Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

November 21, 2003

Calendar preferences shared with Geoffroy

The Professional and Scientific Council and Government of the Student Body have recommended sticking with the current academic calendar. Faculty Senate favors a modified version of the current calendar that adds an extra week between fall and spring semesters.

Over the past two months, several campus groups and nearly 500 faculty, staff and students have offered opinions on two academic calendars under consideration.

Calendar A (the current academic calendar) includes 15 weeks of instruction per semester, 50-minute and 75 to 80-minute classes, a three-week winter break between fall and spring semesters and 15-week summer break between spring and fall semesters. Calendar B extends class periods by 5 minutes, shortens the semester to 14 weeks, increases the summer interval to 16 weeks and includes a two-day class break in October and 10-day optional mini-semester in early January.

President Gregory Geoffroy plans to make a decision on the next academic calendar in mid-December. Details and discussion about the calendar proposals are at http://www.iastate.edu/news/cal.