Editors: A revised academic calendar is attached.
The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ at Boulder is moving ahead with plans to implement a fall break and some other changes to its academic calendar, according to William Kaempfer, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs for budget and planning. The first Fall Break will occur on Oct. 5 and Oct. 6, 2000.
"Over the years we have gradually moved to starting the year earlier and ending it later," Kaempfer said. "This has created a long, unbroken and stressful fall semester for everyone -- students, faculty and staff.
"The students had a great idea when they proposed a fall break, and I'm quite pleased that we were able to find a way to incorporate it into our calendar," he said.
ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Student Union (UCSU) leaders originally proposed the fall break last year as a way to split up the long stretch of full class weeks between Labor Day and Thanksgiving break. They are glad their proposal has become a reality.
"The announcement is exciting because of what it means for both the faculty and students -- a little down-time to sort out the semester, evaluate where they are and plan for the future," said Trey Lyons, UCSU liaison to academic affairs.
"We hope Fall Break will give students an opportunity to relax mid-way through the semester before the stress of finals becomes overwhelming," said Tara Friedman, UCSU tri-executive.
Ron Stump, interim vice chancellor for student affairs, believes that the break will help relieve other problems as well.
"With the fall break, we expect to see a downturn from the spike of illnesses, discipline cases and other stress-related problems that students have experienced in late October and early November," he said.
"Overall, it should make a significant contribution to the student learning environment."
Lyons noted that the development of a Fall Break came as a result of students and administrators working together to make it happen.
"While the idea originated in the UCSU Representative Council, the effort owes much of its success to the attention given it by Vice Chancellors DiStefano and Stump, Associate Vice Chancellor Bill Kaempfer, the Boulder Faculty Assembly and the Registrar's office," he said.
Making time for a Fall Break causes additional changes to the academic calendar. The final exam schedule will be adjusted so that tests will be held for 150 minutes (2.5 hours) for each course regardless of the number of credit hours granted for the course, which constitutes a 30-minute decrease in current practice. The time between scheduled final exams will be reduced to 30 minutes, instead of the 60 minutes currently in practice.
In addition, the current reading days between classes and exams have been eliminated. These changes to finals week allow more flexibility to the rest of the semester.
An additional major impact of the changes comes by applying the same fall semester model to the spring semester. The entire semester can be shortened by one week.
For spring 2000 this will allow a delay in the start of the semester to Jan. 18, the day after Martin Luther King Day, rather than the planned start on Jan. 10.
"We still get our full semester in, but the adjustments that we make during the final exam period allows us to use our time so much more efficiently that we save an entire week," Kaempfer pointed out.
Commencements will not be affected by the calendar change.
The change also will allow for a new three-week short term between the end of the spring semester and the beginning of the summer semester, called "May-mester."
According to Anne Colgan, associate vice chancellor for summer session and dean of continuing education, "May-mester," scheduled to start in May 2000, will provide a valuable opportunity for some students to incorporate an additional credit-earning period in their schedules. The shorter term also will allow students and faculty to extend their academic year, while leaving most of the summer available for other activities.
CU-Boulder offers more than 2,500 courses in 150 fields of study, including 47 masters and 43 doctoral degree programs. For more information visit the CU-Boulder web site at mountains.colorado.edu.
Proposed Changes to Academic Calendar:
Revised, August 24, 1999
Fall 1999
No Changes
Spring 2000
Current Proposed
Classes Start:
Monday, January 10 Tuesday, January 18
Spring Break:
March 27-31 March 27-31
Classes End:
Monday, May 1 Friday, May 5
Reading Days:
May 2-3 NA
Final Exams:
May 4-10 May 6-11
Dead Day:
Thursday, May 11 NA
Commencement:
Friday, May 12 Friday, May 12
Fall 2000
Current Proposed
Classes Start:
Monday, August 28 Monday, August 28
Labor Day:
Monday, September 4 Monday, September 4
Fall Break:
NA October 5-6
*Thanksgiving:
November 23-24 November 23-24
*Note: Thursday/Friday schedule held on Tuesday/Wednesday
Classes End:
Wednesday, Dec. 13 Thursday, Dec. 14
Reading Days:
Thursday, Dec. 14 NA
Final Exams:
December 14-21 December 15-21
Commencement:
Friday, December 22 Friday, December 22
Spring 2001
Current Proposed
Classes Start:
Tuesday, January 16 Tuesday, January 16
Spring Break:
March 26-30 March 26-30
Classes End:
Monday, May 7 Friday, May 4
Reading Days:
May 8-9 NA
Final Exams:
May 10-16 May 5-10
Dead Day:
Thursday, May 17 NA
Commencement:
Friday, May 18 Friday, May 11