The Faculty Senate will vote on changes to the academic calendar at its meeting Tuesday.

The Faculty Senate will vote on choosing Calendar A or B, said Secretary Tanya Zanish-Belche. The decision will then be sent to ISU President Gregory Geoffroy for his approval, she said.

Max Wortman, past president of the Faculty Senate, said Calendar A is the calendar option Iowa State presently uses while Calendar B is somewhat different in that it would increase class time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 50 minutes to 55 minutes, and would add one week to the winter break.

Calendar B also proposes classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays to increase to 85 minutes. Currently, these classes are 75 to 80 minutes.

The winter break is currently three weeks, and Calendar B would increase it to four, he said. If Faculty Senate decides on Calendar B, there will be a J-term, or January term, he said.

The 10-day J-term would start on the first Tuesday of the first full week in January, and no earlier than Jan. 2. Classes would not be held on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, but there would be classes on one Saturday during the term. Courses taken during J-term would be for one credit each, and each class would normally meet for one hour and 15 minutes per day.

Under Calendar B, the spring semester classes would start on the Thursday of the third full week in January, and spring break would be unaffected. The summer break would not be changed, and a two-day break in October would be added.

Wortman said faculty in past years voted for Calendar B because they wanted a longer winter break.

New business to be brought up at the meeting will be the reorganization of academic units, Wortman said.

The last big merger was in biological science, he said.

Merging departments is expensive because of the costs for changing labs and buildings, Wortman said. The Faculty Senate likely will decide against mergers due to recent budget cuts, he said.

The meeting takes place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Gateway Hotel, U.S. Highway 30 and Elwood Drive.