Summer school daze to start earlier

Denise Smith
July 7, 1997

Iowa State summer classes will be structured a little differently in 1998.

ISU’s Calendar Committee reorganized summer sessions for 1998 to give students one longer break instead of two short breaks, said Thomas Loynachan, chair of the Calendar Committee.

“This [first] session is for continuing undergraduate and graduate students,” Loynachan said. There will be two separate sessions, with the first session beginning May 18.

Loynachan said the second session begins June 15 and is for entering freshman and high school teachers. He said they decided on this time to accommodate high school students and teachers who do not get out of school until the middle of June.

“We anticipate there will be fewer people in the second session than the first session next summer,” Loynachan said. “Each session is intended to last eight weeks, but we encourage flexibility.”

Loynachan hopes students and faculty will take advantage of the longer break at the end to work part-time or to go on vacation.

“I really don’t think offering the first session earlier will impact enrollment next summer,” Loynachan said.

There are 8,870 students enrolled for the 1997 summer session — an increase of 85 students from last summer, said Steve Sullivan, a university spokesman with ISU News Service. There are 5,891 undergraduate students and 2,979 graduate students, he said.

The number of classes offered next summer will not increase because of these two new eight-week sessions, Loynachan said.

“The department offers classes on student demand and other factors, so the schedule will be of no impact,” he said.

The dates for the two sessions were decided in 1993 because the committee works four to five years in advance, Loynachan said. This presents a problem because the committee doesn’t know how these new sessions will work, and they are scheduled through the year 2001.

“We need to have a schedule in advance to make reservations at Hilton for graduation and for other conferences,” Loynachan said.

The students and faculty seemed to be in favor of the new schedule, he said. However, the residence hall staff won’t have as much time to clean and prepare the residence halls, Loynachan said.

“I want to stress that the committee takes input from all areas of the university and from students,” Loynachan said. “There are 25 people on the committee, and we encourage input from everyone.”

The committee is working on the calendar for 2001-2003, Loynachan said. The proposed calendar can be viewed on the web at www.public.iastate.edu/~teloynac/uc.html.