Transition to semesters could add summer classes, shorten winter break

With the approach of Ohio University's transition to a semester system, officials are planning for an increase in Summer Sessions enrollment as they anticipate students will take more classes to avoid getting caught in the conversion.

The team is planning on bulking up course offerings and reorganizing Summer Sessions under the new calendar, said David Descutner, co-chairman of the semester conversion team.

Descutner said one of the ideas on the table is a May-mester

a four-week period beginning immediately after the end of OU's spring semester, to replace many of the programs offered during a shortened Winter Intercession. After May-mester, the summer would be divided into two additional terms, but the length of these terms is still being worked out.

All proposed versions of the semester calendar see a reduction in Winter Intercession, eliminating the possibility for classes, and Descutner said the main goal of the measure would be to move current Winter Intercession courses to May.

Descutner said many OU programs that normally take place over winter would be better fit in the May-mester such as Study Abroad programs that coincide with the busy traveling season, and ecological programs that send students to places such as Death Valley in the summer as opposed to the winter.

The team expects a temporary drop in enrollment after the transition, and that the expanded offerings would work toward buffering losses as students try to graduate before the move to semesters. In the long run, the new programs would be designed to increase summer enrollment.

In 2007, an OU committee estimated that credit hour production would drop between 2 percent and 9 percent in the years immediately following a transition, costing the university between $2.1 million and $9.5 million.

Descutner said that making money from increased summer enrollment was a periphery consideration in designing the new programs and the team has been using online surveys to gather student feedback.

Graduate students have overwhelmingly supported longer winter breaks to get more research done, but undergraduate students prefer shorter ones. The length of the winter break would directly affect the length and organization of Summer Sessions.

Sergio López-Permouth, a member of the team and the Chairman of the Faculty Senate, said there hasn't been much conversation about how faculty will manage the extra work in the summer.

The problem has typically been that there were too many not too few

faculty wanting to work in the summer

López said. He projected that the allure of an extra paycheck will continue to ensure that plenty of faculty members are willing to take on extra work in the summer.

The discussion has not yet translated into action. Pam Brown, director of Summer Sessions, said she hasn't been involved in any planning for the project yet.