The University of Nebraska Board of Regents recently approved a two-week pre-session of courses for early January 2022 that will shift the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s spring semester back by one week.
Scheduled to run Jan. 3-14, 2022, the spring pre-session courses will help students apply emerging skills and knowledge in career-oriented contexts, prep for upper-level curricula by cementing the lessons of prior courses, and explore topics related to the Grand Challenges introduced in the N2025 Strategic Plan.
Spring pre-session courses may be offered in person, online or via web conferencing. Most pre-session courses will be offered as zero-, one- or two-credit courses. Any three-credit courses would overlap with the regular semester in order to meet all credit-hour requirements but would be conducted so as not to conflict with regularly scheduled coursework during the spring term.
The spring 2022 semester will begin Jan. 18, following Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Spring 2022 commencement will likewise move back one week to May 13-14. The university’s spring break will run from March 14-18, aligning with that of Lincoln Public Schools.
This systemwide calendar change represents a one-year pilot program intended to explore opportunities for future curricular innovation for students. Dates for the 2022 summer sessions will not change.
The 2022 pre-session was motivated by success in the three-week “winterim” sessions held in December 2020 and January 2021. Husker students earned roughly 10,000 credit hours during that extended two-month window, which was opened by scheduling changes designed to minimize the risk of travel-related exposure during the coronavirus pandemic.
Judy Walker, associate vice chancellor for faculty and academic affairs, noted that annual contracts for nine-month faculty normally end one week after the conclusion of the semester — a week that faculty typically use to finish grading. To compensate for the fact that those 2021-22 contracts will now be ending right as the semester does, essentially requiring faculty to complete work one week beyond their contracts, the administration will be shifting their first working day of the spring semester from Jan. 3 to Jan. 10.
“We are very happy that the new schedule aligns with the LPS schedule and appreciate the collaboration with Faculty Senate on the modification to working days,” Walker said.
A request for course proposals for the 2022 spring pre-session, which will include details on funding, timelines and other considerations, is available here.
Access the complete spring 2022 calendar here.