The University of Wyoming Calendar Committee released proposed academic calendars for the next three years, starting with fall of 2020, that feature two mini-breaks and a weeklong Thanksgiving vacation.
The committee is currently accepting public comment online on the proposed academic calendars, which were developed with extensive feedback from students, faculty and staff, until April 26.
“The additional days over Thanksgiving will ease the travel pressure especially in inclement weather conditions,” Donal Skinner, UW Honors College Dean and calendar committee chair, said in an email. “I think it is fair to say that a lot of students were leaving early for Thanksgiving compromising instruction on the [Monday and Tuesday] of that week.”
The committee also recommended a fall semester start date of the fourth Monday of August each year (several days earlier than past years), a four-week winter break and a spring semester start on the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Jr. Day each January. The drafted calendars still have a weeklong spring break mid-March with spring finals week ending no later than May 14.
Other proposed features of the calendars include a one-day break in the fall, a one-day February break and a total of 73 days of instruction per semester, which would be six more school days than the current calendar.
After initially discussing the possibility of adding a three-day weekend at some time during each semester, committee members decided to recommend the new mini breaks to help break up the semester, allow students to participate in other activities, travel home and provide students with a more time to catch up or get ahead on work, Skinner said.
“Later in the process, we received some recommendations from the Trustees about elements they would like to see in the calendar, and a ‘fall break’ three-day weekend was part of these recommendations,” committee member and molecular biology lecturer John Willford said. “This recommendation made it much easier to prioritize, including this break and we just made sure to do the same in the spring semester as well.”
The Board of Trustees is scheduled to act on the calendar issue in May.
“The proposed calendar is a recommendation to the Trustees and the next step will be up to them,” Skinner said.
The committee’s goal for creating the new calendars is to best serve undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff. Starting the fall semester on Monday means fall and spring finals weeks will start on a Monday and end on a Friday. The earlier start also provides time for a J-term, the longer Thanksgiving and mini-breaks, which were proposed to benefit almost all of campus.
“‘Better’ is a difficult word to use because it depends on the perspective of the individual and how specific changes affect them, but I do think that the proposed calendars are more robust in that they should provide more positive aspects to many people on campus,” Willford said. “Our committee had numerous representatives from various disparate units on campus and these proposed calendars seemed to check key boxes for everyone who was at the last meeting.”
To submit comments or view the drafted calendars for the 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-32 school years, visit UWyo.edu/AcadAffairs/Calendar/.
