OU Finalizes Preparations for Quarters to Semesters Transition

Among the changes to come, the number of classes and programs will drop due to the transition. Currently, there are approximately 11,000 courses offered, and under semesters that will change to around 7,900. The number of programs will decrease from 600 to roughly 550 by university estimates.

Co-director of the Quarters to Semester Conversion Office, Jeff Giesey, explained that the decline is predictable.

“With the number of times you can offer a course during the academic year going from three to two, you’d expect a certain reduction in the number of courses,” he said.

Giesey said that in addition to this, some programs have been merged and some cut at the end of last year.

His office is prioritizing student needs during the transition and focusing on students that will have some of their academic career under the quarter system and some under the semester system, adding that a “Transition Degree Completion Plan” will be a central part of the advising.

The Q2S Office has already started drafting the first fall semester schedule in order to run through simulations and catch problems that students may face early.

“We’ll have that whole schedule available just as if we were going to go ahead and register for fall 2012,” Giesey said. “What we’ll do then is we’ll be looking at classroom spaces [and] start running through with some mock students with that.”

The university will also be changing the times when classes begin and end throughout the day. “The standard class hour will now be 55 minutes,” Giesey said. There will still be ten minutes between class times.

The academic calendar will shift to 14 week semesters, starting in late August. A short, three day break will be given for Thanksgiving and winter break will last from mid-December to mid-January. Spring break will move to early March, and the spring semester will end in early May.

Switching from quarters to semesters should not affect the amount of time it will take students to graduate.

“That’s our promise to students. If you can finish at this point under quarters we will make sure that you have what it takes to graduate at that same point under semesters,” Giesey said. “The students’ graduation will not be delayed because we changed from quarters to semesters.”

To see the new academic calendar, visit http://www.ohio.edu/q2s/upload/2011-12_thru_2013-14_Calendars_Approved.pdf.

To see a chart of predicted class times, visit http://www.ohio.edu/q2s/upload/timeblocks_chart_final.pdf.