Name: Professor Marshall Godwin

Email: godwinmt@lamarpa.edu

Office Phone: (409) 984-6320

Office Location: Student Center 414

Office Hours (Fall 2026):

*Office hours on Thursday will be held exclusively through Blackboard Collaborate Ultra to accommodate my online and hybrid section students. All other office hours will be held in my office in the student center.

Additional Contact Information: The best way to contact me is via the email address listed above using your LSCPA student email account. If you send me an email during the week, expect a response within a maximum of 24 business hours (three standard workdays) of my receipt of said email. If you email me on a Friday afternoon or over the weekend, expect a reply no earlier than the first class day of the following week. Owing to my present schedule, you should not expect a response to a weekend email until late Monday at the earliest.

Official Course Description of HIST 1301 (ACGM): A survey of the social, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual history of the United States from the pre-Columbian era to the Civil War/Reconstruction period. United States History I includes the study of pre-Columbian, colonial, revolutionary, early national, slavery and sectionalism, and the Civil War/Reconstruction eras. Themes that may be addressed in United States History I include: American settlement and diversty, American culture, religion, civil and human rights, technological change, economic change, immigration and migration, and creation of the federal government.

Textbook Information: OpenStax U.S. History is a free, online textbook which you will be able to access from Blackboard. There will be required reading materials in addition to your textbook, but all of these will be posted to Blackboard as well. You will NOT need to purchase any textbooks – or any other reading materials – for this course. You may access your OpenStax U.S. History book via the following link:

https://openstax.org/details/books/us-history

You can read the book directly online from the website. Additionally, there is a PDF copy on Blackboard which you can save to your device (laptop, tablet, external hard drive, etc.). Furthermore, there are audiobook versions of the chapters posted by OpenStax to Youtube, and I will post links to those videos in the appropriate Blackboard locations (e.g., when we are reading chapter 14, you will be able to find an embedded audiobook version of chapter 14 on Blackboard).

Be aware that the PDF of the textbook is massive, and downloading the full book might take some minutes if your internet connection is slow.

Textbook Purchasing Statement: A student attending Lamar State College Port Arthur is not under any obligation to purchase a textbook from the college-affiliated bookstore. The same textbook may also be available from an independent retailer, including an online retailer.

Corequisites and Prerequisites: There are no corequisites or prerequisites for HIST 1301.

Learning Outcomes: Below are the official learning outcomes for this course:

1. Create an argument through the use of historical evidence.
2. Analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources.
3. Analyze the effects of historical, social, political, economic, cultural and global forces on this period of United States history.

Core Objectives: Below are the official core objectives (PSLOs) for this course as defined by the ACGM:

• Communication Skills: Students will demonstrate effective written, oral and/or visual communication.
• Critical Thinking Skills: Students will engage in creative and/or innovative thinking, and/or inquiry, analysis, evaluation, synthesis of information, organizing concepts and constructing solutions.
• Social Responsibility: Students will demonstrate intercultural competency and civic knowledge by engaging effectively in local, regional, national and/or global communities.
• Personal Responsibility: Students will demonstrate the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making.

This course is divided into six modules: an introductory module and five core modules. In order to access each module of the course, the date listed in parentheses next to the module title must have passed (in other words, the module must have started) and you must have earned a perfect score on the syllabus quiz. If starting date of the module has not come and/or you have not earned a perfect score on the syllabus quiz, you will not be able to access that module.

Below is a sketch of the Modules of this course, some of the basic topics we will cover in them and the major assignments due during each of them.

INTRO MODULE (08/24/26)

Introduction to the structure of the course, the scope of HIST 1301, the nature of history as a discipline, as well as what primary and secondary sources are. You will also study this syllabus and be required to take and pass a syllabus quiz in order to access the rest of Blackboard.

Major Assignments: Syllabus Quiz

MODULE I: The Early Modern Atlantic World (08/31/26)

For the first three weeks of September, we will cover the early modern Atlantic World, including pre-Columbian Indigenous North American societies, West Africa during the late medieval and early modern periods, and the whys and hows of the expansion of the western European empires across the Atlantic Basin.

