Academic Resources and Special Programs

Learning Resources

Library Facilities

Memorial Library provides access to an excellent collection of resources in all formats and a well-qualified staff whose first concern is the student. One-on-one reference assitance in person or via text, phone, email or chat services, interlibrary loan at no charge and library instruction upon request are among the many services offered to all Berry undergraduate and graduate students.

The spacious, well-furnished facility, centrally located on campus, is open 104 hours a week, including evenings and weekends. More than 400 individual study seats, as well as comfortable group study areas and a coffee shop, are available. All library computer workstations offer access to the online catalog, the Internet, e-mail and selected applications. In addition, the Library’s robust technology lending services greatly expand user options for mobile resources including laptops, iPads, flip cameras, voice recorders and a portable projector.

Print and microform holdings total more than 700,000 volumes. The library subscribes to more than 1,700 journals. Additionally, the library provides access to more than 125 discipline-based research databases, including those in GALILEO (Georgia Library Learning Online), as well as additional subscriptions to numerous other online academic information resources. Selected databases include full-text access to more than 40,000 journals and newspapers. The library coordinates electronic information resources for the campus; most are easily accessible from the library’s home page, whether the student resides on or off campus.

As an official selective Government Depository, the library’s collection also includes more than 100,000 government documents. The Berry College Archives collections include the Martha Berry papers, administrative records of the institution, college publications and photographs.

Computer Support

The College provides several general-access computer laboratories, allowing access to approximately 150 PC and Mac systems. These facilities are strategically located around campus and are available 90 hours a week during academic sessions. Most of the labs are staffed by well-qualified student workers and supported by the Office for Information Technology. Memorial Library also provides a number of computers for student use as well as a help desk that is staffed 40 hours a week during academic sessions to provide computer hardware and software support. An answering service is available on a 24-hour basis daily for reporting major outages.

The college provides Internet access to all students accessible by both network outlets and wireless in all residence halls. Wireless access is also available in the major classroom buildings, Memorial Library, Krannert Center, Cage and Hermann Hall.

Each residence hall room has a cable TV outlet with service included in the room rate. The college does not offer long-distance telephone service, but rather students are encouraged to use cell phones.

All faculty have access to instructional software and VikingWeb that allows the use of Web-based course materials and interactive experiences for students. Most classrooms have been outfitted with computers, projectors and other multimedia equipment. The Office for Information Technology supports faculty in their use of VikingWeb and maintains all multimedia classrooms. 

The college continues to honor its commitment to improve and increase computing capabilities and resources.

First-Year Experience Office

The Office of the First-Year Experience offers a variety of support services to help new students adjust to the academic and social demands of college life. In addition to assisting the dean of academic services with the first-year advising program, the office coordinates the First-Year Seminar (BCC 100 ). During orientation, the office offers a two-hour “crash course” in college success and organizes a book discussion that allows new students to enjoy dinner and conversation with Berry faculty and staff, usually in their homes. In addition, the First-Year Experience office organizes First-Year Service Day, an opportunity for new students to get to know each other and the community by giving a day of service in Rome and Floyd County. Working with the First-Year Council, the FYE Office hosts a reunion event for BCC 100  classes each spring.

PLAN4WARD

In the first year, each student will begin to map their personal path to graduation and learn to take advantage of everything the college has to offer though our Plan4ward program. Students begin by learning to plan intentionally, understand their strengths, interests and aspirations. Students then choose curricular, co-curricular, extracurricular, student work and service options that help them move forward toward their goals. Students will then spend the next couple of years exploring, growing, learning, and delving deeper into what they like and desire. Advisors will encourage students to study, work, serve, reflect, and then revise their plan to make it personal, allowing each student to achieve the personal goals students have charted for themselves.

Academic Support Center

The Academic Support Center located in Memorial Library provides Berry students with learning support in their academic work. Tutorial services are provided free of charge for any student who needs help. A professor(s) in the discipline(s) recommends peer tutors who tutor and provide coaching in the various disciplines. One-on-one counseling in study skills and time management is available, and pamphlets and brochures on study skills, writing, and time management are also available in the center free of charge. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Resolution 504, Berry College accommodates students with documented disabilities. It is the ASC that provides services for students needing accommodations for learning, psychological, and permanent or temporary medical disabilities.

