White paper examines year-round calendar question

A white paper that addresses the University's possible transition to a year-round academic calendar is available online here.

The paper's author is Frank Dooley, associate vice provost for undergraduate academic affairs. Dooley has been examining the subject and seeking campus-wide feedback since 2012.

In the paper, Dooley concludes that creating a calendar that includes two 14-week semesters and two seven-week summer sessions is feasible and, in some ways, an improvement to the current calendar.

The paper also states that moving to such a calendar would require several changes and raise many questions on campus. The next step, the paper says, involves investigating those questions if there's widespread agreement about the merit of a year-round calendar.

A document with questions that have been raised about a possible transition to a year-round calendar, as well as answers to some of those questions, is available here.

In January, David Williams, University Senate chair, announced that he has formed a task force to examine the possibility of moving to a year-round calendar.

Task force members are examining the budgetary model that would justify a year-round calendar, student demand for such a calendar, space utilization and associated faculty governance issues. The task force is expected to submit its findings to the Senate's Educational Policy Committee, and any suggested changes to the academic schedule would need Senate approval.

More information about the task force, including a list of members, is available in an archived Purdue Today article.