Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: January 31, 2013

To: Prof. J. Hugh Horton, and Prof. Johanne Bénard, Associate Deans (Studies)

I am petitioning for a withdrawal CISC 124 (Fall, 2014).and CISC 220 (Fall, 2014) from fall semester 2014 for medical reasons. I was diagnosed with severe depression at the University Health Center. I was partly able to keep up with my courses after I started my medication last year, I thought I have a short term depression because of my new situation as an immigrant and time would heal it. However, it got aggravated and I was then diagnosed with a long-term depression and then I was referred to a psychiatrist and asked to change the medication.
As a new immigrant, I have had many intimidating feelings, on top of my depression, and it was the reason why I could not be able to see my depression earlier. I have undergone many tensions and stresses as a kid. My doctor believes that all my depression is a reflection to all I had been through in my early life. My depression has been isolating me from the whole class even if I am supposed to do my homework assignments in a group and it hence made me feel weird about all my classmates. My self-confidence is also affected by my depression as I can barely ask any question not only in class from my prof, but also from TAs. It was hard to socialize with anybody off and on campus.
I plan to regularly meet my psychiatrist to monitor my situation. This definitely helps me to get back to my normal life, as well as, to achieve my academic goals. I like my program and will certainly switch to Bachelor of Computing (Honours) in Biomedical Computing (BMCO-P-BCH) after I am able to concentrate more on my courses.
I would appreciate it if the Faculty would allow me to remove my marks from transcript. I have enclosed documentation from my doctor.
Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Nava Nasseh
10042573