Students are assigned academic advisors when they first enroll at Fairmont State. Those students who are not ready to select a major upon entrance will be assigned to the Office of Exploratory Advising. Students wanting to change their major fields of study may obtain a Major/Minor/Concentration Update Form from Enrollment Services. That form needs a signature from an advisor in the new major. Students should discuss problems relating to degree requirements, registration, and withdrawals from class or college with their advisors.

Office of Exploratory Advising

317 Turley Student Services Center
(304) 367-4709
advise@fairmontstate.edu

The purpose of the Office of Exploratory Advising is to provide Undecided students, Pre-Nursing students, and undergraduate Non-Degree Seeking students with interpersonal professional support. A concerted effort is made to address any academic concerns that may impede the student’s successful completion of degree requirements and to assist the student in the selection of an academic program.

Services:

• Formalized advisor-advisee conferences scheduled by appointment throughout the semester for undecided students.
• Academic assistance and guidance during posted walk-in hours for students with general advising concerns or questions.
• Academic advising for all new, transfer, and readmitted undecided students at Orientation.
• Workshops sponsored by the Office relevant to maximizing academic success and to improving advising processes.
• Referral assistance to campus and community services.

Fairmont State employs a variety of assessment processes to inform students of progress in courses and clinical experience and toward degrees, to analyze programs in order to make appropriate curricular changes, and to determine institutional effectiveness. The university follows policies of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the WV Higher Education Policy Commission, policies of specific academic and professional accrediting bodies, and its own governing board.

In addition to regular course examinations and presentations, assessments used include field tests of proficiency in the major; electronic portfolios; capstone projects; internships; clinical practice reviews; and juried performances. Some programs, such as nursing and teacher education, also require nationally normed entrance and exit examinations. All degree programs analyze and review their effectiveness every five years, reporting this information to the WVHEPC and the Fairmont State Board of Governors. Programs also engage in an annual review process to assess the effectiveness of academic programs and learning experiences. The institution reports its overall progress to the HLC every ten years.

College Level Examination Program (CLEP)

Students who wish to obtain credit by examination should check with the Center for Workforce Education for test availability by calling (304) 367-4920 or (304) 367-7254.

Placement Testing

Plagiarism is defined here as the submission of the ideas, words (written or oral), or artistic productions of another, falsely represented as one’s original effort or without giving due credit.

Freshman…………..0-29 credit hours
Sophomore………. 30-59 credit hours
Junior………………..60-89 credit hours
Senior……………….90+

Deans List: Students who register and receive letter grades for 12 or more hours taken at Fairmont State (excluding credit or audit marks), in any given term, and receive a grade point average of 3.4 or better are considered honor students and are named to the Dean’s List.