Tuesday morning, May 26, Nebraska State College System (NSCS) Chancellor, Paul Turman, announced the three state colleges would be adjusting their academic calendars in the fall semester. While details are still in the works, the calendar change should offer new opportunities to students.
“Over the past two months, we have all been faced with a number of unforeseen challenges. I have been so impressed by how each of you have navigated these difficult circumstances. With a successful spring semester behind us, it is time to look forward to the fall semester and what the next academic year will look like,” Turman wrote in an open letter to students and faculty.
The adjusted calendar will have classes begin on Monday, Aug. 17. There will be no mid-term break and the last day of regular classes will be Friday, Nov. 20 with final exams to follow Nov. 23-25. Commencement has yet to be determined and will be done based on public health directives out of precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The calendar change is also providing Wayne State, Peru State and Chadron State students the opportunity for a short, three-week December term.
“We’re still working out the details so there’s a lot of possibilities for that December term,” Jay Collier, director of College Relations at WSC said.
Collier said WSC has many students who go through their higher learning as quickly as possible and among other opportunities, the December term may help students get ahead of schedule by offering time to complete internships or take extra classes they may have had to wait for. It could also help students who need to catch up to boost their grade point averages as well. Like many other colleges that offer a December term, sometimes known as a D Term or J Term, study abroad opportunities may even be possible once health measures are rolled back to allow international travel.
While the idea of offering a December term has been in the works for some time, according to Collier, the flexibility the NSCS schools have had to show during the spring semester spurred the official change.
“People have been thinking about this for awhile,” Collier said. “This gave people the opportunity to adjust the semester based on what’s happening in higher education right now.”
The final decision to tighten the fall academic calendar was made only a little over a week ago and an email to students came from both WSC president Marysz Rames and Turman on Tuesday. Details about the new December term and its possibilities will be forthcoming.
“We’re excited to offer that opportunity and we’re excited to see where we can go with that,” Collier said.
More information can be found on Wayne State’s website, wsc.edu.
