University – Academic Semester Calendar Policy

Policy Number: 3349-AC-258
Effective Date: 01/04/2019
Updated: — 06/03/2023
Reviewed: —
Responsible Department: Office of the Registrar
Approval Authority: Provost
Policy Author: University Registrar

A. Purpose

This Policy ensures institutional compliance with federal and state directives related to minimum and maximum semester term lengths and establishes guidance for curriculum decision-makers and administrative support offices for the development of the academic calendar and course schedule offerings.

B. Scope

This policy applies to all Colleges as specified and all credit-bearing academic degree and certificate programs contained within the University.

C. Definitions

1. “Standard Terms “are what NEOMED uses for state and federal compliance for academic calendaring for purposes of course registration dates.
2. “Part-of-Term” or “POT” is a set of dates within a Standard Term used for scheduling and/or course start and end date monitoring. Most semesters consist of several POTs, some of which may have different add and/or drop dates for student registration
3. “Semester” is sixteen (16) weeks of scheduled instruction which includes one (1) calendar week of examinations.
4. “Academic terms” refers to the Summer Term, Fall and Spring Semesters as established by each individual college or degree program and published by the Office of the Registrar. Maymester is an intersession following Spring Semester.
5. “Clinical Courses” for the purposes of this policy, refers to courses in the College of Medicine M3 and M4 cohorts years, College of Pharmacy P4 cohort year and College of Graduate Studies MMSc-A C2 and C3 years.

D. Review, Approval, & Publication Process

The timeline for review, approval, and publication of the academic calendar is as follows:

1. Summer – the draft of the next academic year’s calendar will be reviewed by the Academic Management Partnership (AMP) and each College’s curriculum committee or equivalent and their respective subcommittees (e.g., a review of the draft 2022-23 academic calendar would begin in the summer of 2021).
2. August 15 – any requests for revisions due to the Office of the Registrar.
3. September 1 – Provost approves the final calendar for publication. Following the
   approval of the final published calendar for the next academic year, drafting of
   calendars for the two subsequent academic years will begin and preliminary drafts
   will be posted to the NEOMED Office of the Registrar website.

E. Academic Calendar Components

The Academic Semester Calendar is prepared by the Office of the Registrar and published to the NEOMED Office of the Registrar website.

1. Semester Length
   1. The Standard Summer Term is a maximum of twelve (12) instructional weeks in length, inclusive of final examinations and/or papers. There is no break between the conclusion of Summer Term and the start of Fall Semester. Clinical courses may overlap with the summer term but may not exceed 21 weeks of instruction.
   2. The College of Graduate Studies (COGS) will have two additional POTs within the twelve (12) week Summer Semester, designated Summer I and Summer II. Each is six (6) weeks in length.
   3. Fall Semester is sixteen (16) instructional weeks in length, inclusive of final examinations and/or papers. Fall and Spring Semesters are separated by three (3) weeks of break. Clinical courses may overlap with the Fall Semester but may not exceed 21 weeks of instruction.
   4. Spring Semester is sixteen (16) instructional weeks in length, inclusive of final examinations and/or papers. Spring Semester begins in January and runs through late April or early May inclusive of one (1) week of spring Clinical courses may overlap with the Spring Semester but may not exceed 21 weeks of instruction.
   5. May Intersession is three (3) weeks in length, inclusive of final examinations and/or papers. Use of May Intersession is optional; it is a special part of term attached to Spring Semester because it is so short. Clinical courses may overlap with May Intersession, but the combined total of weeks for Spring Semester and May Intersession cannot exceed 21 weeks of instruction.
2. Scheduling Parameters
   1. Summer Term represents the start of a new Academic Year. It begins one week after the conclusion of May Intersession and typically begins on a Monday in late May or early June and ends on a Saturday in mid-August.
   2. Fall Semester will always begin on a Monday in late August and end on a Saturday in mid- to late December.
   3. Spring Semester will always begin on a Monday of a full (5-day) week in January and end on a Friday in late April or early May.
   4. May Intersession is exclusive to the month of May.
   5. Summer Term , but not May Intersession, may be sub-divided to POTs as needed for course scheduling purposes. The Office of the Registrar will identify and determine the length of POT.
   6. Summer Semester, but not Maymester, may be sub-divided to POTs as needed for course scheduling purposes.  The Office of the Registrar will identify and determine the length of POT.
   7. Clinical Courses
      1. Clinical courses are not required to observe the Standard Term breaks.
      2. Students in a clinical course should follow the specific schedule provided at the beginning of each clinical course.
3. Fall, Winter, and Spring Breaks
   1. Fall Break
      1. No designated breaks.
      2. Use of traditionally scheduled University holidays only (e.g., Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving).
   2. Winter Break
      1. Three weeks in length between Fall and Spring Semesters.
      2. Two weeks occur in December and one week (may be partial) occurs in January.
   3. Spring Break
      1. One week in length.
      2. Occurs approximately midway through Spring Semester.
4. College of Graduate Studies (only) – Drop/Add Period
   1. First ten (10) calendar days of a sixteen (16) week Fall or Spring Semester.
   2. First five (5) calendar days of an eight (8) week Fall or Spring POT.
   3. First seven (7) calendar days of a twelve (12) week Summer Semester.
   4. First four (4) calendar days of a six (6) week Summer I or Summer II POT.
   5. First two (2) calendar days of a three (3) week May Intersession.

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