Seton Hall will be instituting a new schedule for the Summer 2010 session. The decision to institute the new schedule was made to maintain the standard three-week gap between the conclusion of the summer session and start of the fall semester, due to the late end of the Spring 2009 semester.
Rather than keep the previous model, which consisted of a 14-day intercession and two six-week sessions, the university has scheduled two standard sessions and two intercessions that will run concurrently with the first standard class session.
The summer intercessions will run from May 18 to June 7 and June 9 to June 28. The standard summer sessions will run May 18 to June 28 and July 6 to July 29.
Associate Provost Kirk Rawn said in an e-mail interview that the university hopes the new format will provide more flexibility in the university's summer course offerings.
"The Spring 2010 semester ends later this year, and if the standard format had been kept for Summer 2010, there would have been only two weeks between the end of (the second summer session) and the first day of class in the fall semester," Rawn said. "By scheduling two intercessions concurrently with the first summer session, we hope to provide more flexibility for offering courses."
However, students said they wonder if the new format will make taking multiple courses in summer more difficult.
Sophomore Nicole Longobardo said she understands that the scheduling of the 2009-2010 academic year makes the changes to the summer session necessary, but she also said that the compact schedule will make it hard for students to take intercession classes as well as normal summer classes.
"I think (the new format) kind of sucks because you aren't going to be able to take as many classes," Longobardo said. "I think that is great that I am getting a month off for Christmas, but I think it will hurt a lot of people who aren't able to take as many classes as they wanted to over the summer. "
Rawn however, said that there will still be a lot of flexibility for students to choose their courses.
"Students could take a course during each intersession and a course during (the second summer session)," Rawn said. "There are a couple of different ways a student could take as many as four summer courses.
However, while students can take multiple courses, the university recommends students who want to take more than 12 courses consult their advisors before scheduling their summer courses.
"Because of the intensity of the intercessions, we strongly recommend that students who are interested in taking more than 12 credits in the summer consult with their advisers and associate deans, and start planning in advance," Rawn said.
Longobardo, however, said that the demands of the intercession classes means many students might not be able to take them in addition to regular summer classes.
"Whether or not a student can handle intercession classes and a regular, it really depends on the student," Longobardo said. "Some students might not be able to handle it."
Junior Nicole Epps, who took classes during last year's May intercession and plans to take intercession classes again, thinks most students will be able to handle multiple classes at once, despite the compressed time-frame.
"I think students who register for summer classes are pretty responsible to begin with, and they know what they are getting into," Epps said. "As long as they realize this is the course load, they should be fine."
Brenden Higashi can be reached at brenden.higashi@student.shu.edu.
