Haley Russell
Assistant News Editor
The Winter Term schedule was released last Friday and its inaugural term begins with student registration on Nov. 7.
Winter Term professors will post syllabi on Dec. 2 and the term will begin on Dec. 12.
Jay Morgan, associate provost and vice president of academic affairs, said this registration is the first Winter Term the University has offered.
“We need all students to register by (Dec. 11),” he said. “So a student would not be able to come in on the Friday before and try to jump in because of the complexities of kind of working things out and having a trial run.”
A week before the University closes down, students will have time to get materials and books and talk to professors, if need be, Morgan said.
The CTLT help desk is available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for students and faculty who experience technical difficulties even though the University’s campus is closed.
Morgan said Winter Term courses range from agriculture to social work, but also have general education courses.
“I’m really excited that we have a large variety of courses,” Morgan said. “Our hope is that in the future, we can grow this a little more. We’re really excited for the number of courses: 35 courses this year.”
The way the course list was made was by offering the faculty and staff an opportunity to teach a Winter Term course and have each volunteer.
“We didn’t necessarily choose the courses, we tossed it out to faculty and we asked faculty if they would be interested in teaching a Winter Term course,” Morgan said. “And we got this feedback, which is super.”
Morgan said he anticipated only 12 courses. The maximum number of students the term can hold is 625, though it is not expected the courses will max out.
“Realistically, if we’re in the 200 range, we’ve probably had a very successful year,” Morgan said.
Kristen Jewell, junior from Louisville, Ky., will enroll in the Winter Term for Philosophy 201, introduction to philosophy.
“I think it’s really important for students who maybe failed a class or want to get ahead,” Jewell said.
Josh Adair, assistant professor of English and philosophy, will conduct HUM 211, introduction to humanities.
“I chose to teach this class because I know that humanities is required for all students and I knew it would help to take during off term and not worry about other work,” he said.
Because of his past experience in teaching online humanities courses, it seemed only natural to teach this term, he said.
Adair said the new Term is great for students because it gives them a wider variety of opportunities.
“I think it’s awesome, since students are only allowed to take one course, it’s a good opportunity to focus on that work especially if it’s a class they might not be looking forward to.”
For the beginning Winter Term, there is no financial aid available for students, something Morgan said he hopes to see change in the future.
Offering graduate courses and financial aid are two goals Morgan said he has for future Winter Terms.
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