Upgrade to Graduate Credit?

Abstract

This case presents a glimpse “behind the scenes” of academic life through a series of e-mails, which tell the story of a dispute over whether a student should retroactively receive graduate credit for completing an undergraduate course. The student’s (and her department’s) request for an exception to the rule can be analyzed in education or academic administration and faculty development seminars, as well as ethics and communication courses: (1) to illustrate how ethics and moral philosophies affect the decision-making process, (2) to gain an understanding of how communication barriers impede the decision-making process, (3) to assess the impact of perceptions of equity on the decision-making process, and (4) to examine the characteristics of managerial decisions.