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Senate finalizes semester calendar

Posted on | July 6, 2009 | 3,674 views |

By Jeff McCallister

This autumn’s incoming class of freshmen will be the first to graduate from Ohio State under a new academic calendar based on semesters rather than quarters.

That much had been determined in March when University Senate voted overwhelmingly to convert to a semester-based calendar for the 2012-13 academic year. The Board of Trustees approved the switch at its April 3 meeting.

But even that vote had left open some of the specifics about the calendar - number of instructional days, start and end dates, length and look of the May and summer terms, for example - and some in the senate had suggested taking the summer to work them out and come back for a vote at the next senate meeting in October.

But now those specifics have been decided as well. The senate’s Council on Enrollment and Student Progress held several open forums in May and early June to garner feedback and build consensus, then came back to the full senate in mid-June with its calendar recommendations.

After two amendments at the senate meeting tweaked it a bit further, the calendar was complete.  In addition to the fall and spring semesters, it will include a four-week May Term and a seven-week summer session. Here’s how it will look (view a .pdf of the 2012-13 academic calendar):

Autumn semester classes will begin Aug. 22, 2012 and spring commencement will be on May 5, 2013. Both autumn and spring semesters will include 70 instructional days, a reading day between the end of classes and finals, and a finals week that surrounds a weekend.

“It’s vital to begin the process now,” said Tim Gerber, a professor of music and incoming chair of the senate’s Faculty Council, and chair of the senate’s Ad-hoc Committee on Semesters that was convened last fall to take up the semester-change issue.

“Had we waited until October, we wouldn’t have been able to use these summer months to begin work, in First-Year Experience or Housing and Dining, or Academic Advising. Everyone who will be working directly with incoming students in the fall needs to be ready to answer the questions that are going to come up,” he said.

“It’s tremendously important that we communicate a positive message to the parents of incoming freshmen that we’re going to take good care of their kids - all of whom will be starting here on quarters but ending on semesters. Beginning with freshman orientation this summer, we have to give strong assurance that we won’t let any of them fall through the cracks.”

The decision finally was only a handful of votes short of unanimous, even though debate became contentious at times. Gerber said that although the senate could have rejected the measure, in the end it became obvious that the semester switch is in the best interest of students.

Ohio Chancellor Eric Fingerhut made known his desire that all 13 four-year institutions in Ohio use similar academic calendars, and since that time, the governor and state legislature have been unwavering in their support to strengthen the University System of Ohio and the state’s economy. “I think almost everyone saw the writing on the wall, and voted for this because it’s necessary,” Gerber said. “The fact is, any number of faculty and students may still prefer quarters, but our students clearly are more advantaged by a semester system, so if we really are going to put students first, semesters are the way to go.”

The calendar approved by senate June 11 will begin with student move-in day on Sunday, August 19, 2012 with classes starting that following Wednesday. Autumn semester will run through Dec. 4, with a three-day break for Thanksgiving. Finals then will be Dec. 6-12 and commencement will be Dec. 16.

Spring semester will begin Jan. 7, 2013, and run through April 22. Finals will be April 24-30 and commencement will be May 5.

CESP’s original recommendation had spring break at the exact midpoint of the semester - Feb. 25-March 1 - but senators approved an amendment to move it to March 11-15 (and similar dates in future years) to better coincide with both other institutions and local school districts in an attempt to be more family- and student-friendly.

Another amendment adjusted the CESP’s recommended May Term from about 15 to about 20 instructional days each year; in 2013, it will begin May 6 and end May 31.

Then the summer session classes will begin June 10 and run through July 26, with finals July 29-31 and commencement Aug. 4 - leaving about three weeks until the start of the next academic year in August, 2013.

View a .pdf of the 2012-13 academic calendar

Academic Year: 2012-2013

Autumn Semester 2012
Housing Move-in Day: Aug 19 (Sun)
Classes begin: Aug 22 (W)
Labor Day - no classes: Sept 3 (M)
Veteran’s Day - no classes: Nov 12 (M)
Thanksgiving: Nov 21-23 (W,Th,F)
Classes end (70 days): Dec 4 (T)
Reading Day: Dec 5 (W)
Final examinations: Dec 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 (Th,F,M,T,W)
Autumn commencement: Dec 16 (Sun)

Spring Semester 2013
Classes begin: Jan 7 (M)
M L King Day - no classes: Jan 21 (M)
Spring break - no classes: March 11-15 (M-F)
Classes end (70 days): April 22 (M)
Reading Day: April 23 (T)
Final examinations: April 24, 25, 26, 29, 30 (W,Th,F,M,T)
Spring commencement: May 5 (Sun)

May Short-Term 2013
Classes begin: May 6 (M)
Classes end (19 days): May 31 (F)
Memorial Day - no classes: May 27 (M)

Summer Session 2013
Classes begin: June 10 (M)
Independence Day - no classes: July 4 (Th)
Classes end (34 days): July 26 (F)
Final examinations: July 29-31 (M-W)
Summer commencement: Aug 4 (Sun)

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