Dec. 20, 2023: CU 麻豆影院 announces revised academic calendar
Nov. 6, 2023: Faculty assembly hears 2nd proposal on academic calendar
Oct. 6, 2023: Chancellor addresses successor search, fundraising with faculty assembly

Changes to the Academic Calendar

As announced in December 2023, CU 麻豆影院 will follow a revised academic calendar beginning with the Fall 2025 semester.

These revisions were in direct response to feedback from deans, faculty, staff and students and focus on student academic preparedness as well as promoting health and wellbeing.

View Upcoming Key Academic Dates 

Revisions to the academic calendar:

• Adjusting the Monday-Wednesday-Friday and Tuesday-Thursday class meeting patterns so they both have the same number of instructional days.
• Moving the first day of classes each semester earlier to Thursday rather than the following Monday.
• Creating a midterm reading day each semester.
• Adding another reading day before the final exam period at the end of each semester.
• Moving spring break one week earlier to facilitate alignment with 麻豆影院 Valley School District鈥檚 and St. Vrain Valley School District鈥檚 spring breaks.

How these revisions create other differences from the current academic calendar:

• The number of instructional days will be reduced from 73 to 70 during a standard fall and spring semester.
• The midterm reading day will fall on the eighth Thursday of the semester.
• The Friday of the last week of classes will operate as a Monday to equalize Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday instructional days.
• The last day of classes each semester will fall on a Friday; final exam reading days will be on Saturday鈥揝unday; and the final exam period will be Monday鈥揊riday, ending at 4 p.m. Friday.
• After the end of the final exam period (Friday at 4 p.m.), departmental commencement recognition events (fall and spring semesters) and residence hall move out (spring semester) may be scheduled.
• Spring commencement, which is held on the day after the final exam period, will fall on a Saturday.

Academic Calendar Working Group Members

Katherine Eggert, vice chancellor for academic planning and assessment
Devin Cramer, associate vice chancellor and dean of students
Andre Grothe, assistant vice provost for academic planning 
Sarah Layton, associate registrar
Barbara Marshall, assistant vice chancellor of student financial services 
Erika Swain, assistant director for compliance and authorization, academic affairs
Kristi Wold-McCormick, assistant vice provost and university registrar

Frequently Asked Questions

• TTh meeting pattern: -150 minutes
• MWF meeting pattern: -50 minutes
• MW meeting pattern: -75 minutes
• A once-a-week class on M or F: no change
• A once-a-week class on T, W, or Th: -150 minutes

Yes.

• Federal Title 34 definition of the credit hour allows for institutional interpretation of instructional class time as approved by their accrediting agency.
• Colorado Commission of Higher Education guidelines define a base contact hour as a standard measurement of consumption of faculty resources by students. One base contact hour equals a minimum of 750 minutes. However, the final examination period may be included in contact hours.

Yes. Our campus accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission, makes sure we are in line with federal law but does not interfere with reasonable institutional interpretations of instructional class time. Many of our AAU peers who have 70 instructional days per semester are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Those same institutions also have accreditations in the same academic disciplines that we do.

The Office of the Registrar and the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning & Assessment will work with departments to optimize schedules. Other large AAU peers with 70 instructional days per semester (e.g., Michigan, Minnesota, UT-Austin) may serve as models for scheduling and curricular structures.

It鈥檚 necessary to equalize the number of MTWRF instructional days.

Perhaps. However, a Thursday midterm reading day will have less impact in this regard, since the campus offers a lot fewer classes on Fridays. For example, in Fall 2023, there were 2,697 Monday classes, 2,834 Wednesday classes and 1,901 Friday classes. In other words, we typically offer a third fewer classes on Fridays than we do on Mondays or Wednesdays.

No. Faculty may schedule exams and other due dates at any time.

No. The revised calendar shortens the calendrical ground covered by the semester by one day. Three days of instruction are removed, and one midsemester reading day and one final exams reading day are added. Put another way: Currently, the semester ends 16 weeks and 2 days after it begins. (Where "end" = the last day of final exams.) Beginning Fall 2025, the semester will end 16 weeks and 1 day after it begins.

