Tamonda Griffiths – News Writer
During a monthly faculty senate meeting, a new order of business was brought to the table; a viewable, full- year academic schedule.
“Traditionally, we’ve always published the summer schedule, for the upcoming summer and the fall in the month of March,” said Alicia Carroll, registrar. “What we’ve done is, we’ve tacked on the upcoming winter and spring.”
This idea was proposed by the Academic Year Scheduling Task Force which is co-chaired by Carroll and Craig Hlavac, associate dean of arts & sciences.
The goal of the Task Force is to publish a viewable full-year schedule by March 2019. Registration would still occur term-by- term and students would not be forced to register or pay for a full-years’ worth of school.
Carroll said this initiative was started in order to aid “traditional undergraduate students who are looking to get their degree in four years” as well as serve “non-traditional students.”
She said “non-traditional students” are students who work and have family obligations that they balance with their scheduling.
This new schedule view will allow those students to “balance their whole life,” she said.
“This is going to enhance the student experience and the ability for students to graduate on time,” said Hlavac.
In the last 10 years, the on-time four-year completion has gone up from 11 percent to 24 percent, according to Carroll.
“We’ve been on the right trajectory,” said Carroll. “The issue is things have changed. We can’t assume we’re going to keep moving up by doing nothing.” Carroll said it is “more the norm” to have students transfer in credits from other institutions and/or are working.
In a survey done by the Task Force, 90 percent of graduate students, of the 20 percent, who responded, said they simultaneously work and attend school.
“It’s an art not a science because there’s a lot of moving parts to scheduling,” said Carroll.
Student Government Association (SGA), vice president, Mia Forgione, who usually attends faculty senate meetings said the goal of attending the meeting was to give a student’s perspective on issues. However, she said she was unaware the topic of full-year scheduling was on the agenda.
“The way it was described at the faculty senate, I think it could really be beneficial to students,” said Forgione.
She said it would help students better plan for the future by knowing what classes they need to take and when they would become available to them.
Forgione said she wants to get some outreach from the student body to see what they themselves think outside of SGA.
The Task Force currently has a survey in the works for further student input, that will be sent out via campus email in the coming week.
[…] New registration schedule considered – This idea was proposed by the Academic Year Scheduling Task Force which is co-chaired by Carroll and Craig Hlavac, associate dean of arts & sciences. The goal of the Task Force is to publish a viewabl. […]