Berry College Center for Economic Education

The Center for Economic Education, affiliated with the National Council for Economic Education and the Georgia Council on Economic Education, is one of 13 Economic Education Centers in Georgia. Serving primarily northwest Georgia, the purpose of the center is to encourage economic education at all levels, from preschool through college. Through the center, education and economics faculty and other experts offer spring and summer economic workshops for teachers grades P-12, three-day summer institutes for middle and high school teachers, consultation on economic education for participating schools and various special programs. In addition, the center houses economics and economic-education resource materials. Many of the materials are available to users through a free loan service, and others may be used in the center.

Academic Advising

Each student is assigned an academic advisor, with whom to consult in selecting a schedule of classes each semester enrolled and in planning a program of study leading to the chosen degree. Questions and concerns related to the student’s academic program and progress should be discussed with the advisor, who is available for consultation on other matters as well. The advisor provides advice and will help the student understand the ramifications of their choices, but the final responsibility of completing all requirements for a degree rests with the student.

Special College Programs

First-Year Program in Rhetoric and Writing

The first-year writing program focuses on the interrelationship between academic reading and academic writing to lay the foundation for work students will undertake while they are at Berry College. In order to achieve this emphasis, students are exposed to analytical and critical tools needed to assess ideas and concepts and to generate their responses to them. All Berry students are required to take RHW 102 . Students who believe they would benefit from sharpening their writing skills and fluency may decide to enroll in RHW 101  before they take RHW 102 . All incoming students will receive information to assist them in making the appropriate choice. Students are encouraged to complete RHW 102  in their first year of academic study; matriculated students may not complete RHW 102  as transient students elsewhere. In order to complete the writing requirement, students must earn a C- or better in RHW 102 .

Writing Across the Curriculum

The writing-intensive program, Writing-Across-the-Curriculum, is grounded in two beliefs:

Writing is an essential skill for lifelong learning.

Active learning of course content is enhanced as students’ involvement in critical and analytical thinking is prompted by a variety of writing tasks that receive feedback from peers and/or instructors.

The goal of the program is to assist students in developing writing and cognitive skills. Faculty involved in teaching WI courses have received special instruction in ways to integrate writing as a tool for enhancing critical thinking and information acquisition. Students will use a wide variety of prewriting, drafting, revision and peer-review strategies so that writing becomes a means to content mastery within particular courses and disciplines. Students are required to complete a minimum of two writing-intensive courses at the 300- and 400-level in each major totaling a minimum of six semester hours ordinarily within their major after they complete the freshman-writing sequence.

The Writing Center

The Writing Center is a central element in Berry’s commitment to Writing-Across-the-Curriculum. The Center provides support to students at any stage of the writing process in a variety of courses and disciplines. Students receive help on all aspects of writing from brainstorming strategies to revision to editing. The Writing Center is staffed by undergraduate peer consultants, trained to work with students through one-on-one sessions, online through e-mail tutoring and through workshops.

Honors Program

The Berry College Honors Program provides students with an opportunity to learn within an intellectually challenging community of peers and instructors. Honors courses familiarize students with works that have been central to our past and contemporary intellectual traditions, while encouraging them to examine issues or themes from multiple perspectives. All Honors courses are taught as seminars that provide an ideal environment for the development of effective communication and critical-thinking skills. Class size normally is restricted to 15 students, with primary emphasis placed upon student initiative in discussion, research and presentations.

For admission into the Honors Program, an entering freshman should have SAT scores of at least 1300 on the Math and Reading Analysis sections combined or ACT scores of 29 and a high school GPA of at least 3.5. A student currently enrolled at Berry or a transfer must have a 3.5 or higher GPA on all college work completed and must submit the name(s) of at least one Berry College faculty in support of her or his candidacy for the program. A student must have a 3.5 or higher GPA in all college coursework in order to receive an Honors diploma upon graduation. The Berry College Honors Program does not conflict with departmental honors programs; qualified students can complete both.

