Office of Academic Administration and Student Affairs:
News & announcements from Asst. Dean Stephen D. Sowle for the week of October 30, 2000

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Fall 2000 Final Exams.  The final exam schedule for the current semester is linked to this page. The Student Handbook requires that you take your finals at the times scheduled, even if you have two exams in a row, or one at 6:00 p.m. and another at 8:30 a.m. the next morning.  Absent extraordinary circumstances, the only exception is if you have three exams scheduled consecutively (which rarely happens) or two exams scheduled at the same time.  If you believe you have an exam conflict or other circumstance justifying the rescheduling of an exam (see Student Handbook sections 7.2 and 7.3), please contact Boo Choi, the Assistant Director of Student Services, no later than Friday, November 3, 2000.

Sign-Up for Taking Exams on Computer.  Students who want to use a computer to take one or more of their final exams should sign up in the Registrar's office no later than Friday, November 17. Not all professors permit students to use computers to take exams; those who do will have sign-up sheets in the Registrar's office. If you have any questions concerning your professor's policy on using computers to take exams, please contact the professor directly.

Starting this semester, we are permitting faculty members to give their students the option of taking exams on the students’ own laptop computers, in addition to the traditional option of allowing students to use the lab computers. If a professor is providing both of these options, that will be indicated on the sign-up sheet for the professor's class. Students using their own laptops will be required to install special software locking out their access to any files stored on their laptops (this same software is also used on the lab computers). You will receive more details about installing and using this software before the beginning of the exam period.

If there are not enough computers to accommodate all students for a particular exam period, some instructors will not permit any of their students to use computers, while others permit a lottery drawing to select eligible students. The order in which you sign up is not relevant to whether or not you will be accommodated. 

Intellectual Property course: Practice Before the Federal Circuit.  The Intellectual Property Law Program is offering a unique course that will focus on the practice of law before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC).  The CAFC has exclusive appellate jurisdiction to hear patent cases and appeals from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as cases involving several non-patent related issues. The course will be taught by adjunct professor Bradley Hulbert and will be worth two credits. Prerequisites:  You must have taken, or presently be taking, Patent Law. The course materials will be geared to students intending to practice intellectual property law and to specialize in patent law. Course Requirements: (1) Although the course will be offered as a Spring semester course, students will be required to attend class on Fridays from 6:00 - 7:25 p.m., beginning November 3 and running through January 26, with breaks for the Thanksgiving holiday and over the inter-semester break (i.e., no classes on November 24, December 22 and 29, and January 5 and 12). The course will meet in Room 510. (2) Students will be required to compete in the intramural Giles Rich Moot Court Competition, submitting an appellate brief and arguing both on and off-brief. This intramural competition is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, January 27, and, if necessary, Sunday, January 28, 2000. The intramural moot court problem often involves patent law and occasionally trademark law. Why take this course?  This course will teach you appellate advocacy, both with respect to how to identify the issues and write a convincing appellate brief and how to prepare for, and present, a winning oral argument. Top students in the class will be invited (but not required) to represent the school in the National Giles Rich Moot Court Competition. Students taking this course in recent years placed first and third in the Midwest Regional Competition, with the first place team advancing to the National Competition in Washington, D.C. Registering for the Course: You should register for the course along with your other Spring semester courses during Spring registration, which will take place in late November.  However, you should begin attending classes with the first session on Friday, November 3. Please note that this course is being offered as a regular course, not as a seminar.

Joke of the Week.  An unemployed handyman looking for work jobs knocks on the front door of a house. When the owner answers, the handyman asks if there are any odd jobs the owner needs done. The owner says, "well, I was just about to paint my porch around back. I'd pay you good money to do it for me." The handyman agrees, and the owner gives him a bucket of green paint and a clean paint brush. A little while later the handyman knocks on the front door again and annoucnes that he's done. "But there's something you should know," he says. "That car of yours isn't a Porche, it's a BMW."


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