Please note that 09/07/25 is Labor Day this year, and that we will not be holding a class session on that day.

Major Assignments: Research Assignment no. 1 (Topic and Sources)

MODULE II: Empire and Revolution in British North America (09/21/26)

During the next three-week period, we will focus on the nature, culture and general history of the British Empire in North America, the origins and spread of radical political ideologies like republicanism and radical protest movements like the Patriot movement, and, of course, the U.S. War of Independence.

Major Assignments: Midterm Exam, Research Assignment no. 2 (Outline)

MODULE III: Changes and Challenges for the Early Republic (10/12/26)

In the third main module, we will study the turbulent early decades of the post-Independence United States. In addition to major political developments like the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and creation of the Federal government, we will look at some of the external military threats and internal divisions that threatened the early republic, as well as at the importation of industrial revolution from England and its technological, social, economic and cultural consequences for the antebellum U.S.

Major Assignments: Research Assignment no. 3 (Introduction Paragraph)

MODULE IV: Antebellum Anxieties (11/02/26)

In the fourth full module, we will talk about the many sources of friction in U.S. society during the early and mid-nineteenth century. In addition to sectional conflict, which increasingly centered around the moral, economic, social, religious and political implications of slavery, there were other divisions within the U.S. and a host of reform movements which tried to remedy the various social ills of the day.

Major Assignments: Research Assignment no. 4 (Research Paper)

MODULE V: A House Divided Against Itself (11/23/26)

In the final module of the course, we will learn about the social dissolution of the U.S. during the 1850s and how the ever-more fractious sectional conflict of the nineteenth century culminated in the bloody Civil War of the 1860s. There is little in the way of a happy ending here, for in addition to the astonishing death toll of the war, many of its consequences remained unresolved during the Reconstruction period which followed.

Major Assignments: Final Exam

Major Assignments

Below is a breakdown of your major assignments for this course, when they are due and what they are.

Midterm Exam Date and Time: Our midterm exam will be on Wednesday, 10/07/26 during standard class time (12:00 PM - 1:15 PM). The midterm exam will assess your comprehension of materials and concepts from the Introduction to the Course and from Modules I and II. It will be divided into two halves: the first half include multiple choice questions (including true/false, matching and multiple answer questions) and fill-in-the-blank questions. The second half will be a longform essay which you must write out by hand. The essay will be worth half of your grade on the midterm exam (7.5 out of 15 points).

Final Exam Date and Time: Our final exam will be on Monday, 12/07/26 during standard class time (12:00 PM - 1:15 PM). The final exam will be cumulative and divided into two halves: the first half will include multiple choice questions (including true/false, matching and multiple answer questions) and fill-in-the-blank questions. The second half will be a longform essay which you must write out by hand. The essay will be worth half of your grade (7.5 points) on the final exam.

Attendance and Participation: You will need to consistently show up to class, do so on time, and participate civilly in group activities or discussions to earn your 15 points here. Note that your attendance and participation grade is a bit odd in that you do not have to earn your points, but rather the right to hold onto them: you will all begin the course with a full score of 15 points (out of 15 possible). You can lose your points, though, both through absences and tardiness on the one hand and through misbehavior on the other. If you acquire six absence strikes - however those are gained - you will earn 0 points for your attendance and participation score. If you are absent seven times, you will FAIL THE ENTIRE COURSE. See the Course Policies section, Assignment Policies and Notes subsection for details.

Naturally, this assignment is not "due" in the same sense as others, but attendance will be marked for every day of the course until the end (on 12/09/26) and your behavior and participation (or misbehavior and lack of participation) can affect your attendance score until the very end of the semester.

Research Assignments nos. 1, 2 and 3: These are smaller research assignments which will help you build toward your final research paper, thus helping you to perform the work for this semester-long project in smaller bites. Each is distinct and has distinct requirements. These assignments will be due at the end of Modules I, II and III, respectively, meaning you will need to turn them in by 11:59 PM on the dates listed in the table above.

Research Assignment no. 4: This is your final research paper, the culmination of earlier work you did in research assignments nos. 1, 2 and 3. It is accordingly worth double what any one of the earlier research assignments is worth. This assignment will be due at the end of Module IV (11:59 PM on 11/20/26).