A minimum of 21 credit hours is needed to complete the degree requirements of the Honors Program. Students in the Honors Program do not ordinarily take ‘extra’ courses,” as lower-level Honors courses are used in partial fulfillment of general-education requirements; upper-division course requirements typically count toward the major.

Lower-division Honors coursework requirements include satisfactory completion of

two 3-credit-hour Honors colloquia (HON 201H  and HON 203 H ) and

three additional 3-credit-hour Honors courses. These may include any honors-designated sections of general-education courses, HON 250 H  or HON 251 H , or any HON 250 H  cross-listed course. Student may elect to honorize upper-division courses, with the approval of the instructor in conjunction with the Honors director.

Upper-division course work includes the satisfactory completion of two 3-credit-hour Honors Senior Thesis courses in the major (HON 450 H  and HON 451 H ). Departments will determine whether HON 450 H  or HON 451 H  may satisfy upper-level course requirements within the major.

The Honors Senior Thesis, spread over two semesters, may take many forms: a traditional research paper on a particular topic, an in-depth study of specific texts, empirical research, practical application, or a creative/performative effort. Students must perform satisfactorily in defense of the Senior Thesis, which is normally scheduled during the next-to-last semester of their residence at Berry College.

The Honors faculty includes instructors from all schools of the college. In addition to the Honors Committee and the director of the program, instructors teaching the Honors colloquia, seminars, Honors-designated upper-division classes and directing Honors senior theses are members of the Honors faculty.

Academic Internship Program

Internships, intended to foster linkages between academic life and future career, afford the student the opportunity to

• apply theories learned in the classroom to practical, on-the-job situations;
• learn specific job skills from experienced professionals;
• develop an awareness of job responsibilities and career requirements; and
• gain valuable experience for future employment.

Eligibility:

An internship is intended for a junior or senior who is in good academic standing and who has the recommendation of her or his advisor. Other qualifications include potential for leadership; special skills (e.g., computer skills); ability to communicate effectively in both written and oral form; organizational ability; and willingness to represent Berry in a positive fashion to a community constituency. A grade-point average of 2.60 is required, and 3.0 is strongly recommended prior to application.

Credit:

For most internships academic credit is available. Tuition for internship credit is paid at prevailing Berry College rates. Most students enroll for three to six credits in one semester, although in exceptional cases up to 12 credits may be permitted. Internships are generally not approved for fewer than three credits. Registration for an internship is required with the registrar in advance of the start of the experience. The application for an internship must be approved by the provost prior to the beginning of the term in which the internship is taken. In addition, all fees associated with the credit to be earned must be paid prior to the start of the semester in which the internship is taken. Credit may not be granted after the fact. On-campus internships may not be paid from the student work budget.

Length and Time Commitment:

Most internships are one semester in length. Some internships require that the intern work virtually full time (40 hours per week), while others are based on fewer hours per week. The student must show in her or his internship application a direct relation between the amount of academic credit sought and the number of hours per week devoted to the internship itself. For each semester hour of credit usually sought, there is the assumption of 45 hours of commitment per semester or term on the part of the student. A minimum of 3 credit hours will be considered. In terms of the internship, the following applies:

Favorable consideration is not likely for an internship request that appears to stem only from a student’s need to have a specified number of credits to complete a semester’s schedule. If the student wishes to make application for an internship in the place of normal employment, convincing evidence must be presented that the internship moves the experience beyond normal duties into new and educationally profitable areas.

Academic Requirements:

Students seeking internships may attend the internship workshop offered each term by the Career Center at which the process, forms and resources for internships will be reviewed. In consultation with the campus internship Coordinator, the student must submit a completed Internship Learning Agreement, a copy of the course syllabus to the Office of the Provost for approval. Once the internship Learning Agreement has been approved, the course will be added to the student’s schedule and the student must attend a workshop provided by the Career Center that will help prepare the student for a professional and sucessful experience. Internships are graded on an H/S/U basis only, and such a grade does not alter the Berry grade-point average.

