The GSAPP Academic Calendar can be found here.


Please consult the GSAPP schedule for all important dates including grading deadlines and ADD/DROP dates as the University’s dates may differ. 

CourseWorks/Canvas is the University’s system for managing course materials, syllabi, course rosters, student emails, student facebooks, etc. 



Please post your syllabus online in CourseWorks ASAP. The main Columbia University Directory of Classes as well as the GSAPP Course Schedule will link to CourseWorks, so that students shopping for classes will be able to access the course syllabus.

If you are unable to post your syllabus in CourseWorks because you do not yet have a working UNI, you may forward a copy to academicaffairs@arch.columbia.edu.

AV equipment must be reserved 24 hours in advance through the website (Columbia UNI login required).

The AV office can be reached for any questions via e-mail at av@arch.columbia.edu. Equipment reservations are subject to availability. 

Specific software requests for your class should be made well in advance of the start of the semester  by emailing askGSAPPIT@columbia.edu.


Other IT requests and support for faculty can be sent to this email as well. This will automatically generate a ticket, and it will be routed to a dedicated IT support tech. Please note the request must be submitted from your LionMail account or the system will be unable to process it.

Printing is done at the Output Shop. If you are giving an assignment requiring a significant amount of printing please discuss scheduling solutions with Carlito Bayne, Asst. Director of Output Shop, to ensure that work can be delivered on time. 

If you are assigning laser cutting, any amount of 3-D printing, or a significant amount of model making, please discuss scheduling with Joshua Jordan, Director of the Making Studio fabrication spaces, in advance to ensure that work can be delivered on time. 

Over the last few decades, GSAPP Student Council has developed the structure and policy guidelines used to conduct the GSAPP Architecture Studio Lotteries. While the administration oversees the processes and checks the final results, Student Council members—two student representatives elected each year from the MArch and MSAAD programs—conduct the lotteries themselves.

Please find the policies here.

Once results are posted, students wishing to switch studio sections have the option to make one-to-one swaps between studios regardless of studio size. The total number of students in each studio section does not change. The identification of people to swap with, negotiation, and notification of administration is the responsibility of the student, not the representatives or administration.

Faculty may not override the lottery results and policies.

Faculty may find the most up to date course rosters in Student Services Online (SSOL).

Please note the roster in Courseworks/Canvas does may take 24-48 hours to update.

Students need as much information as possible in order to plan their course selections, to assess the potential workload of their upcoming semester, and to plan for the costs associated with each course. Therefore, instructors are asked to provide clear information regarding the texts that are required for their courses in the following ways:

• All required texts should be listed for each course before early registration for courses begins in November or April. Faculty can make this list of texts public by inputting individual ISBNs into the “Textbooks” section of the course’s Courseworks site.
  
• Please note that this information is required by federal law.

Please logon to Student Services Online (SSOL) and choose web-grading.



All students registered in the GSAPP are graded as described below: 

• 

HP (high pass) = a superior level of work
  
• 


P (pass) = an acceptable level of work
  
• 

LP (low pass) = work that meets minimal standards 
  
• 


F (fail) = work that is unsatisfactory
  
• 


UW (unofficial withdrawal) = assigned to students who miss more than three required classes or whose names appear on the grade sheet but who have discontinued attendance
  
• 

INC (incomplete) = may only be used if a student has approval from the Admissions Office for proven illness
  

Grade Inflation

Please consider grading seriously, and do not submit a grade sheet with all or mostly HP’s. The grade of HP is reserved for exceptional students only. Likewise, if a student deserves a LP, please do not inflate the grade to P. Grade inflation is unfair to both the true HP student, who really deserves to be highlighted as such, and the true LP student, who deserves to know that their work meets only minimal standards. 

Core I – Advanced Architecture VI Studio Faculty must submit grades to Studio Coordinator. There is only one grade sheet per year, not studio section grade sheets. 



All students registered in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation are graded as described below:



• HP (high pass) = a superior level of work
  
• P (pass) = an acceptable level of work
  
• 
LP (low pass) = work that meets minimal standards
  
• F (fail) = work that is unsatisfactory
  

You may not use INC (Incomplete- for medical situations only), CP (Credit Pending) or UW (Unofficial Withdrawal) without first getting approval from Dean Smoller.

The mark of INC (Incomplete) is not used except in the case described below: at the request of a student who has satisfactorily met all the requirements for a course except for the completion of certain assigned papers, graphic presentations, or reports that the student had to postpone because of proven illness.