Minor Assignments

Discussion Boards: In each Module of the course (the Introduction module and Modules I through V) you will have a discussion board assignment, meaning you will have to complete a total of six of these assignments in all. The boards will each vary in what they require you to think about and what sorts of sources they require you to analyze, but all will require you to engage critically with various concepts and/or sources which we delve into in this course. They will typically be the first assignments due for any given Module.

Journals: In Modules I, II, III and IV you will have additional writing assignments, typically due in the middle of the Module. These assignments will likewise vary, and will typically task you with critical analysis of a particular secondary or primary source or set of sources. You will not have a Journal assignment for either the Introduction to the Course Module or in Module V.

Syllabus Quiz: This "gimme" assignment is at the end of the Introduction to the Course Module and though you can take it an indefinite number of times, you must complete it in order to access Module I (and all other future Modules of the course). Do not put it off!

Date: 12/07/2026

Time: 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM

Location: Madison Monroe Education Building, Room 215

Letter Grades for the Course: Letter grades for the course are assigned based on the total number of points you received for all assignments. They align with the traditional letter grading system for percentage grades. Thus the letter grade you receive on your transcript at the end of the course will align with the following table:

Letter Grades for Assignments: Letter grades for assignments will follow the same basic structure as letter grades for the course overall. If you receive 90% or more of the possible points, you will get an A, 80% to 80.99% of possible points will earn you a B, and so on. This means that on the final exam, for instance, which is worth 15 points, you would earn an A if you earned 13.5 or more points (13.5/15 = 0.9, or 90% of the total possible points), a B if you earned 12 points (12/15 = 0.8, or 80% of the total possible points), a C if you earned 10.5 points (10.5/15 = 0.7, or 70% of the total possible points), a D if you earned 9 points (9/15 =0.6, or 60% of the total possible points) and an F for any amount of points below 9.

Assignment Weights: Each assignment is worth a certain number of points in the course. The table below displays the maximum numbers of points a student may earn if they perform perfectly on each of this course's assignments.

There are 100 points available to you in total for the course.

General Policies and Communication

Syllabus Policy: The instructor reserves the right to adjust this syllabus and all of its contents – including but not limited to assignments, due dates, and course materials – as needed. Should the instructor decide to make any changes to the syllabus, these changes would not be made “quietly:” rather, I would announce via Blackboard announcements and LSCPA email that the syllabus will be altered and what exactly about the syllabus will be altered.

I do not intend to put this policy into practice unless necessity forces my hand: the true intent of this policy is to account for the unfortunate reality that tropical cyclones are not only a likelihood, but an inevitability in our corner of the world. When one also considers the presence of the petrochemical industry in Jefferson County and the increased prevalence of wildfires in southeast Texas, it seems prudent to be prepared for both natural and human-caused disasters.

Student Email Policy: It is incumbent upon you as a college student to routinely check your LSCPA email. I would recommend signing in to check it no less than once every twenty-four hours. You will receive communiques from me (and from other professors and college personnel) through your LSCPA email account.

I will not – in fact, I cannot – respond to emails sent to me from a third party account: this includes, but is of course not limited to, gmail, Yahoo mail, personal Outlook accounts, or any account other than your LSCPA account. Put simply, if the sender’s address does not end in @lamarpa.edu, I cannot respond to it. You will not receive responses to any emails sent from an account that is not your LSCPA account.

Additionally, please include a subject line and the section you are in (e.g., HIST 1301-3D) when you email me.

A Note on Blackboard Messages: Please refrain from using the Blackboard message service to contact me: firstly, it has not historically been reliable (I cannot count how many times students have claimed to have messaged me but their message has not arrived on my end) and secondly, even when the messages arrive, I am not always alerted to them, or at least not in a timely manner. Email me directly from your LSCPA student email.

Behavioral Policies and Order in the Classroom

Restroom Policy: In this course, like in all my Dual Credit or mixed student population courses, only one student may utilize the restroom at a time. There will not be exceptions to this rule.

A clipboard will be present with the instructor at the front of the room, and when a student requests to use the restroom, they must sign out. The instructor will provide a timestamp for when they leave the room. When the student returns, the instructor will mark the time they returned. Suspiciously long visits to the restroom will be reported to the Dual Credit Department and to the relevant individuals at the high school.

