PURDUE UNIVERSITY NORTH CENTRAL FACULTY SENATE
Submission Date: 10/31/13
Senate Action and Date:
Faculty Senate Document 13-11
Disposition, when approved:
X
Chancellor
X
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
X
Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management and Student Services
X
Registrar
O
Faculty Senate Policies and Procedures Manual
O
Other:
The Education Policy Committee recommends that the Faculty Senate approve these Guidelines and the
attached General Academic Calendar for the academic years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 including the
Addition (see Item 8 below), and tentatively approve the attached General Academic Calendar for the
academic years 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and 2018-2019.
Guidelines:
1. The General Academic Calendars for AY 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 are already approved; the General
Academic Calendars for 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 are already tentatively approved. No changes to
these General Academic Calendars are proposed herein. A draft version of the General Academic
Calendar for the subsequent five academic years is included for reference only. The Addition to the
General Academic Calendar is currently in use; this action simply regularizes existing practice.
2. All start and end dates for the General Academic Calendars coincide with those of Purdue West
Lafayette except those years when they propose to begin classes on January 7 and we propose January
14. Additionally, if the President declares Monday, January 2 to be an official university holiday in any
year, faculty report back on Tuesday, January 3.
3. All October Breaks are scheduled after the end of the seventh week of classes; the Thanksgiving
Holiday follows after six more weeks.
4. All Spring Breaks are scheduled for the week after the eighth week of classes.
5. Education courses which place PNC student teachers in PK – 12 schools will follow the PNC General
Academic Calendar for start and end dates and for final examination dates; Spring and Fall breaks and
holidays for students in those courses will be scheduled to coincide with breaks and holidays scheduled
for the relevant school.
6. Courses which award academic credit but which involve travel and are administered through the Office
of Graduate and Extended Learning (such as the Smoky Mountains and Gettysburg courses) may be
scheduled during periods which fall during breaks in the PNC General Academic Calendar.
7. Courses which would benefit by being scheduled across both summer sessions either as one twelveweek course or as a sequence of two six-week courses or three four-week courses or similar patterns
may be so scheduled without separate approval. Departments scheduling such courses will consult with
the Registrar regarding the timely reporting and recording of course grades. Similarly, intensive or
short courses of seven or eight weeks’ duration which would benefit by being scheduled during a
regular semester may be so scheduled, either beginning when the regular semester begins or ending
when the regular semester ends, without separate approval, and departments scheduling such courses
will also consult with the Registrar regarding timely reporting and recording of grades.
8. The Addition to the General Academic Calendar, consisting of four teen-week terms per year, is
available only to completely self-contained programs which are designed on a cohort model and which
are scheduled so as not to cause undue load on our severely restricted classroom availability. A
program is “completely self-contained” if its students take only courses within the program, no other
courses, AND its courses are taken only by its own students, no other students. A program is “designed
on a cohort model” if all students beginning the program in a particular term take most, if not all, of
their courses together in sequence. A program is scheduled “so as not to cause undue load” if it meets
on days when normal semester and summer school courses do not meet, such as weekends; occasionally
evenings may fit this condition if the course is taught off campus. Any program wishing to use this
Addition may only use the Addition; none of its courses may be taught on any other calendar.
Programs wishing to use this Addition for the first time must first consult with the Vice Chancellor for
Academic Affairs and must obtain the approval of Faculty Senate through the normal curriculum
process when the program is proposed.
9. When July 4 falls on a Sunday or Saturday, as it does in 2015, 2020 and 2021, the President will declare
the official Independence Day observance date for Purdue University. Dates indicated for 2015, 2020
and 2021 are necessarily tentative until the President’s declaration of the official holiday, at which time
they will fall when the President says they fall. (See ** in General Academic Calendar)
10. Setting the date of Commencement is within the scope of the Faculty’s responsibility to establish the
academic calendar as specified in the Constitution. Until Purdue North Central has a facility of our own
to use, or has the opportunity to agree to a relatively fixed multi-year contract with a suitable venue, the
Faculty Senate has agreed to allow the administration to negotiate the best deal they can get, subject of
course to final approval of the Faculty. Therefore, the dates listed in the calendars above are necessarily
tentative, and the administration will announce the actual date of Commencement on an annual basis
until such time as we have our own facility. (See * in General Academic Calendar)