The turn of the school year brings a new academic calendar to UMD this coming fall. Instead of starting the semester off on Tuesday after Labor Day, the new semester will begin a week prior, on Monday, Aug 31, 2015. Students and faculty members alike weighed out the pros and cons to the changes before the decision was made. The discussion began about two years ago. A survey was sent out via email with questions regarding the benefits of starting the semester early, ending it early, and the possibility of adding a fall break. The response was positive among students, with 64.73 percent in favor of the changes and 35.27 percent against. Faculty, however, was a bit more divided with 55 percent in favor and 45 percent against.
The Executive Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Andrea Schokker says there was plenty of thought that went into the decision-making process in regards to how these changes would affect the different departments and programs. While some areas will see more difficulty adjusting than others, Schokker ensures that the new calendar will benefit students overall in the coming school year.
“It’s actually more in line with what other schools have,” Schokker said.
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities will remain the only campus in the UMN program with the semester starting after Labor Day, mostly for the need for State Fair parking up until that point. Crookston, Morris and Rochester campuses already have a similar calendar in place.
Another positive of the changing calendar is that students looking to take a May-term class will be offered four weeks of class instead of three. This allows professors to cover more material, opening the door for more rigorous courses to be offered in that time.
“We can potentially offer additional courses that people didn’t feel comfortable doing in three weeks,” Schokker said. “I think that just having that extra week in there makes it a lot more adaptable to more courses.”
One area at UMD that’s feeling the love for the change in calendar is the orientation programs. Bulldog Welcome Week will begin on Tuesday with move-in day, giving students Wednesday through Saturday for planned activities and Sunday as a day to breathe before starting their first day of college.
Jennifer Doebler, Orientation Programs Coordinator, sings praise for the changes.
“It’s so great,” Doebler said, “from a Welcome Week perspective — to not be on a holiday weekend is prime. It couldn’t be a better time.”
Doebler hopes for the program to expand and offer more opportunities for incoming freshman. More faculty members will have the chance to talk to students about their area of profession, giving a wider selection of educational workshops.
“I’m hoping that there’s more potential for a much more academically-focused workshop experience during Welcome Week,” Doebler said. “Because now we’re on weekdays, and people are already working.”
Freshman will also be able to experience more variety in activities around the city of Duluth — something that was usually an issue in previous years due to the lack of busing on the weekends. Doebler says that the only negative she can think of with the coming changes is the possibility of Rockstars, or small-group orientation leaders, having to quit summer jobs a week early.
Other departments, however, have more to consider.
Many students that have classes in either Humanities or ABAH are familiar with frustrations regarding the lack of air conditioning. On hotter days, the uncomfortable temperatures in some of these rooms can make it difficult for students to focus.
“AB Anderson is a disastrous room to have class in already the first week of the semester. If we put another week of that in with no air conditioning … We’re going to lose student attention and students ability to learn,” said Steven Matthews, head of the History department and chair of the faculty council.
The issue has pushed faculty to consider possible online curriculum for the first week of the semester to limit the use of these classrooms during the hotter days.
“It’s a little frustrating at the faculty end because that means quite a bit of work for classes at the beginning of the semester that don’t usually have that much prep time going in,” Matthews said.
“The other major issue we’re facing is we’d like to do more study abroad programs, but we’d like to make them accessible for students who have limited means. Travel prices really shoot through the roof in the summer,” Matthews added.
With the changing of winter break dates, students who are interested in a study abroad program between semesters would have to consider traveling over the different religious holidays, which is expected to create a loss of interest or availability in the program. Students looking to complete a trip over the summer are faced with more expensive means of travel.
“I just think it’s unreasonable to ask that of students,” Matthews said.
Leigh Neys, Director of International Education, mirrors some of Matthews concerns regarding the study abroad program.
“It will force students to make the decision, and also the program leaders, if they want to forgo their holiday if they want to participate in the study abroad program,” Neys said.
Typically, there are around 50 students who chose to partake in an international program during winter break. The deadline for faculty to propose a program for travel is March 1, at which point the effects of the calendar change on the department will really become visible. From what Neys has heard from faculty so far, many of the trips that have been offered in previous years will not be available in the 2015-16 school year.
The International Education Office isn’t expecting a total loss with the new academic calendar. With the extended May term, students now have a full three weeks of these programs without interfering with summer courses. “The majority of our study abroad participation is in that May session. Students will be able to come back and start right into a summer course if they want to,” Neys said.
The challenge the office faces with this, then, is accommodating all of the faculty that cannot offer programs in the winter session. Currently, there are between 15 and 20 programs offered during May term. Adding more options for the professors that wanted a winter program will be a topic of discussion for possible solutions.
Faculty that are having difficulties within their departments are encouraged to voice their frustrations so that they can be further discussed.
“If the concerns aren’t voiced, they’re very hard to address,” Matthews said.
The faculty council will be meeting sometime this month to address these areas and hopefully come up with some solutions as a whole.
Despite all the changes, Schokker confirms that UMD can expect to see a similar calendar in future years.
Committees have been created to make sure that the transition is as smooth as possible for everyone on campus. All departments have been notified of the coming changes and are encouraged to look into their curriculum schedules and adjust it as needed.
“It takes a long time and it affects all of our materials. Everything is effected so when we do a calendar change it’s expected to be long-term,” Schokker said.
BY MADISON ROLES STATESMAN CORRESPONDENT