Note that you may not go to the restroom during the administration of either the midterm exam or the final exam (see exam policy, further below).

Seating Chart Policy: A seating chart will be implemented at the beginning of the semester based on last name. If you do not sit in your assigned seat, you will be counted absent for that class day. Refusal to revert to your assigned seat might result in further disciplinary action as the situation requires. The main possible exception to this rule might be in event of certain official accommodations which might require a student to sit in a particular area of the classroom: barring that situation, you will be assigned a seat and will not be allowed to change to another seat.

Class Recording Policy: Unless explicit written permission is provided by the instructor, you DO NOT have the right to record class sessions through any means whatsoever. This includes, but is not limited to, video recording, audio recording, and photography. Exceptions might be made upon request at the discretion of the instructor or in the event that recordings are necessitated by an Accommodations Memorandum. If you record without explicit written permission from the instructor, you will be counted absent for the day and other disciplinary actions might be taken as befits the particular circumstances.

Phone Use During Class Policy: Unless you are explicitly authorized by the instructor to take out your phone OR unless you have an Accommodations Memorandum necessitating your use of your phone as a recording device for notetaking purposes, you ARE NOT allowed to ever have your phone out during class.

Allow me to repeat myself: you are not allowed to ever have your phone out. I do not care if it is on silent or if it is making noise, I do not care if you are actively using it or not: if I see your phone out at all, you will be counted absent for that class period and further disciplinary action might be taken as the particular case warrants. As well, since Woodrow Wilson ECHS students are not allowed to have phones in class anyways, I will report you to the high school, district, to dual credit and to LSCPA student services.

Headgear, Earbuds and Headphones Policy: Excepting medical devices (e.g., hearing aids) used for the purpose of accommodations, there should be nothing in or near your ear canals whatsoever during class time. This means you may not have earbuds or airpods in and that you may not have headphones on. In order to ensure compliance, you are also not allowed to wear non-religious or non-medical headgear in the classroom (hoodies, hats that extend below your ears, etc.). Violation of this policy will result in the student being counted absent for the class period. Additional disciplinary action may be taken as warranted by particular cases.

Note that if you violate this policy during an exam day, you will automatically be issued a zero for that exam (see also exam policy, further below).

General Classroom Etiquette Policy: I take the issue of civility in the classroom seriously, and I expect you all to behave like mature adults ought to behave (and as educated citizens of a healthy and functional republic ought to behave). You will behave civilly, treat others with respect, and follow instructions from the instructor, or you will fail the course.

Firstly, bigotry (of any form whatsoever) will not be tolerated. I do not care who you are and I do not care what group(s) you are discriminating against, you will not make inflammatory statements about any race, sex, gender, or other group in my class. Statements or actions which the instructor takes to be inflammatory will result in an absence and might, depending upon the particular circumstances, result in much more extreme disciplinary action on the part of the instructor and/or college.

Secondly, you will be kind and respectful toward your peers during class discussions and lectures: listen when someone else is talking and show others the courtesy that ought to be shown to you. Unless someone is behaving in a discriminatory manner, you have no reason to interrupt your fellow students – regardless of how much you might disagree with their perspectives. Civil disagreement is crucial to a healthy, functioning republic, so my advice when someone says something you disagree with? Deal with it. The world does not consist of clones of you. Furthermore, in debate, it is often beneficial to allow your opponent to keep talking. To recite a famous (and garbled) paraphrase of something Napoleon Bonaparte once (sort of) said, “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake" (for the curious, what Napoleon seems to have actually said was probably something closer to "Quand l'ennemi fait un faux mouvement, il faut se garder de l'interrompre").

Thirdly, you will be respectful of the learning environment. Disruptive students – e.g., students who talk on or otherwise use their phones during class or who talk while other students are presenting – will be reprimanded. If circumstances require it, the instructor will request the offending student leave the room, and will mark the offending student absent for that class session.

Fourthly, you will be quiet during roll call unless the instructor has called your name. Students talking loudly during roll call to the point that the instructor cannot hear if another student has responded to their name being called will be found in violation of this etiquette policy and might be counted absent themselves.

