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News  |  Advising  |  Grants and Fellowships  |  Conferences and Workshops 

February 16, 2026

News

Grammarly’s New AI Features

We encourage all faculty to review this video about Grammarly’s AI-enhanced textual support offerings. This video was created by Kieran Barker, the Educational Associate for Academic AI Initiatives (Thank you, Kieran!). It exposes the capacity of a tool that has generally been seen as a language/editing tool and how far it has progressed into more individually specific applications. Because many students in the K-12 system have become familiar with Grammarly, we thought you might want to know about its new capacities and be prepared to talk with students about implications.

Honors Nominations

Toni Award in the Arts, Feb. 27 Deadline

The Carleton Toni Award in the Arts is given to a Carleton student whose character reflects the values, devotion, and spirit of beloved teacher Antoinette “Toni” Sostek. After a distinguished career in dance, including Broadway and national television, Toni joined her husband in the academic world, and spent 25 years as a dance instructor at Carleton before her passing in 1996. Through the metaphor of dance, Toni taught many important lessons in life, especially that every moment in every class was a stage in the long–indeed, never ending–learning process.

As a teacher she brought her devotion to the classroom, and most importantly, shared her passion for dance with each and every one of her students. It is that combination of devotion, and willingness to share one’s art, that best defines the Carleton Toni Award.

View a message from Toni’s son Brian Sostek ’90.

Nominees need not be an art major or art star, but someone who loves a particular art form, who throws themselves into it, who lives and breathes it, and who infectiously imparts that enthusiasm to others. Any member of the Carleton faculty, staff, or student body is invited to email the name of a junior or senior they wish to nominate to Shannon Lien (slien@) in the Office of Director of the Arts by Friday, February 27. Nominations will be confirmed with the student. If the student accepts, they must secure two brief letters of support: one from the original nominator, and one from a faculty member or artistic mentor other than the nominator.

Thank you and happy nominating!

Honors in Independent Study, March 23 Deadline

Outstanding independent work may be cited for “Honors in Independent Study” at Honors Convocation. Such recognition is based solely on the excellence of the special project and is considered independently of a student’s or students’ academic average or other qualifying factors. The independent study project need not be in the student(s) major field and is available to all students in any class, not just to seniors.

Work submitted for consideration for Honors in Independent Study normally would have been done under the rubric of independent study as listed in the Academic Catalog or as independent research conducted over the summer. This means that course papers, comprehensive projects, etc., would not ordinarily be eligible for consideration; they receive other awards.

For a project to be considered for Honors in Independent Study, the faculty supervisor of the project should submit the following, using the online submission form. The deadline for 2026 is 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 23.
1. A copy of the Honors in Independent Studies project
2. A letter of nomination to the Student Fellowships Committee:

  • detailing the merits of the project and its distinction relative to other student work in the field;
  • providing information about its genesis;
  • confirming that the project is not substantially identical to the student’s integrative exercise (comps project);
  • identifying others at Carleton who would be able to evaluate the project’s merit.

The project will then be given to a second reader for evaluation, and that reader will be asked for a brief report to be given to the Student Fellowships Committee. The Committee shall then determine whether Honors in Independent Study is appropriate.

Contact: Marynel Ryan Van Zee (x4300) Director of Student Fellowships / Convener, Student Fellowships Committee.

Please note: According to Student Fellowships Committee precedent, work honored by endowed prizes, departmental honors, etc. is not eligible for recognition for Honors in Independent Study as well. If, however, work in competition for a prize, etc., fails to receive that prize, it would still be eligible for consideration for Honors in Independent Study, provided that all criteria for the latter award are met.

