How to change the title alignment just for the appendix sections?

Question

I am formatting my dissertation document using the usfdis class. However, due to new specifications, the appendices titles should now be single spaced and aligned to the left margin.

The code referred to the appendix section in the usfdis.cls is the following:

\renewcommand{\appendix}{% Appendices have a cover page and different
                     % layout
\clearpage
\vspace*{0.6in}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\protect\numberline{Appendices}}
 \begin{center}{\chpsformat Appendices\par}
 \end{center}
\newpage
\addtolength{\textheight}{-2\baselineskip+3pt} %<--- Weird 3.5pt
\setlength{\headsep}{2\baselineskip-3pt}%            it's magic!
\ch@ngetext
\gdef\@chapapp{\appendixname }%
\gdef\thechapter{\@Alph\c@chapter}
\renewcommand{\chapter}
{\clearpage\thispagestyle{plain}\@afterindentfalse\secdef\@appendix\@schapter}
\setcounter{chapter}{0}%
\setcounter{section}{0}%
\makeatletter
\let\@oddhead\@empty
\def\@oddhead{\vbox{\chapalign\chpformat (continued) } }
\makeatother

}

One option is to put the appendices as sections instead of chapters and then they are going to be aligned to the left but I need also to have the section titles as for example:

Appendix A: Name of Appendix A
Appendix B: Name of Appendix B
etc.

The picture below is an example to show what the new requirements are:

The code below is an example of the actual format of the document:

\documentclass[11pt,doublespacing,alignheadcenter]{usfdis}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage{helvet}
\usepackage[plain]{fancyref}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{pdfpages}

\title{Disertation title}
\author{The author}
\degree{Doctor of Philosophy}
\department{Department}
\college{Engineering}
\advisor{Main advisor}
\member{Member 1, Ph.D. \and Member2, Ph.D. \and Member3, Ph.D.}
\approvaldate{ 2013}
\copyrightdate{2013}
\keywords{keyword 1\and keyword 2}

\begin{document}
\setlength{\parindent}{30pt}
\maketitle  

\chapter{Introduction}   
 \section{Section 1.1 in Chapter 1}

 \chapter{Conclusions} 
 \clearpage

\appendix
 \chapter{Copyright Approvals for Appendices A, B and C, respectively }
 \noappendix

 \begin{bio} bio information
 \end{bio}

\end{document}

Answer 1

The class file is quite well designed and therefore relatively simple to modify. Add the following to your document preamble. I've made a new command \appalign to align the heading of the appendix only and then redefined the internal command that makes the heading use that command instead of the class \chapalign. Although the value could be hard coded, this change would be a better way to incorporate it into the class, especially if the Graduate School could change their minds again, as they are wont to do.

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\appalign}{\raggedright}
\renewcommand{\@makeapphead}[1]{%
\vspace*{-3\baselineskip}{\appalign%
{\chpformat #1}%
\par\nobreak\vspace*{\baselineskip}}%
}
\makeatother

Here's the full example:

\documentclass[11pt,doublespacing,alignheadcenter]{usfdis}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage{helvet}
\usepackage[plain]{fancyref}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{pdfpages}
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\appalign}{\raggedright}
\renewcommand{\@makeapphead}[1]{%
\vspace*{-3\baselineskip}{\appalign%
{\chpformat #1}%
\par\nobreak\vspace*{\baselineskip}}%
}
\makeatother
\title{Disertation title}
\author{The author}
\degree{Doctor of Philosophy}
\department{Department}
\college{Engineering}
\advisor{Main advisor}
\member{Member 1, Ph.D. \and Member2, Ph.D. \and Member3, Ph.D.}
\approvaldate{ 2013}
\copyrightdate{2013}
\keywords{keyword 1\and keyword 2}

\begin{document}
\setlength{\parindent}{30pt}
\maketitle  

\chapter{Introduction}   
 \section{Section 1.1 in Chapter 1}

 \chapter{Conclusions} 
 \clearpage

\appendix
 \chapter{Copyright Approvals for Appendices A, B and C, respectively }
 \noappendix

 \begin{bio} bio information
 \end{bio}

\end{document}