Finally, if there are any acts of violence or threats of violence by any student(s) against any other student(s), the instructor, or any other person or people whatsoever, the offending student(s) will be removed both from the classroom and from the course entirely.

If a student violates any portion of this etiquette policy, they can be counted absent for the day, regardless of whether they remain in the classroom or not. If a student’s presence is so disruptive that other students cannot complete their tasks, the offending student will be asked to leave the room, or security will escort them out if necessary. If such an incident were to occur on an exam day, the offending student would receive an automatic zero for the exam without any possibility of retaking it.

In short, this is a college class, and as such I expect you to act like mature adults. Behave yourselves accordingly.

A Note on Offensive Materials: This is less a policy per se than it is a disclaimer.

We will be studying history in this course and since we are doing so at a college level, nothing will be censored. In the context of this class, you are considered to be adults and expected to act as mature adults ought to act. You will read about, see, discuss, and otherwise encounter materials that you might find shocking, repulsive, offensive or – perhaps the most frightening thing of all – which might cause you to take a step back and question your preconceived notions about human nature, society, and perhaps even yourself and what you were raised to believe by your parents and/or community. There is not much else to say here other than that you need to be able to confront ideas and facts that might make you uncomfortable both in order to pass this course and in order to be a functioning, mature adult. Get ready to be offended. 

Assignment Policies and Notes

Assignment Submission Policy: All assignments are to be turned in via Blackboard. If you email me an assignment, it will not be accepted. Note that your research assignment components must also be submitted as Microsoft Word documents (.docx): other file types will not be accepted. Additionally, if you ever submit any sort of SharePoint link, you will receive a zero for that assignment. You are to submit static files (which you cannot change post facto) and static files only.

A Note on Assignment Instructions: As a college student, it is your responsibility to read through assignment instructions. Make sure you do so before you turn your work in, so that you do not violate any failure conditions or clauses in the assignment instructions. As per this syllabus, any instructions given in conjunction with an assignment are binding and final. Read the instructions.

Syllabus Quiz Policy: You will not be able to access any materials outside the Introduction Module of the course until you have completed the Syllabus Quiz and earned a perfect score on it. You will have an indefinite number of tries to complete the Syllabus Quiz, but until you answer every question correctly you will not be able to access any other course materials. Complete the Syllabus Quiz as soon as possible to avoid getting zeroes on future assignments.

Exam Policy: The following rules apply any time that an exam is be administered. Failure to comply with exam policies will result in the student earning an automatic zero on that exam.

1. You may only have pencils on your desk during the exam: no other writing utensils and no other materials whatsoever are allowed. This includes food. You may have standard no. 2 pencils and erasers, and a bottle of water, but nothing else.
2. You may not speak to anyone about anything at anytime during the administration of an exam. If you yell, speak, or whisper so much as a single word, even if you have already completed the test, you will receive a grade of zero for that exam.
3. Be quiet during the administration of the exam. Do not rock your chair back and forth, use your pencils as drumsticks and your desk as a snare drum or do anything else that otherwise makes noise, even if you have completed the exam.
4. If you have any nonmedical electronic devices on your person whatsoever during the exam, you will receive a grade of zero. This includes, but is not limited to, any sort of nonmedical device in your ears (earbuds, headphones, etc.), your cell phone, a smart watch, etc. As on normal class days, you may not wear any non-religious or non-medical headgear during the administration of an exam.
5. You may not leave to go to the restroom while the exam is being administered.
6. You may not have written notes or cards with you on your desk (or on your lap, knees, or anywhere else). If I see that you have any written notes with you, you will receive an automatic zero on the exam.
7. Once you have finished the exam, you are to raise your hand. The instructor will retrieve your exam, and then you are to wait at your desk until the rest of the class finishes. 

If I had my druthers, I would allow you to leave once you have finished with your exam (my perspective is that on exam days, once you have finished the exam itself, there is really no reason for you to have to stay in the classroom: your work for the day is done), but the nature of the beast with Dual Credit is that you must remain in the classroom the entire time. Thus, while I do not personally like it, neither of us has a choice here: you must remain in the classroom until the period is over, even if you have finished the exam ahead of time. If you finish early, take a nap.

