12-Week Term Memorandum of Understanding

Purpose of the 12-week Project

The 12-week calendar project was initiated to increase the ability of the University to support programs and courses that wish to use the non-traditional 12-week academic calendar rather than the standard 16-week semester calendar. The Student Information System (SIS) supports a large number of processes that are programmed to only accommodate the semester calendar. These include grade reporting, processing academic actions, reporting student enrollment and many others. The 12-week project aims to improve efficiency by automating these processes to decrease the number of manual processes needed to manage programs offered in 12-week calendars.

Purpose of this document

The purpose of this document is to inform our academic departments of the guidelines they must follow if they choose to utilize the 12-week calendar.

Expectations

Operating in the 12-week calendar requires a combination of automated and manual processes to be able to successfully perform the necessary actions needed to offer a program. Additionally, 12-week calendars have very short periods of time between one term and the next. As a result, a significantly greater level of coordination between key university units is required. Before making a decision to deploy in a 12-week calendar, units should ensure they have the administrative resources and capabilities to meet the guidelines.  Programs need to offer enough courses each term for their students, especially international students. International students must maintain full-time status in all terms during their enrollment.

Guidelines

Admission and Registration

Students enrolled in 12-week calendar programs will not have the same flexibility as full-semester students with regard to admittance and registration. The following rules apply:

1. Students can be admitted into 12-week calendar programs in the fall Term and spring Term; Admission deferrals also need to be admitted in fall Term and spring Term 3.
2. Students enrolled in programs using the 12-week calendar can only take courses that are offered in the 12-week term.
3. Students enrolled in semester programs are not permitted to take courses that are offered in the 12-week term. However, program directors may request a separate section of a 12-week term course to be scheduled in summer session (which uses the semester academic calendar). This is permitted in summer only because the start and end dates for summer “session” align perfectly with the start and end dates for summer “term.” 
4. Departments must select a single point of contact to receive email notifications when any student in the program has violated the registration policy. The student’s assigned advisor will not be notified
5. Students changing from a semester program to a 12-week term program must only be done in the fall term
6. F1 & J1 International applicants must have an English test score that satisfies the full (including sub-sectional scores) English requirement.

Grades and Academic Actions

GPA calculations and academic actions in 12-week programs will be performed at the end of every term. Departments should be aware of the following:
1. Instructors should be mindful of the university's 48-hour requirement* for grade submission, particularly as the time between 12-week terms is shorter than the time between full semesters.
Note: For the fall term, the 48-hour requirement includes the weekend due to the Thanksgiving break that falls immediately prior to the start of the winter term. 
2. Programs must designate an individual that is responsible for reviewing academic actions and give their name and contact information to the Graduate School.
3.  After receiving notification of academic actions from Graduate School, Programs will have until noon the following day to respond before the action automatically goes into effect.
4. The Fall 12-week term ends right before our Thanksgiving break most years.  As such, it is important that the contact person identified is available to assist during this time period.  If the person identified is out of the office, a replacement must be chosen and Graduate School must be notified as soon as possible.

Communication

Due to the constricted timeline for end of 12-week term processes, strict adherence to deadlines and communication between the Office of the Registrar, the Graduate School and the Department (Program unit) is imperative. Term dates are preset by the campus calendar and cannot be changed. Departments offering 12-week programs are responsible for communicating:
1. Registration dates and deadlines to students
2. Term dates and deadlines (especially when grades are due) to Department personnel
3. Guidelines for 12-week programs to students

International Student (F1 & J1)

1. International applicants must have an English test score that satisfies the full (including sub-sectional scores) English requirement.
2. International applicants can only be admitted for the fall term.
3. International students must maintain full-time status in all the terms without any breaks.
4. Curricular Practical Training (CPT):  12-week programs do not meet F-1 requirements for CPT, as students must be enrolled for a full academic year for 12 -week programs, and there are no academic requirements for internship in 12-week degree programs.
5. Optional Practical Training (OPT):  students must be enrolled for a full academic year for 12 -week programs and be physically present in the United States for the particular academic year to qualify for this benefit.

Student Guidelines for 12-week programs

1. Students must maintain continuous enrollment (must enroll in consecutive terms) but can use petitions for a Leave of Absence or a Waiver of Registration.
2. Academic action will be performed at the end of every 12-week term.

Course Scheduling

1. Courses should be scheduled and given room priority in their own department's classroom spaces (if these exist).
If space within the department is not available, the department should reach out to the College for other departmental classrooms within the College.  If there are no available rooms within the College, a general purpose classroom can be requested from Course and Classroom Scheduling Services (CCSS) in the Office of the University Registrar. The request must include a note from the Dean's office stating that there is no room availability within the College's departmentally-owned rooms.
2. Courses will be accommodated in General Purpose Classrooms (GPC) to the extent possible, and must adhere to Provost Scheduling Guidelines. When there is a conflict between academic classes, priority will be given to standard semester courses. 
CCSS will do its best to accommodate the instructors’ classroom preferences but no specific GPC assignment is guaranteed. Instructional design may be adjusted for optimal classroom learning in the assigned rooms. To facilitate better classroom scheduling, course offerings should be spaced out during the week and not clustered only on particular days. Winter and Spring 12-week term courses scheduled in GPC may be assigned to another GPC during Fall and Spring Final Exams week to accommodate final exams of semester courses. 


Document Updated 08/08/2022