Comments on the final version of calendar (Feb 2000 - after the Feb 9 assembly)

• David Wuolu
  The new proposed calendar looks acceptable. I must say, however, IMHO, that it would have been better to have a J-term rather than a May-term. It seems odd to have May-term intersecting with summer session. Also, students will be less inclined to take a May-term and revenue will be less than what it would be under a J-term schedule. David
  

• Michael O'Reilly
  I like this much better than the earlier version. I would prefer if the choice made for Spring 2003 and Spring 2004 was to start and finish a week later. that is, start after Martin Luther King day with commencement mid-May. Michael O'Reilly
  
  • Peh's response: Michael, 9-mth faculty are on 39 weeks payroll. Spring's final exams week and commencement will be the 40th if we do what you suggested.
  
  

• Simon Chabel
  As an assembly member, I support the current calendar proposal as put forth. -SC
  

• Nathaniel Hart
  I was attending a conference out of state when the last assembly meeting was held. Will a proposal be voted on in the assembly? To me, the two-day fall break seems self-indulgent & unnecessary. --Nat Hart
  

• Todd Neuharth
  Peh: My 2 cents. The changes appear appropriate, the 2 day break and FULL study day are, in my opinion, something that we can not do without. Good Work! Todd
  

• Jason Neuhaus
  Hello, I noticed a few things. First of all, I was unable to make it to the campus assembly, because I was out of town on business. So some of these points may have been made earlier, but I may have missed it.
  The study day is nice, especially in comparison to a half of a day (when most students slept until their first final anyway)...
  The fall break for students may be something that would fade in a couple of years. At my former institution, where students were used to the semester system, a fall break wasn't necessary, or even thought of.
  December 23rd is pretty late to have finals, and I would anticipate a lot of professors would move their tests to earlier in the week, or the week before, so that students (and themselves) could exit campus earlier. This penalizes the rest of us that have to stay...I know starting school a week earlier would not be the best solution, but maybe not having fall break would allow a Wednesday study day (December 15th), followed by finals on Thurday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday (December 16, 17, 20, and 21)
  I thank you for all your work you are putting into this matter. Things are looking more promising. And I believe they will even be more positive after students used to the quarter system graduate from UMM. Thanks, Jason
  

• Nancy Carpenter
  Peh -- in case you were wondering, I think that it is a bad idea to have grades due that close to Christmas (or after Christmas some years). The end of the semester is a bad enough rush as it is. Wrapping up school work, travel plans, holiday plans -- it is a nightmare. Now grading finals on top of all that, INCLUDING through the Christmas holiday some years. No thanks. I think it MUCH more sane to start earlier in August. So it encroaches upon my summer -- I'd rather that than it encroaching upon an already too hectic December. nec
  

• Bert Ahern
  Peh, Thank you for your effort in revising the calendar and the good listening that is behind it. I prefer it to the earlier version since I think that a break is important. The one year that is problematic is 2004-2005 and I wonder it in the year that Labor Day is so late, that beginning two weeks before LD would be possible? At the same time, I find your proposal more than acceptable. Bert
  
  Peh's response
  • Bert, I hear your concerns about 2004-2005.
    Since the Assembly gave an "advisory vote" NOT to start class earlier than the Monday prior to Labor Day AND I was told by Sam that he will take that advice, it behooves me to propose what you saw. Maybe we can "change" the former or latter, I do NOT know. Thanks. Peh...
  
  

• Harold Hinds
  Hi! Just as I feared. We had a promise that the Sp Sem calendar would NOT be posted until we had a chance to discuss the proposed week earlier start. Please do note the Sam promised that we would discuss this issue before anything is set even in SOFT concrete. Best Harold
  

• Allison Harell
  I just wanted to let you know that I like the schedule you have devised. = It's a very good plan, in my opinion as a student, and I think it's a = reasonable solution for all parties involved. Good luck. Allison Harell
  

• Joel Eisinger
  I like this set of calendars much better than the last set. Joel Eisinger
  

• Eric Klinger
  The point I unsuccessfully tried to make at the end of the latest Campus Assembly meeting is that there is no reason to require that fall grades be due 72 hours after the last exam day. This would, of course, be quite disconcerting to faculty who give a test late in exam week when it ends close to Christmas. However, the Twin Cities Campus seems to be waiving that rule when the 72 hours ends on or near Christmas. Then grades are due a week or so later. Therefore, this need not be an argument against the revised schedules.
  In the past, we have sometimes included Saturdays in some exam periods. Though less than desirable, we could schedule exams on Saturday in fall, 2004, and thereby end the exam period on Dec. 22 instead of 23.
  The semester breaks are less than 4 weeks long. They are more like 24 days, and for faculty those include the grading days necessary after exams scheduled late in the exam period. Hence, many faculty get no more than 3 weeks. Given the holiday distractions, that makes for a very tight time frame for preparing winter semester classes. That is still better than starting classes in mid-August, but it reaffirms the desirability of finding some way to start spring semester after MLK Day. Eric
  

• Jim Van Alstine
  Peh: I just reviewed the proposed calendar. I like the schedule and support it. JVA
  

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This web page belongs to:

Peh H. Ng,
Former Assistant Academic Dean (Semester Conversion)
    & Associate Professor of Mathematics
Division of Science and Mathematics
University of Minnesota - Morris
Morris, MN 56267
URL is http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~semqna/cal-discuss.html
email: semqna@morris.umn.edu
last modified date is July 1, 2000.