Supervision: Each intern has a separate site supervisor and academic faculty internship advisor (perhaps the student’s major advisor, though not necessarily). The academic faculty advisor is responsible for the academic content of the internship; for periodic work visits with the intern (where feasible); for continuing communication with the intern and the work supervisor; and, upon receipt of a written evaluation by the site supervisor, for assessing student performance and assigning a final grade

Application:

The student must complete the Internship Learning Agreement Form (available online on the Career Center website) and have this form signed by all appropriate faculty and school dean. The completed form and intership course syllabus is submitted to the Office of the Provost. The forms must be received in the Office of the Provost no later than one month prior to the start of the internship, or before the end of the add/drop period of the semester in which the student is registered for the academic internship. Once the form is approved, the Registrar’s Office will add the course to the student’s semester schedule. It is the responsibility of the student and the academic faculty internship advisor to work out the details regarding placement and responsibilities with the business or agency wishing to participate as host for the intern. While Berry College attempts to excersise control of the academic quality of internships, it cannot be responsible for such quality, for intern performance or for any personal arrangments (housing, transportation, etc.) that may be called for in connection with the internship. 

For additional information about internships, students are invited to view details on the Career Center (www.berry.edu/stulife/career).

Dual-Degree Programs

The dual-degree program enables a student to earn a bachelor’s degree from Berry College and from another participating institution. At present, Berry has established agreements with the Emory University School of Nursing and the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Engineering. After completing approximately three academic years of study at Berry, the student will transfer to the cooperating institution to complete the requirements for the course of study. This usually requires an additional two or three academic years. Upon completing all requirements, the student receives a bachelor’s degree from Berry College and a bachelor’s degree from the other institution.

Berry requires 93 semester hours and completion of all general-education requirements. Specific course requirements for students interested in the dual-degree programs may be found in other sections of this catalog. Berry requirements for the dual-degree nursing program are stated in the nursing section, and the requirements for the dual-degree engineering program may be found in the physics section of the catalog.

Preprofessional Preparation in Health Sciences

Following their preparation at Berry College, many graduates enroll in medical, veterinary, dental, pharmacy and optometry schools. In general, preparation for entry into these programs does not require a particular academic major. The professional schools often do require specific courses and competencies for admission; however, and there are faculty advisory groups who work to assist students in meeting these requirements. Admission into most professional schools also requires achieving high scores on entry exams, such as the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). Regardless of a student’s major, faculty advisors will seek to recommend courses that are required and/or will prepare students for these exams. Specific information for some popular professional tracks follows.

Premedical:

A major in biology or chemistry is common, but not required. Students should contact the premedical advisory committee chair: premed@berry.edu.

Preveterinary:

A major in animal science or biology is typical, but not required. Students should contact the pre-veterinary advising coordinator: Dr. Martin Goldberg, Department of Animal Sciences (mgoldberg@berry.edu; 706-290-2177).

Prepharmacy:

A major in chemistry biochemistry, or biology is typical, but not required. Students should contact the pre pharmacy advising coordinator: Dr. Dominic Qualley, Department of Chemistry (dqualley@berry.edu; 706-236-1756).

Predental:

A major in biology or chemistry is typical, but not required. Students should contact the premedical advisory committee chair: premed@berry.edu.

Pre-nursing:

Students interested in nursing will be designated as pre-nursing until they are accepted in the Berry College nursing program. Inquiries about the Berry College Nursing program or the Dual-Degree Nursing Program should contact the nursing program advisor/coordinator: Dr. Vanice Roberts, Dean, Division of Nursing (vroberts@berry.edu).

Other health-related career tracks:

For programs such as physician assistant, physical therapist and other allied health fields, students typically major in biology, chemistry or health and physical education, but this is not required. Some programs such as medical technology generally involve specific undergraduate training not offered at Berry. Students interested in pursuing any of these areas after graduation from Berry should contact the premedical advisory committee chair: premed@berry.edu.