Late Work Policy: Excepting students with an Accommodations Memorandum that necessitates different assignment timelines, students faced with a documented and authenticated medical or other crisis and possibly students who are pregnant or parenting a child of minority age, assignments are due when they are due, and that is that. If the aforementioned conditions do not apply to you and you have not finished and submitted your work by the deadlines set forth in the assignment instructions and this syllabus, then you will earn a zero for that assignment. Beg and plead all you want, but this is college and you are expected to be punctual and submit work by the proffered deadline, like any adult: if you waited until the eleventh hour to do your work and thus failed to get your work in before the due date, then you have only yourself to blame and will be given the F which you have earned.

To preempt the inevitable question, yes, if your assignment is one minute late, it is still late. If you are tasked with turning in an assignment by 11:59 PM on Friday, 09/18/26 and you submit it at 12:00 AM on Saturday, 09/19/26, you will receive a zero. Deadlines are deadlines. 

Please note that the late work policy also applies not only to your various writing and research assignments, but to the exams: as a college student, you are expected to keep track of your schedule and to be prepared for exam days. If you miss an exam and the aforementioned conditions (an Accommodations Memorandum, documented crisis, pregnancy, etc.) do not apply to you, then you will earn a zero for that exam without any chance of making it up. This applies to both the midterm exam and the final exam.

Making Up Missed Assignments: For a majority of you, this will be a nonissue: you do not get to make up missed assignments. If you miss the deadline for an assignment, then you earn a zero for said assignment, and that is that; however, if you have a relevant Accommodations Memorandum clause, documented and authenticated crisis, or are pregnant or parenting, you might be able to make up missed work. The specifics will be handled on a case-by-case basis, as no two of any of the aforementioned sorts of conditions are ever quite the same but provided you meet one of the above criteria, the instructor might allow you to make up missed work as befits your particular situation. Once again, such situations will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Extra Credit Policy and Bonus Assignment Policy: I will not create bespoke extra credit work for individual students because they did badly earlier in the semester, failed an exam, or simply because they would like to score extra points. Do not insult me by asking for extra credit, particularly if you have performed poorly in the course. If you send me an email asking me to create extra credit work for you because “you really need to get a higher grade in the course” or "I can't fail this class" or some other such whiny drivel, I will simply respond by saying "I know that you completed the syllabus quiz, so please tell me what the Extra Credit Policy in the syllabus says. Have a nice day." If you really needed a better grade in the course, then perhaps you should have studied harder, turned your work in on time, attended class, followed assignment instructions, behaved during class, and written your papers yourself.

I have occasionally offered bonus assignments to the entire class. I do this on a discretionary basis and typically, should these assignments be offered at all, they take the form of offering a maximum of x bonus points on an upcoming exam if the student completes bonus assignment y. I reserve the right to create class-wide bonus assignments (that are equally available to everyone) at my discretion.

Plagiarism Policy: Academic integrity is essential to truly learning any subject or discipline. You are to submit your own work, not the work of peers, friends, or anyone – or anything – else. By cheating, you not only jeopardize your own academic future, you are cheating your future self out of your own education. All research papers will be screened for plagiarism. For a more thorough definition of plagiarism, please refer to the “Academic Policies” section of the Student Handbook.

Below are the consequences for acts of plagiarism in this course:

1. First Offense: For your first plagiarism offense, you will receive a grade of 0% on the assignment. You will be required to come to my office and discuss plagiarism with me, something I am sure we both want to avoid.
2. Second Offense: A second plagiarism offense will result in yet another grade of 0% for the plagiarized assignment, and the student’s name and all documented offenses will be forwarded to the proper LSCPA officials.
3. Third or Further Offense(s): The student will receive grades of 0% for all offensive assignments and, in severe cases might even fail the course entirely and face additional consequences.

Policies Regarding Accommodations and Exceptional Circumstances

Pregnant and Parenting Student Policy: In accordance with state law, pregnant students and/or students caring for a child of minority age are afforded certain considerations that other students are not. Pregnant or parenting students are allowed up to five excused absences per course per semester, and while they do not have to present college instructors with the same kinds of documentation required of other students, they do need to inform the instructor that they will be absent as a result of an issue related to pregnancy or childcare.

