By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Bowling Green State University is looking to go to a 15-week semester schedule by fall, 2018.
Provost Rodney Rogers told the Faculty Senate Tuesday that “things are looking very positive to move to a 15-week term.”
The university now operates on a 16-week term with 15 weeks of classes and one for exams. The proposed term would have 14 weeks of classes and one week of exams.
Currently nine of the 13 public universities in Ohio operate on a 15-week term, and the University of Toledo is making the switch this fall.
The new term would allow for the creation of a January intersession. Students could use this three-week session for “research, study abroad, or to catch up or get ahead toward degree completion,” the provost said.
Asked how that shorter period would be accounted for, Rogers noted that the amount of time BGSU students spend in class exceeds what’s required. Any shortage in “seat time” could be made by eliminating the fall break, and lengthening class periods during the exam week.
“There’s some tweaking we can do on the margins,” he said.
The spring semester would begin at the end of January and end in May.
The new schedule would also enhance the university’s ability to collaborate with the University of Toledo and Owens Community College.
The Board of Trustees must still approve the concept for the new schedule. Also, Rogers said, the administration will have to reach agreement with the Faculty Association because the length of a term is part of the contract.
In response to a question from Julie Haught, of English, he said how faculty would be compensated for work during intersession has yet to be determined pending talks with the union.
Rogers said it was necessary to make sure that there are enough courses offered in spring so students can graduate on time, as well as a robust array of offerings during the January intersession term.
Michelle Heckman, an instructor in the Math Emporium, asked how this would affect the center which offers two eight-week sessions each semester. The emporium faculty are in the process, she said, of rebuilding all their courses for fall and would not want to have to redo the work in a year when the new term system is in place.
“That is the level of detail we have to get into,” Rogers said. He noted the university’s ecampus also operates two eight-week terms each semester. “Those are the sort of things we need to address.”