Interdisciplinary Studies

Interdisciplinary studies requirements are outlined in the Academic majors section of the catalog.

Graduate Programs at Berry

Berry College offers the Master of Business Administration, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Education and Education Specialist degrees. For information regarding these programs, consult the Graduate Catalog. The graduate hours may not be used to satisfy undergraduate degree requirements.

Joint Graduate Enrollment

A Berry College senior with at least a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average and lacking no more than 12 semester hours toward a baccalaureate degree may register for a maximum of 6 semester hours of graduate-level courses, so long as the baccalaureate program is being completed during the semester in which the graduate work is pursued. Such enrollment does not signify acceptance into the graduate program as a degree-seeking student.

The undergraduate student taking graduate-level courses is restricted to a maximum load of 15 semester hours. Prior approval of the Provost and the appropriate graduate-studies director is required.

Studies in Special Topics

Under the special-studies program, a course of immediate interest originating from a faculty member or from a group of students and approved by a sponsoring academic program is offered for one to three semester-hours’ credit.

These credits will not fulfill any degree requirements and will count as general-elective hours only. In a given semester, a student may take only one special-studies course. Auditors will be allowed in special-studies courses on a space-available basis only.

A course in special studies must be approved by the Academic Council in advance of the semester it is to be offered. The request will be made by the head of the sponsoring program and will include a list of those students (at least 10) who have indicated they will take the proposed course, the name of the professor for the proposed course and a short rationale for giving academic credit for this particular study. Special-studies courses are designated SPT (Special Topics) on the student’s record. A specific course may be offered as a special-studies course only one time.

International Programs

To enrich the education of students and prepare them as global citizens, Berry offers a variety of education abroad options. Eligible students wishing to apply Berry College aid or loans to education abroad pay Berry College tuition and any additional costs, and may participate in an approved program for an academic semester or year. A list of approved programs is available at www.berry.edu/academics/study. Berry College does not support travel to countries on the State Department’s Travel Warning list; students may not use any institutional aid to cover any costs, including tuition, associated with activities taking place in these countries. Faculty and staff may not use institutional funds to travel to or participate in activities in these countries.

Students may apply to any program as transient students and pay the study abroad program directly, or they may appeal to the International Programs Committee for approval of a new program. Requests for approval of new programs must be submitted to the Committee nine months before the start of the program.

All students must abide by enrollment and withdrawal guidelines of the program and Berry College. The IP Committee reviews all applications and recommendations and determines the final approval status of students. All semester and yearlong study abroad participants are required to hold a minimum grade point average of 2.5. Many study abroad programs have higher GPA requirements; see website for stipulations. Students must have completed two semesters in residence at Berry College before studying abroad for a semester or year. Students on disciplinary probation at the time of application will be asked to reapply when they are no longer in this status.

Semester and yearlong abroad students must preregister for the STA 305 holding course, enrolling for a minimum of 12 hours. The use of STA courses for the major or minor must be approved by the program chair or director and the school dean prior to the student’s departure. A course used as a general education requirement must also have the approval of the provost. Non-approved courses will count as hours toward graduation, but using the courses to fulfill other requirements cannot be guaranteed. Students studying abroad during fall or spring semesters are exempt from Cultural Events Credit requirements for each semester spent abroad.

Students may also participate in independent summer programs and Berry College Summer International Programs (SIPs). These faculty-led courses vary each summer but may include general education or upper level courses. Berry College does not specify a minimum GPA for summer study abroad, although students must meet the individual program’s GPA condition. There may be prerequisites for upper-level SIPs; contact the faculty director. Student teaching abroad is also available through the college’s membership in the Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching. In addition, students are encouraged to participate in Berry’s international internship and service learning programs. Unless the program states otherwise, international internship students should have completed 60 credit hours and possess a 2.6 GPA.

Information on all programs is available from the international programs office and on their website: http://www.berry.edu/academics/study/.