by Katherine Wroblewski
news editor
This past March, discussion began at a faculty meeting regarding the current schedule in place at Millsaps. A proposal is on the table, although no definite decisions have been made concerning changes to the schedule. However, Millsaps has to balance several factors which make it difficult to schedule classes for both faculty and students. The college is aiming to revise the current schedule in the future to help alleviate some of these scheduling conflicts.
This isn’t the first time that the faculty has looked at the schedule. The main objective with a new schedule is simplification, while still maintaining a schedule that reflects our curricular objectives and goals. With the new core curriculum going into effect in fall 2015, a new lab component has been added to the freshman seminar. This will allow faculty to go out and do projects with their students if they choose to do so. And to implement this new part of the revised core, administration must make sure the schedule has space for it, as well as room for both the science labs, and other intensive activities.
The current schedule does not allow for a lot of classroom instruction time, especially when compared to a 40-hour work week. The new schedule would rectify this, and ensure that class times are available that will work with many different schedules, and with the varying needs, duration, and frequency of class instruction. Administration hopes that the new schedule will not only meet the needs of each department, but will also make sure that there are enough class times for students to choose from.