Mercyhurst Studies New Calendar
By Erica Erwin, Erie Times-News, Pa.
Jan. 29–The late-night cram sessions and grueling final exams aren’t going away.
But another familiar, if not universally beloved, staple of life at Mercyhurst College might soon change: its calendar.
Mercyhurst President Tom Gamble has recommended that the college replace its current trimester schedule with a more common modified semester schedule, following the lead of colleges across the country that have made similar changes in recent years.
Under Gamble’s proposal — called a 4x1x4 plan — the academic year would be divided into two semesters of about 14 1/2 weeks each, during which students would normally take four courses per semester, plus a January term of 3 1/2 weeks during which students would focus on a single course.
The new calendar would address several problems with the current trimester system, including lengthening the terms to give students more time to absorb and complete coursework, while still allowing students to graduate on time in their chosen major, Gamble wrote in a recent letter to the college community.
“I know that not everyone on campus is as yet comfortable with my decision, but I strongly believe 4x1x4 is the best choice for our current and future students, for our faculty, and for the academic life of Mercyhurst,” Gamble said.
The modified semester plan has several advantages over the current trimester calendar, said Barbara Behan, Mercyhurst’s vice president of academic affairs and the person who would be in charge of implementing the change.
The calendar is based on the same three-credit courses the college now offers, instead of the mostly four-credit courses used in a traditional semester schedule, which means the college wouldn’t have to overhaul its course catalog, Behan said.
It also means students would still be able to graduate on time in their chosen major since the modified semester plan requires the same number of required credits to graduate, Behan said.
The 3 Â 1/2-week January term, sometimes called an intercession, would give academic departments the chance to offer unique, interdisciplinary courses and give students the opportunity to take advantage of internship and study abroad opportunities, she said.
Many existing internship and study abroad offerings often coincide with, or complement, the semester or modified semester calendars.
The proposal does have some drawbacks, however.
An adult student who takes two courses a term in the trimester system, six courses a year, now finishes his or her studies much sooner than possible under a modified semester system, for instance.
“That’s something we need to look at,” Behan said.
The academic affairs committee of the college’s board of trustees is studying other questions as well, including the impact of the switch on enrollment, whether adequate classroom space is available, and the cost of the switch.
The committee will review Gamble’s proposal and will make its own recommendation to the full board in June.
If the board approves the switch, the new calendar would be implemented in the fall of 2008. If not, the trimester system would remain in effect for “at least the next several years,” Gamble said in the letter.
If the board does green-light the modified semester plan, Mercyhurst’s calendar would more closely mirror the semester schedules of the four other traditional four-year colleges in the region — Allegheny College, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Gannon University, and Penn State Behrend.
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine follows a different modified semester plan at its medical school; its pharmacy school has a three-year program that operates year-round with some breaks.
Mercyhurst also would join the growing ranks of colleges and universities across the nation that follow that calendar already.
A study of 4,150 U.S. colleges and universities conducted in 2000 by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers found that 70 percent of those institutions used some form of a semester calendar.
The trimester schedule was the least frequently used at 3 percent, according to the study.
Randy Clemons, professor of political science and president of the Faculty Senate, said there seems to be consensus among the faculty that the proposed change is a good compromise between no change at all and a transition to a traditional semester system.
“Some people will oppose change just because it’s change, and others have concerns and questions or don’t fully understand it for all sorts of reasons,” Clemons said. “But in general, the faculty believe that the president … certainly took into consideration all the important factors.”
Dan Schuler, a senior math major at Mercyhurst and the student body president, said students seem to support the switch once they understand how the new calendar would operate.
“It’s going to be beneficial for students in numerous ways,” Schuler said. “We’re going to have longer time to learn material, a better break schedule in line with other schools and a lighter course load. I wish I wasn’t graduating so I could be on that system.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Mercyhurst College will hold discussions with various groups on campus, including students and faculty members, to explain the proposed switch from a trimester to a semester calendar system.
The academic affairs committee of the college’s board of trustees will review the proposal and will make its own recommendation to the full board in June.
If the board approves the switch, the new calendar would be implemented in the fall of 2008. If not, the trimester system would remain in effect.
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