No; the midterm reading day functions like the final exam period reading days. Class sessions or graded assignments of any kind, including papers, lab practicums, presentations, portfolios and projects, may not take place or be due on a day designated in the academic calendar as a reading day. However, unlike the final exam period reading days, the midterm reading day is not a 鈥渂lackout date鈥� for concerts, sports events or other campus events.

No. Departments and the Office of the Registrar will need to review scheduling of common midterm exams so they do not fall on the midterm reading day.

They will be shortened to 35 days, or a true seven weeks.

The Registrar鈥檚 team is working with the Colorado Law School to preserve the distinctive features of its calendar.

There鈥檚 no change on this. The chancellor will make a decision if excessive instructional days are lost to weather or other emergency circumstances.

The 麻豆影院 Valley School and St. Vrain Valley School Districts have agreed to align their spring breaks with CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 starting in Spring 2026.

Former Chancellor Philip DiStefano made this decision in December 2023 after considering input from campus constituents impacted by the academic calendar including faculty, students and staff. The CU system and the Board of Regents have been informed of these changes.

The chancellor makes this decision. Spring commencement is a large-scale public event and thus involves many considerations, not just academic ones.

The events team in the Office of the Chancellor works with departments and programs to schedule recognition ceremonies held in the fall and spring semesters. See Commencement for more information.

Off

We are aware of a server issue that occurred in the class registration system on Monday, Aug. 21 between approximately midnight and 1 a.m. 

While unfortunately, we are unable to identify the total number of students affected, most students who have contacted us regarding this issue have since reported that they were successfully able to register after this time window passed. If you are still experiencing technical difficulties with registering for your class(es) after retrying, please contact us at registrar@colorado.edu. 

We understand the frustration caused by the occurrence of this issue at such a critical time for student registration at the start of open enrollment. We are working with our IT partners and registration system vendors to identify the root cause of the issue and to make sure this doesn鈥檛 happen again.

Off

Monday, Jan. 25

•  (11:59 p.m.)

• 鈥� (11:59 p.m.)

Thursday, Feb. 4

Status Update

Published 1/22/2021, 4:54 p.m.
Revised 1/22/2021, 7:05 p.m.

Thank you for your patience. At this time, all Spring 2021 Main Campus full-semester class waitlists have been restored and waitlisting is available again.

We sent an email update to dean's offices at 3:50 p.m. today and will include a full update in next week's Registrar Network newsletter.

In this evening's email update to students (standard version; drop-if-enrolled version), we encouraged them to review their schedule in  with the following information in mind.

• Buff Portal cards: Waitlisted classes are included on students' your classes and class schedule cards. In grid view, waitlisted classes are shaded black; in list view, they鈥檙e shaded yellow and labeled "Waitlisted."

• Recently enrolled students: Some students may have gotten into the class before the waitlist cancellation error was resolved. If that happened, we did not return them to the waitlist; they are still enrolled.

• Waitlist positions: We made every effort to return students to the same waitlist position they were in on Tuesday morning. If a student believes their waitlist position is incorrect or they were incorrectly left off a waitlist, they may email registrar@colorado.edu for assistance.

• Drop if enrolled settings: Although we were able to add students back to the canceled waitlist(s), we weren鈥檛 able to automatically restore their drop if enrolled settings. Students who are still on the waitlist should follow our instructions to re-establish drop if enrolled. Students who've been enrolled since the error occurred will need to drop their backup class manually.

Original Announcement

Published 1/20/2021, 4:35 p.m.
Last revised 1/21/2021, 5:20 p.m.

Between 8 and 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19, a processing error resulted in the incorrect cancellation of a large number of Spring 2021 Main Campus full-semester class waitlists. 