Student Course and Material Fees Reminder

As we’re thinking about textbook orders for spring term, it’s a good time for a reminder about our student course and material fees policy. As announced in the April 14, 2022, edition of Carleton Today, beginning with the fall term of 2022, Carleton has discontinued most student course and materials fees related to academic credit. Faculty, departments, and programs who would previously have charged students directly for course packets or other course materials now have two options. One is that the department or program can use their operating budget to cover the cost of the materials, and give them to the students free of charge. The other is that faculty can arrange for their materials or course packets to be sold at the Carleton bookstore. Course packets printed and bound by Print Services are easy to distribute this way, at a reasonable price to students.  Please note that departments, programs, and faculty are not allowed to bill or collect payment from students, either directly or through the Business Office. If you have questions about this policy, please contact Eric Egge or Jane Rizzo.

Winter ’26 ACE Faculty Newsletter

The Winter ’26 ACE Faculty Newsletter is now available for faculty interested in resources and support for teaching Academic Civic Engagement classes, and publication and conference opportunities for public scholarship.

Carleton Orchestra Seeks More Players

Do you play an orchestral instrument and want to play in an orchestra? While the Carleton Orchestra is technically a class for students, we have had members of the Carleton community play with us on an ad hoc basis, to cover missing instruments. We would like to open strings participation to the entire Carleton community (faculty, staff, friends, and beyond) from now on. Winds, brass, and percussion participation is more ad hoc as those parts are more limited, but we would appreciate knowing of your interest in joining future terms (or even the Symphony Band), especially if you haven’t played with Carleton ensembles before.

The rehearsal schedule and music can be found online. This term’s concert on March 6 will feature music by William Grant Still and Antonin Dvorak.

Please direct any questions, concerns, or indication of interest to James Chang, Visiting Director of the Carleton Orchestra.

Advising

Advising Days Start Today!

The work you do advising our students is invaluable, and we thank you. Especially now, your guidance is crucial to their success as they navigate their academic journey at Carleton.

Preparing for Advising Days: Academic Progress, Program Overlap, and Adjustments

As you prepare to meet with students for advising days, please be sure to review their academic progress in Workday. You can ensure the report is up to date by using the Launch Academic Progress Evaluation task. You may also find it helpful to review our guide on Viewing Academic Progress.

As a reminder, if your advisee has two majors, no more than four courses can be shared between majors. If your student has a minor, no more than 50% of coursework can be shared between their major(s) and minor programs. Please see the Majors & Minors webpage for more information.

For any necessary adjustments, such as a course substitution or waiver, please process these approvals as soon as possible through Workday, or send your request to degreecompletion@carleton.edu. If you see anything incorrect in your advisee’s academic progress, please address it right away, as unreported substitutions, corrections, or overrides will not resolve themselves.

You can find detailed instructions for requesting overrides in the help article, Initiate an Academic Requirement Override (for Major/Minor Coordinators). Descriptions of override types can be found in Academic Requirement Override Descriptions and Details (for Major/Minor Coordinators). Timely requests for overrides will help ensure the accuracy of the students’ academic progress reports.

Transition Time for Sophomores

This time is an important transition period for sophomores and a great opportunity for you to ask them how their decision-making process is going. For those sophomore advisees who have yet to commit to a major, it may be productive to have them prepare a Major Decision Worksheet for several options and have them run through their thinking with you on each one. Choosing a major can be stressful and anxiety-producing for many students, but it ought not be. Try to encourage your advisees by reaffirming that their choice of major does not necessarily foreclose the professional options they would like to keep open. Use the Carleton Career Pathways as a tool to reinforce this principle with your advisees.

Winter Term Advising Dates and Deadlines

  • Monday, February 16: Advising Days (through February 25)
  • Friday, February 20: Ten Week Course Late Drop Deadline and S/CR/NC Deadline (5:00 p.m.)
  • Tuesday, February 24: Registration for Spring Term (through March 24)
  • Friday, February 27: Second Five Week Course Late Drop Deadline and S/CR/NC Deadline (5:00 p.m.)
  • Saturday, March 14: Exams Begin (end on March 16)

Advising Quick Links

Grants and Fellowships

Workshops