Authorized Incompletes must be changed to a final grade by the first day of registration for the spring term in the case of all fall papers and projects, and by June 10 for all spring work. Any INC that has not been removed by the instructor by the relevant deadline will automatically turn into the grade of F. This grade cannot be changed to Pass; if the course is a required course, it will have to be repeated.

The mark of CP (credit pending): given only in graduate research courses in which student research projects regularly extend beyond the end of the term. Upon completion, a final qualitative grade is assigned and credit allowed. The mark of CP implies satisfactory progress.

The mark of UW (unofficial withdrawal): assigned to students who miss more than three required classes or whose names appear on the grade sheet but who have discontinued attendance.

The awarding of grades and all other academic evaluations rests entirely with the faculty. If students have a concern relating to a particular grade or other assessment of their academic work, the student first should speak with the instructor of the class to understand how the grade or other evaluation was derived and to address the student’s specific concern. If the students do not feel comfortable speaking with the class instructor about the matter, they should then bring the issue to the attention of their program director.



If the students are unable thus to resolve the matter to their satisfaction and believe that a procedural issue is involved, they should bring the matter to the attention of the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs. The Associate Dean will work with the student and the faculty to determine whether there has been a procedural breach and if so, take immediate steps to remedy the matter. If the Associate Dean, together with appropriate faculty other than the instructor, decides that there is no need for further action, the student will be informed and the decision will be final. After grades are posted, students may not submit additional work in order to elevate a grade.

Students receiving a grade of F in any design course, or more than one F in non-design courses, will be asked to withdraw. Although consideration is given to particular cases where a student’s work has suffered because of illness, the student may be required to take additional work to demonstrate that he or she has overcome the problems that have resulted in a poor record. A student with more than two non-passing grades is not considered to be in good academic standing. A limit is placed on the number of Low Pass (LP) grades permitted for credit toward a student’s degree.



Master of Architecture

• No more than two LPs are permitted in any of the following categories: Design sequence, History/Theory sequence, Building Technologies sequence. A third LP in any of the above categories will not carry credit toward the degree.
  

M.S. in Advanced Architectural Design & M.S. in Architecture and Urban Design

• No more than two LPs are permitted in the Design sequence and no more than three LPs in the entire program.


  

M.S. in Historic Preservation & M.S. in Urban Planning

• No more than four LPs are permitted in the entire program.


  

M.S. in Real Estate Development

• No more than three LPs are permitted in the program.

Students will be asked to do a great deal of written work while at Columbia: term papers and analytic essays of different lengths. These papers play a major role in course performance.



There have been some instances in which students attempt to submit the work of other people as their own. Because intellectual integrity is the hallmark of educational institutions, academic dishonesty is one of the most serious offenses that a student can commit at Columbia GSAPP. A failing grade in the course is a minimal penalty.



In making clear Columbia’s policy on plagiarism, it is not feasible to include here all the various forms-they are innumerable-that plagiarism might take. It is useful, however, to list several varieties in order to dispel confusion about actions that the School will not accept:



• Submitting essays, or portions of essays, written by other people as one’s own;
  
• 

Failing to acknowledge, through footnotes and bibliographic entries, the source of ideas essentially not one’s own;


  
• Failing to indicate paraphrases or ideas or verbatim expressions not one’s own through proper use of quotations and footnotes;
• Collaborating on an assignment or examination without specific permission from the faculty member to do so.


  

If questions arise concerning proper use of quotations, footnotes, or bibliographies, the student should contact the instructor. In addition, students may not submit an essay written for one course to a second course without having received prior permission from both instructors. Seeking informed advice from a faculty member is the best way to avoid confusion about matters that can be complicated.

Columbia’s IT department subscribes to Turnitin, an Internet-based plagiarism detection service. For more information about this service, visit CUIT Plagiarism Detection Services.

For access to Turnitin, GSAPP faculty should email academicaffairs@arch.columbia.edu

Columbia University uses the EvaluationKit platform, providing faculty with the ability to gather feedback on the courses they deliver. Evaluations are created and distributed to students by GSAPP.

Faculty may check their evaluations from previous semesters in Courseworks. The Instructor EvaluationKit Tutorial on Canvas has step-by-step video directions and PDF instructions on accessing EvaluationKit in Canvas.

ALL Arch Studio faculty must submit a student evaluation at the end of the term to mail-arch@columbia.edu.