We apologize for this error and are working closely with our CU system and campus partners to limit its impacts. At this time:

• The Office of Information Technology has adjusted their Canvas processing to ensure affected students can continue to access their waitlisted classes' online materials.
• We have restored most of the canceled waitlists; however staff continue to work through errors that prevented some students from being re-added: unmet prerequisites, schedule conflicts and credit-load issues.
• As canceled waitlists are restored, we are making every effort to ensure students are returned to their correct waitlist position.
• We expect to restore the last of the affected waitlists by the end of the day on Friday, Jan. 22; however, it may take additional time to finish correcting all student-specific errors.

We will continue to provide updates here as we learn more.

Off

On Friday, Jan. 15, classes will follow a Wednesday class meeting schedule (excludes law). 

What does this mean for your schedule?

• If you have a class scheduled to meet on Wednesdays, it will meet on Friday, Jan. 15, at the regularly scheduled Wednesday time. 
• If you have a class scheduled to meet on Fridays (not Wednesdays), it won鈥檛 meet on Friday, Jan. 15, but will meet as usual on Friday, Jan. 22.

See the revised Spring 2021 academic calendar for more information and other important dates.

Off

The deadline to submit a Spring 2021 residency petition is 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 18, 2020.

Please note that when our front desk is closed (see above), students submitting a paper petition must do so either electronically or by mail (see instructions on PDF form).

Students submitting an may continue to do so without interruption until the deadline.

Off

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,

Today, we are announcing that the spring 2021 semester will start on Jan. 14 and the campus will continue to offer in-person and remote courses. We鈥檙e also sharing key updates to address a number of lessons learned this fall.

As part of our efforts to curb the spread of travel-related COVID-19 infections in our community, the university has made the difficult decision of opting out of scheduling a traditional weeklong spring break in 2021. This decision was made after careful deliberation and to protect the health and well-being of our community. Instead of the typical five-day spring break, we will start the semester three days later than previously scheduled and provide students with two days off on Feb. 17 and March 25.

In the weeks and months ahead, our intention is to improve the campus experience for you鈥撯�搊ur students, faculty and staff鈥撯�揳nd continue to provide educational, social, health and wellness support to ensure a successful spring semester.

Along with our continued efforts to deliver a more robust campus experience, we remain committed to working collaboratively with our city and county partners to hold a successful spring semester for all of us by being aware of and continuing to comply with the latest COVID-19 public health guidance.

announced today for the spring term address academic calendar dates, academic instruction modes, expanded on-campus social programming, residence life and isolation spaces, public health guidelines, the launch of a new and improved daily health check-in experience, and enhancements to our student engagement and support model.

In addition, we invite you to join us for tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 23, from 11 a.m. to noon, when we will answer your questions.

We are working hard to address the challenges, disappointments and frustrations created by COVID-19. Let鈥檚 work together to rise to these challenges as a community and to serve and help each other through any unpredictable issues that lie ahead. Like every university in the nation during this historic pandemic, we know we won鈥檛 be able to deliver the full, traditional college experience you want and deserve鈥攂ut we are working to safely provide the richest experience we can. You can continue to count on receiving a high-quality education in a beautiful college town, with housing and dining options and access to COVID-19 testing. 

Even in the face of uncertainty, we are committed to providing you with a more engaging, safe, fun and valuable experience as you continue your academic journey this spring.

Sincerely,

Russell Moore
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Patrick O鈥橰ourke
Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer

Off

As we mark the midpoint in the fall semester, I鈥檓 writing to provide an update on the pass/fail option. Pass/fail is an alternative in which a student may decline receiving a letter grade in a course.

Last spring, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the campus moved to remote instruction for the last five weeks of the semester with almost no notice to students or faculty. To accommodate the academic disruption the pandemic caused鈥攁nd with the overwhelming support of the faculty鈥擨 expanded the pass/fail option to allow a class with a "pass" grade to fulfill almost all degree and major requirements. Students were also given until the last day of classes to declare a class pass/fail. This deadline was subsequently further extended to the end of the grade-submission period.

