WSU faculty resists switch to state-mandated semesters

Schools face 'complex' challenges in switching to semester schedule

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By Dave Larsen, Staff Writer Updated 7:13 AM Friday, January 29, 2010

FAIRBORN — The state-mandated switch from quarters to semesters has hit a roadblock at Wright State University, one of four Ohio schools expected to change their academic calendars by fall 2012.

Wright State’s faculty union on Tuesday, Jan. 26, issued an e-mail urging all full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty to “stop working on matters concerning conversion to semesters” because of concerns about an increase in faculty workload.

The University System of Ohio recommended the transition to semesters in its “Strategic Plan for Higher Education.”

Wright State, Ohio University, University of Cincinnati and Ohio State University are the last public, four-year schools in Ohio still on the quarter system. All have adopted resolutions to change their calendars starting in fall 2012.

Eric D. Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, acknowledged faculty concerns about the conversion process.

“I have not seen a memo like this at another school, but that doesn’t mean that issues weren’t discussed at meetings and weren’t important issues,” Fingerhut said.

Wright State’s proposal could have professors teaching three courses per term instead of the current two, said Rudy Fichtenbaum, chief negotiator for the American Association of University Professors at Wright State and a professor of economics.

Bill Rickert, the university’s associate provost and chief negotiator, said the faculty and university have already agreed that professors’ workload will be “neither more nor less than their current workload. However, we are translating quarters into semesters,” Rickert said.

A common academic calendar would facilitate shared academic programs, ease of transfer between institutions and students’ ability to undertake internships and co-ops.

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