Pregnant students and students who are parenting a child of minority age do not need to acquire Accommodations Memoranda from the Office for Accessibility Services in order to receive these excused absences, although the instructor must be alerted. Additionally, pregnant and/or parenting students can meet with the instructor to determine the wheres, whens and hows of making up assignments missed due to pregnancy or parenting issues or crises.

A Note on Accommodations Memoranda: Students who provide the instructor with an Accommodations Memorandum are entitled to work with the instructor so that they can best implement the necessary accommodations within the confines of the course. That said, the instructor is unable to implement any accommodations if an Accommodations Memorandum is not presented to the instructor. Federal law requires that students be afforded the same opportunities as all other students unless certain other legally-defined criteria are met. What this means is that I cannot implement accommodations for you unless/until I receive a copy of your Accommodations Memorandum. In accordance with other legislation meant to protect students and ensure fairness in the classroom, accommodations are not retroactive, so they cannot be instituted until after I receive the Memorandum from you. You must furthermore submit your Accommodations Memorandum to me in PDF form via LSCPA email.

An additional note: if you are slated to take an exam or another assignment at the Testing Center so that your accommodations can be met, then you must provide the Testing Center with a copy of your Accommodations Memorandum and confirm your scheduled time to take said assignment with the Testing Center. It is your responsibility as a college student to provide the Testing Center staff with a copy of your Accommodations Memorandum and to confirm when you will be taking an assignment there.

A Note on Documentation of Medical and Other Crises: If you are unable to take a test or complete work due to a routine doctor’s appointment - e.g., an annual check-up or physical exam, a dentist's appointment, etc. - this does not constitute a medical crisis in this course and you will not be eligible to make up any missed work. Schedule your dentist’s appointment, your doctor’s appointment or your optometrist’s appointment on a day that isn’t a college class day.

If there is any danger to life or limb - e.g., you are suffering from appendicitis or you are suffering from a long-term and life-threatening condition and you must see a specialist for scheduled treatment of said long-term and severe condition - this does constitute a medical crisis and the instructor is willing to work with the student to schedule making up any missed work and to excuse the absence, provided documentation of said crisis is provided to the instructor and the instructor authenticates that said crisis really did occur or is ongoing.

Documentation here means that a third party (no, your parents and family members do not count, nor does your school councilor, vice-principal or principal) has written to me that you were in the Emergency Room, that you had to undergo this or that operation, or receive this or that specialist treatment for a condition, etc., and that you were medically incapacitated and thus unable to fulfill your obligations as a college student. I will be researching the individual who wrote (or “wrote”) your letter and contacting them and their hospital, clinic or practice directly to confirm the veracity of your claim.

If another crisis befalls you – e.g., you are involved in an automobile collision on the way to campus – I will similarly need documentation of that incident in order to excuse your absence or allow you to make up missed assignments. For instance, police reports, a contact card and an officer to contact, and so on would be required, and I would be getting in touch with the relevant individuals before excusing your absence and allowing make up work, should I be able to authenticate the crisis. 

If you cannot provide me with documentation of a crisis - in other words, you cannot prove that it happened - then I cannot excuse your failure to get your work in on time and cannot allow you to make up any missed assignments.

Attendance and Participation Grade Policy: Attendance will be taken at the beginning of the class period. When the instructor calls your name, you will state it clearly and audibly. You will also remain silent while the instructor is calling roll. If you are not present when attendance is called, you will be counted tardy. Additionally:

• If you are not present in class within ten minutes of the start of our session, you will be counted absent for that session, even if you do show up later. If class starts at 12:00 and you show up at 12:09, you will not be counted absent, but if you show up at or after 12:10, you will be counted absent.
• If you show up to class but leave before at least 2/3 of the class period (50 minutes) passes, you will be counted absent for that session, even if you attended an earlier portion of class. If class starts at 12:00 and ends at 1:15 and you showed up on time (12:00) and leave at 12:51, after more than 2/3 of the class period has passed, you will not be counted absent, although your departure will be noted and reported to the school. If you leave at 12:50 or earlier, you will be counted absent.
• Uncivilized behavior – especially use of your cell phone during class or violations of the etiquette and behavioral policies outlined above – can also earn you an absence for a class session, even if you attend the entire session.
• If you refuse to sit in your assigned seat, you will be counted absent for that class period.

