For some college students, the idea of year-round classes has appeal.”That would be awesome,” said UW-Madison junior Michael Van Voorhis of taking engineering courses during the normally slow months between spring and fall. The chemical engineering major from Minneapolis took an organic chemistry class over the summer two years ago and wishes the university had offered a lot more required engineering classes during the summer. And he?s sure his friends would prefer to spend summer taking classes to get ahead in their degree program “instead of going home and doing nothing,” he said.
“Part of this is starting to think what it may mean to have a 12-month calendar because a lot of our thinking now is around a nine-month calendar,” said Jeff Russell, vice provost for lifelong learning and dean of continuing studies. Katherine Duren, an associate dean in the university’s continuing studies department, will oversee the proposed expansion in regular meetings with associate deans from the university’s colleges and schools.