The provost's office decided earlier this academic year to reject a proposed three-year pilot program that would have shortened academic sessions during the summer from six weeks to five weeks.
Initially proposed last summer by Paula Gilbert, director of the University Summer Program and the Continuing Education Program, the plan was designed to provide students with an extra two weeks of vacation time at the end of the summer. In order to maintain the same number of class minutes per session-2,100-each 75-minute class would have been extended to 90 minutes.
Provost John Strohbehn had tentatively approved the proposal last summer. But Vice Provost for Academic Services Judith Ruderman, speaking on Strohbehn's behalf, said the provost was concerned that the abbreviated sessions would result in a decreased degree of "sustained learning over time." Because classes would be more condensed and the material taught more quickly, Ruderman explained, students might not retain information as well as they did under the other schedule.
"[Strohbehn] just decided that until such time as he is shown information to the contrary, he would rather leave the summer session the way it is," she said. "He was not convinced by any hard data that one could maintain the quality of the summer session in five weeks."
The plan had been approved by the University scheduling committee in July; Strohbehn rejected it in August after receiving negative feedback from both professors and students about the shorter summer sessions.
Gilbert, who declined to comment earlier this week, told The Chronicle in June that she had anticipated several benefits to the change. For instance, she said, auxiliary services would have more time to prepare University facilities for the fall semester.
Joe Pietrantoni, associate vice president for auxiliary services, had voiced support for the proposal in June. He said this week, however, that he was not troubled by the decision to maintain the six-week summer sessions.
"We've been doing [the preparations] without it for years," he said.
The potential for increased student enrollment during the summer was also an added incentive for the proposal, Gilbert told The Chronicle in June.
The change, she pointed out, is not without precedent: Prior to 1980, the University followed a five-week schedule for summer sessions. It has operated on the six-week schedule since.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.