This year the break between the end of the summer session and the start of the fall semester is three weeks long. That’s one week longer than last year and a week longer for members of the Iowa State community to enjoy the dog days of August.

There was a deliberate effort to shorten the winter break by a week said Associate Provost Ed Lewis of the Iowa State Calendar Committee. “That week has to end up someplace. It ended up in the summer.”

So now the winter break will be three weeks instead of four weeks as it was last year.

Tom Loynachan, chair of the ISU Calendar Committee, said the committee shortened the winter break because it was too short of a period for students to get a job, too long of a time for students who supported themselves and too long of a time for students to stay home with parents.

He said the disadvantages are that the three-week period restricts students’ traveling times and makes it harder on professors with field laboratories.

“The calendar is really ran by getting the number of teaching days (73) in before Christmas but with commencement no later than Dec. 22, then we back up from there to tell us when school starts in the fall.”

Loynachan said members of the ISU community can look forward to some changes in future calendars. “The biggest change for the calendars from ’97 to ’99 is the timing of spring break. The timing is so that the [state] universities will have the spring break at a common time.”

The three universities had a common interest in coordinating the spring break in order to help instructors on the Iowa Communications Network, where students from the three universities earn credits through live televised classes. He said teachers of the classes would have students from various universities miss class at times when their respective universities would have spring break.

Another reason for having a common break is so friends and family attending the three state universities can see each other at the same time.

The committee also gave future spring break dates to Ames and surrounding area schools with a suggestion of aligning the schools’ spring breaks with the university’s so that families of students, faculty and staff may spend more time together, Loynachan said.

Lewis said he had heard talk of changing the Thanksgiving break, but no proposals have been made. The break for the fall semester is still one week long.

“We used to have classes on Monday and Tuesday. Students went home that weekend before and didn’t come back,” he said.

Each year the calendar committee plans the calendar following 17 principles.

Loynachan said, “If you look at these and follow them the calendar pretty much falls into place.”

The committee approved the 1999-2001 calendar on Dec. 6, 1995. It then went to the Faculty Senate for approval, then to the ISU Administration Board, and was recently approved and finalized by the state Board of Regents.

“It’s fascinating — the facets that go into making the calendar,” he said.

Loynachan said there are several groups, including students, who help determine the calendar. “Places like the Iowa State Center like to know the schedule far in advance so they can plan the uses of the center.”

Loynachan, a professor of agronomy, said he will enjoy the three week break in the winter. “This gives faculty a block of time for vacation.”

The 17 Calendar Principles

1. Maintain no fewer than 73 days of instruction per fall and spring terms.

2. Provide nine university holidays per calendar year in accordance with merit system contract provisions.

3. Balance, as much as possible, M-T-W-R-F classes.

4. Have no classes on Labor Day.

5. Have a full-week break at Thanksgiving.

6. Maintain a final examination week with a M-F format.

7. Hold commencement no later than December 22 for a fall term.

8. Begin spring term classes on the second Monday of the calendar year.

9. Have no classes on Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

10. Schedule the spring break the week of the 11th Monday of the calendar year (i.e., 10th Monday of the term).

11. Schedule Veishea to coincide with the third weekend before commencement, unless falling on Easter; no class recess for Veishea.

12. Hold commencement no later than May 15 for spring term.

13. Maintain a minimum of one week and maximum of two weeks between spring and summer terms.

14. Encourage a flexible schedule in the summer to include an eight-week Session I and an eight-week Session II, with Session II starting four weeks after Session I.

15. Have no classes on Memorial Day.

16. Have no classes on July 4; if July 4 falls on a Saturday, have no classes on July 3; if July 4 falls on a Sunday, have no classes on July 5.

17. Hold commencement at the end of Session II.