Independent Academic Work

The Independent Academic Work process allows students to register and earn credit for an undergraduate course by undertaking one-on-one meetings with an instructor rather than enrolling in a regularly scheduled section of the course.  This process is typically used when a needed course is not offered during a given semester or when a needed course is not offered at a time that fits a student’s schedule.  This process may also be used when students wish to enroll in a course that is rarely offered. 

Students who wish to enroll in Independent Academic Work must complete the online petition form prior to the end of the registration period for the relevant semester.  Students must meet the eligibility criteria listed below, and the form must be signed and approved by relevant parties.

It is the student's responsibility to identify a professor with whom to work. Note that the Professor, the Chair and the Dean are not required to agree to or approve the petition.

It may take the Office up to one week to evalute your IAW form for eligiblity and correctness. The signing process may take several additional weeks depending on the responsiveness of the instructor, the Chair and the Dean. You can check the status of your form at any time. View this video to do so.

IMPORTANT: If enrolling in an IAW course will put a student over the maximum number of credits permitted per semester/term, the student must submit a request for permission for excess credits and it must be fully signed before the add/drop deadline of the relevant semester/term. The excess credit request form is now integrated into the IAW form in Smartsheet.

Eligibility

Eligibility Criteria for Independent Academic Work

Students who petition to enroll in Independent Academic Work must be juniors or seniors with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.5 and are allowed to take no more than two (2) Independent Academic Work courses during a semester.  If a failing grade is received in any course, that course may not be repeated as Independent Academic Work.  All students pursuing Independent Academic Work must receive approval from the department chair and the dean of the college or school in which the requested course is offered.

Exceptions to the Eligibility Criteria

Exceptions to the above restrictions and requirements may be considered by Academic Affairs staff if the petitioning student is a graduating senior, an incoming transfer student at the junior or senior level with no record of a grade point average, or if the Independent Academic Work is part of a Study Abroad or externally funded grant program.  Requests for exceptions must be made in writing to the Office of Academic Affairs (Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs) prior to the end of the add/drop period and, where applicable, prior to the start of a Study Abroad program. The request for an exception to eligiblity is now embeded in the Smartsheet process.

Procedure

Effective November 2025, the IAW form is now available via Smartsheet and is accessible via your Student Dashboard in Websis.

1. Please click this link to read the instructions. Do not attempt to complete the form without reading the full instructions.
2. After reading the instructions, you may click through to the new online Independent Study Petition Form log into Websis and click the "Independent Academic Work"  link in the Student Dashboard. A visual instructional guide to the dashboard request process may be found here.
3. As needed, check the status of your request. An instructional video may be found here.

You will need to know the following information in order to complete the form: your student I.D. number, your classification (e.g., junior or senior), your major, your G.P.A., the course name and code--for example, "ENGL 333: Playwriting," the semester and year of the proposed independent study, your instructor's name, and the days and times you will meet with the professor. These meeting days and times may not conflict with other courses on your schedule or other courses the instructor is teaching.

Failure to include your complete name or the complete course information (for example: writing "333" instead of "ENGL 333") will result in the rejection of your petition. Other errors that may result in your petition being rejected or returned for correction include: listing insufficient contact hours, listing meeting hours that create a conflict with other courses you are taking or that the professor is teaching, and selecting the wrong professor.

A Note to Graduate Students

Note that this petition form is for use by undergraduate students or graduate students enrolling in undergraduate-level classes (for example, foreign language classes).  Graduate students wishing to enroll in graduate-level classes should contact Assoc. Dean Paul Voos by email (paul.voos@morgan.edu) to discuss the Graduate School's procedures for independent study.