Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

November 7, 2003

Academic calendar comments due Nov. 14

by Diana Pounds
As the Nov. 14 deadline for making comments on two academic calendar proposals draws near, the head of the academic calendar task force says hes interested in hearing ideas on how to improve the proposals.

The two calendar proposals have drawn nearly equal support from several hundred faculty, staff and students whove made comments thus far, said Arne Hallam, economics department chair and leader of the task force that developed the proposals.

Although we continue to be interested in comments about advantages and disadvantages of the two proposals, were particularly interested in ideas for improving the calendar options, he added. Are there ways to improve one of these calendars to create a beneficial and convenient calendar for a large portion of our community?

One of the proposals (calendar A) mirrors the current academic calendar. It includes 15 weeks of instruction per semester, 50-minute and 75-80-minute class periods, a three-week winter break between fall and spring semesters and a 15-week summer break between spring and fall semesters.

Calendar B extends class periods by 5 minutes, shortens the semester to 14 weeks, and increases the summer interval to 16 weeks. It also includes a two-day class break in October and a 10-day optional mini-semester in early January.

Over the past two months, more than 400 faculty, staff and students have submitted comments on the two calendar proposals. Comments can be submitted and viewed through the calendar Web site at (http://www.iastate.edu/news/cal/talk).

President Gregory Geoffroy is reading all calendar comments and plans to make a decision on the next academic calendar in mid-December.