The academic calendar for the 2006-07 school year released Tuesday night is nearly identical to this year's academic calendar, with notable changes only to the January Term schedule.
The similarity in structuring of the 2006-07 and 2005-06 academic calendars is the decision of the University's Calendar Committee, which decided that not enough information about the effects of the numerous changes made to this year's academic calendar had been gathered to make any additional changes to the 2007-06 calendar, said Wynne Stuart, associate provost of academic support and a member of the Calendar Committee.
"The Committee worked really hard and talked [extensively] before we decided that we need more info before making changes," she said.
The only major difference between this year's and next year's academic calendars was made to the 2007 January term. J-term was originally scheduled to end on Jan. 16 but has been rescheduled to run from Jan. 2 until Jan. 12, with additional classes being held on Saturday Jan. 6.
There are two reasons for this change: first, were J-term to end on Monday, Jan. 16, it would interfere with the observation of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, which falls on the same date, said Milton Adams, Vice Provost for Academic Programs.
Secondly, if the 2007 J-term ended on Jan. 16, there would only be two days before the beginning of the spring semester, providing very little time for the faculty and nearly 500 students participating in J-term to prepare, Adams said.
According to Adams, having a class on Saturday Jan. 6 alters the J-term schedule to allow a full five days before spring term begins, without cutting into the 10 days scheduled for J-Term.
The Calendar Committee is chaired by University Provost Gene Block and consists of numerous members of the administration and two current students.
The Calendar Committee will work to formulate and conduct a survey in the upcoming spring semester to evaluate student, staff and faculty reaction to the current academic calendar and will base future changes upon the results of this survey, Stuart said.
Although it is not unusual for consecutive years to have very similar schedules, the Calendar Committee is working continuously to evaluate the current academic calendar and discuss and develop changes, Stuart said.
"I think it's a really good thing that we are questioning what we are doing right now," she said.
The Committee considers a wide range of factors, from the streamlining effects of technological advances, such as the electronic registration system ISIS, to accommodating the holiday schedules of faculty members, who in past years had to grade late-scheduled exams up until the Christmas holiday, Stuart said.
Entire years must be planned carefully in advance, as each semester and academic term effect the scheduling of the others, Stuart said.
"It's a really very interesting, fluid and cohesive whole," she said.
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