Absences might ONLY be excused in the event of one of the following circumstances:

• The student is confronted with a documented and authenticatable medical or other crisis.
• The student is taking an assignment for this course at the Testing Center in accordance with requirements of an Accommodations Memorandum.
• The student is pregnant or parenting a child of minority age, and thus is entitled to five excused absence in accordance with Texas law.
• The student is forced to attend school-authorized academic event (e.g., taking the SAT or another standardized test).

Absences WILL NOT be excused if:

• The student is absent or leaves early for a non-academic event. Extracurricular activities do not take precedence over your college education: if you are absent or leave early for any sort of extracurricular activity, including but not limited to athletic, musical, artistic, or event-related activities, you will be counted absent.
• The student claims to have been confronted by a medical or other crisis but cannot provide any sort of evidence about said crisis.

Please note that even though the high school might excuse your absence on a particular day, that only excuses you from being absent from high school. If you attend a choir event during an exam day, the high school might excuse your absence for that day: that is up to them to decide. This is, however, not a high school class, I do not work for a high school and I will not excuse you: you will be counted absent and face all the consequences that come with putting your extracurricular activities ahead of academic ones.

Unlike the other grading criteria, your attendance points are yours to lose: everyone will begin the semester with a perfect score for their Attendance grade (15 out of 15 possible points). If you are repeatedly absent, leave early, are often late by ten or more minutes or routinely behave in an uncivilized manner, you will be counted absent and will lose points. Your Attendance score will be graded according to the table below:

Yes, you read that correctly: if you receive a seventh absence, whether it comes through lack of attendance, chronic tardiness or as a consequence of your own uncivilized behavior, you will not just get a zero for your attendance and participation grade, YOU WILL RECEIVE A ZERO FOR THE ENTIRE COURSE. Show up to class, do so punctually, and behave like a mature adult, and 15 of 100 points in the course are yours already.

Some Important Dates for Fall 2026: Below is a table listing some key dates for LSCPA students during the Fall 2026 semester.

Be sure to check your campus email and Course Homepage using MyLSCPA campus web portal. You can also access your grades, transcripts, academic advisors, degree progress, and other services through MyLSCPA.

Academic honesty is expected from all students, and dishonesty in any form will not be tolerated. Please consult the LSCPA policies (Academic Dishonesty section in the Student Handbook) for consequences of academic dishonesty.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Disability Services Coordinator, Room 117, in the Student Sucess Center. The phone number is (409) 984-6241.

No food or tobacco products are allowed in the classroom. Only students enrolled in the course are allowed in the classroom, except by special instructor permission. Use of electronic devices is prohibited.

This syllabus is part of LSCPA's efforts to comply with Texas House Bill 2504.

As per Texas law and LSCPA policy, all LSCPA employees, including faculty, are required to report allegations or disclosures of child abuse or neglect to the designated authorities, which may include a local or state law enforcement agency or the Texas Department of Family Protective Services. For more information about mandatory reporting requirements, see LSCPA's Policy and Procedure Manual.

LSCPA is committed to establishing and maintaining an environment that is free from all forms of sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, sexual violence, and other forms of sexual misconduct. All LSCPA employees, including faculty, have the responsibility to report disclosures of sexual misconduct, including sexual harassment, sexual assault (including rape and acquaintance rape), domestic violence, dating violence, relationship violence, or stalking, to LSCPA's Title IX Coordinator, whose role is to coordinate the college's response to sexual misconduct. For more information about Title IX protections, faculty reporting responsibilities, options for confidential reporting, and the resources available for support visit LSCPA's Title IX website.

For more information about the Clery Act and crime reporting, see the Annual Security & Fire Safety Report and the Campus Security website.

If you have a grievance, complaint, or concern about this course that has not been resolved through discussion with the Instructor, please consult the Department Chair.