When classes begin at Utah State University later this month most students likely won’t notice the school’s academic calendar has changed.
According to Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs John Mortensen, for years it has been said that USU gets out of school later than everybody else in the state because it has had more instruction days in the spring than in the fall:
“That started way back in 1998 with our conversion from quarters to semesters. Most institutions have 70 instruction days, which is what we have in the fall. But in the spring we have had three extra instruction days.”
This summer changes were made to the calendar. Now USU, in line with other in-state schools, will conclude final exams on a Wednesday. Mortensen said perhaps the next step for USU is to have commencement a day earlier:
“Looking at the other schools in the state, all of them have commencement on a day other than Saturday. In my opinion, we would get more faculty to participate in graduation if it was during the week. That’s something that still needs to be discussed.”
With the adjustments, there will now be 70 instructional days in both the fall and spring semesters.