching, resume writing and editing, internships, and job searching.  Susan’s office is located in room 306 of the Fred Brown Center.

Contacting Faculty

Almost all faculty are adjunct professors and do not have offices in the buildings.  All faculty have mailboxes available for students to drop off and pick up assignments.  These mailboxes are located on the third floor across from room 311 in Lincoln.  Grand Island students should contact the services coordinator on campus for instructions regarding contacting faculty members.

Course Syllabi

Course syllabi are available on-line for students at www.doane.edu/GPS

• Click on Student Resource under your location
• Click on Syllabi
• Click on the course number

Syllabi have faculty contact information, grading guidelines, and the outline for the course.  It is recommended you read your syllabus closely before the first class meeting and keep your course syllabi for future reference, for certification, or for transferability.

ID CARDS

New student ID cards can be picked up during formal registration on the Lincoln and Grand Island campuses or at the reception areas after census day each term.  If an ID card is lost, contact your advisor for replacement.  ID cards can be used for discounts at movie theaters and wherever accepted.  The Student ID also allows the holder access to the Library on the UNL Campus or Doane College Crete Campus.

Learning Portfolio - Get Credit for What you Already Know

The Lincoln and Grand Island programs offer a special learning portfolio option for individuals who have prior learning from work/life experience which cannot be documented through traditional methods.  Depending on the assessed quality and quantity of learning from a student’s experience, as many as 36 credits may be documented through the portfolio process to apply toward a chosen degree program.  A Doane student may qualify to receive up to 36 semester credits through one or more of the following options:  Portfolio for the Assessment of Prior Learning, Advanced Placement Program, CLEP or DANTES, ACT Proficiency Examination, or Doane Tests.  The process includes the following steps:

1. Students complete EDU 280 Higher Education for Adult Learners for two semester credits.  In this course, students focus on what they have learned in their lives to this point, how they have learned it, and how that learning can fit into a structured program of formal education.  They then receive the necessary instruction for developing a portfolio.  For more information, access the EDU 280 syllabus using the instructions listed under Course Syllabi.
2. The portfolio is submitted for review and evaluation for award of credit.
3. Following evaluation, students are eligible to receive any or all portfolio credits which have been approved at a cost of half the current tuition rate.

Math Competency

All students must demonstrate basic computational skills before enrolling in any mathematics course numbered 100 or above.  This requirement may be met by taking DLC 090, ACT or SAT scores, transferring an appropriate course from another institution, or by successfully completing the Computational Skills Test.  For more information on this requirement and the competency exam and practice exam, contact your academic advisor.

Testing Out of Computer Courses

Test outs can be completed for either competency or credit for the following courses: CSA 101 Introduction to Word Processing, CSA 102 Introduction to Spreadsheets, CSA 103 Introduction to Database, CSA 109 Information Retrieval Skills, and CSA 104 PowerPoint Presentation.  If you are testing out for credit, you will be given the option, pending a passed test out, to purchase your credit at half the current tuition rate.  For additional details contact your academic advisor. 

Student Requested Withdrawal from Courses

Students are expected to complete courses for which they have registered, unless unusual circumstances require withdrawal.  Failure to continue to attend a class does not constitute a withdrawal from that class.  To withdraw from a class, students must contact their academic advisor, who will assist them in completing the necessary withdrawal forms.

BOOKSTORE

The college, for the convenience of faculty and students, operates the Doane College Bookstore, located off the courtyard of the Fred D. Brown Center in Lincoln, or at the front desk of the Grand Island campus.  Hours of operation are posted.

Textbook Refunds

Refunds will ONLY be given on textbooks if a student has dropped the class on or before the second Friday of the term and the following conditions have been met:

1. A valid cash register receipt is presented.
2. Books are returned by the date indicated on the receipt card.
3. USED Books are in resalable condition. Book cover and pages are not bent, torn, or missing.             
4. NEW books are NOT damaged, written in, marked on, spine has not been bent or broken.    Condition to be determined by bookstore management.
5. Wrapped (texts) or boxed merchandise have not been unwrapped or opened.

Defective books should be returned at once.

The cost of textbooks can be charged to students’ accounts at the time of purchase.  For payment, the bookstore accepts cash, checks, VISA, MasterCard and Discover.

Book Buy-Back

Nebraska Book Company, on behalf of Doane College Bookstore, conducts a book buy-back the second week of each term, Monday though Thursday, 4:30pm-6:00pm on the Lincoln campus.  A representative of the book company is stationed in the atrium of the Fred Brown Center for the book buy-back.  The Grand Island campus schedules one day, to be announced, each term.

Special Orders

The bookstore will be glad to special order books for students.  Pre-payment and shipping charges will apply.

LIBRARY

The proliferation of knowledge in today’s world makes the acquisition of self-education skills as important as the teaching of existing knowledge.  Each student is responsible for developing competence in the use of the library, a liberal art that contributes to one’s continuing education throughout life.

Lincoln and Grand Island campus students may use the Perkins Library, located in the Communications building on the Crete Campus.  Students may also use the Love Library, located on the UNL campus at 13th and R.  If you are using Love Library you need to show them your driver’s license or ID card.  Perkins Library in Crete requires a library card, or Doane ID.

The collection at Perkins Library consists of more than 300,000 volumes, including approximately 500 subscriptions for journals, magazines, and newspapers.  Some materials are available in micro-format, which is a valuable preservation aid, as well as a space-saving strategy.  Access to over 10,000 additional journal titles is available through our online databases.  Students can access these databases on the Lincoln or Grand Island campuses or from home with a Doane username and password.  (If you do not have a username and password, please contact the Technology Department on the Lincoln Campus to obtain one.)  The information found in these databases may be in the form of citations, abstracts or full text of journal articles, reports and/or conference proceedings.

Doane College is a depository for both Nebraska and United States Government documents, sources which provide a wealth of information on a variety of subjects.

An extensive interlibrary loan system makes it possible for the library to obtain materials from other libraries.  Through computer network connections, Perkins Library has access to the collections of libraries not only in the State of Nebraska, but throughout the United States.  A consortium of 10 libraries provides a catalog of more than one million items and the online card catalog can be used to look at the holdings of these other libraries.

For more information on Perkins Library, hours, and how to obtain a library card please go to the www.doane.edu/GPS, click on Student Resources under your location, and click on Library.