Report of the Semester Conversion Task Force - California State ...

Semester Conversion Task Force ReportConversion OutcomesThis section contains recommendations for the post-conversion University.CalendarIt has become an informal standard for schools using both semester and quarter calendars to end theirfall terms before the New Year. This makes it relatively easy for students to transfer from one school toanother either at the start of the fall term or at the start of the term following the fall term. To be consistentwith this standard—and because the Task Force views it as the best choice—we recommend a fall termthat ends before the New Year.CONV-1We recommend a calendar of two semesters. Each will include 14 weeks of instructionaldays, one week for finals, and up to one week of non-instructional days for such holidaysas Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and spring break. Some other holidays—such as Veteran’sDay and César Chavez Day—may be taken on instructional days.We recommend the dates in Table 2 for the fall semesters. We recommend that thespring semester begin the last Monday of January and end in mid-May. (Because ofLeap Year, a similar table for spring terms would require twice as many columns. Withfewer constraints, however, that level of detail need not be displayed here.)Table 2. The possible fall terms. The example years represent all possible Labor Day dates.Day ofExample yearsthe week2014 2013 2012 2017201120162010 2015Fall Faculty Day* Wed 1 2First day of class* Thu 2 3Labor Day* Mon 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Fall Faculty Day* Wed 3 4 5 6 7First day of class* Thu 4 5 6 7 8Last day of class † Sat 13 14 15 16 17 11 12Exam week † M-Sa 15-20 16-21 17-22 18-23 19-24 13-18 14-19Grades due †‡ Wed 24 25 26 27 28 22 23* Dates in this row are for September.† Dates in this row are for December.‡ Grades are always due on Wednesday. If Wednesday is Christmas, either the University could hold the system open until Thursday, or those whodon’t want to report grades on Christmas can report them earlier. Those who want the extra day will have it.6With thirteen week terms, fall quarter could always start after Labor Day and always end before Christmas.12