This fall, I permanently extended the deadline to declare a class pass/fail from the end of the third week of the semester to the end of the 10th week鈥攖his semester, that date is Oct. 30 (prorated for shorter-term classes). Other than this significant extension of the deadline, we have returned to pre-COVID-19 guidelines and limits on pass/fail credit.

I have heard and considered at length the requests from our students to replicate last spring鈥檚 expansion of pass/fail options. After much consideration about the long-term implications to your academic and professional careers, I believe that continuing to expand pass/fail options would not be the most productive solution. At the same time, I have urged our faculty to take other steps to decrease stress on our students this semester. Let me explain.

My decision was made with input from deans and faculty who are in charge of the grading system. In our discussions, our faculty shared the following concerns:

• Given the uncertainty of COVID-19, if we were to continue to expand pass/fail options in the 鈥淐OVID-19 semesters鈥� of fall 2020 and spring 2021, similar to last spring, students could have as many as three semesters with few or no letter grades recorded. This could do considerable harm to students鈥� transcripts and future plans.
• Reports from many students from spring 2020 indicated that they lost their motivation to learn once they knew they had the option to take just about any class pass/fail.

While I am convinced that replicating spring 2020鈥檚 expansion of pass/fail options is not the best choice for this fall semester, I do urge all of our instructors to show compassion for the stress our students are feeling as a result of this year鈥檚 less than optimal teaching and learning conditions.

For all who are teaching this semester:

• Please understand that many of our students are finding remote and online learning more difficult than traditional in-person learning. Build as much contact with students as possible into your remote and online courses.
• Remember that our students may be dealing with changes in their living situations, difficulty in internet access, or the needs of their own or their family鈥檚 mental and physical health. Please be generous and compassionate about student requests for extending deadlines or taking make-up exams.
• Reach out to students who are struggling and respond promptly to students who seek your help. If you supervise teaching assistants, please mentor them in how to help students.
• Examine your syllabus and make adjustments if you have assigned more work than is typical for the course (homework, discussion posts, problem sets, etc.). Students are reporting to us that remote and online classes this semester are more assignment-heavy than the equivalent in-person courses.
• Make sure you return graded work promptly so your students are up to date about how well they鈥檙e doing in your courses.
• If your pedagogy seems not to be reaching your students in the way you鈥檇 like, seek guidance from the Center for Teaching and Learning. For the use of teaching technology, the Office of Information Technology has provided a variety of .

In turn, I urge our students to reach out to instructors and TAs for help. What we learned from spring 2020 is that taking a class pass/fail isn鈥檛 the best solution for doing better. More dialogue between students and faculty is the solution. For students who are having trouble expressing your needs to your instructors: please talk to your academic advisors or department chairs, who are more than willing to help convey any issues you are facing to our faculty.

Students, you have earned your spots at a top-notch public research institution. Our faculty and staff are committed to ensuring your academic success. We are only halfway through the semester, and there is plenty of time for us to come together in our efforts. Together, I know we can make this semester a positive teaching and learning experience for all.

Russell Moore
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Off

/chancellor/newsletter/chancellor/shifting-back-personhybrid-instruction

Off

As of Monday, Sept. 14, our updated business hours are:

• Front desk: Mondays and Thursdays only, 11 a.m.鈥�4 p.m.
• Email, phone and LiveChat: Monday鈥揊riday, 9 a.m.鈥�5 p.m.

On Mondays and Thursdays, most of our staff will continue working remotely to decrease density on campus; therefore, we're continuing to encourage faculty, staff and students to contact us by email, phone or LiveChat, rather than in person.

See our Contact Us page for contact information and a list of online services. For information about other enrollment management offices, see Enrollment Services Hours & Contact Info.

Off

A revised Spring 2021 registration schedule is now reflected in the Fall 2020 academic calendar and on the academic calendar webpage (see side-by-side date changes below).

The full Spring 2021 academic calendar is still in production; we'll let you know as soon as it's published.

Off