By Amanda Lowe
As the semester conversion looms ahead, deans and faculty alike have been working together to make the conversion as painless as possible.
“A large number of people have worked very hard. The dean’s office, the advisors, the department chairs, the head advisors, and the entire faculty have all worked hard. We are all working toward a smooth transition,” said the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences James Stellar.
To make the transition from quarters to semesters, the faculty has been working with students to answer any questions along the way.
“This year is the year of student advising. Students will be talking with their advisors about what to take for the rest of the year and what they will need to take under semesters,” said Stellar.
Ira Weiss, the dean of the College of Business Administration, agrees with Stellar.
“It is very critical to advise students this year. We need to work with each individual student to develop their future course,” Weiss said.
Coleen Pantaole, executive vice provost and head of semester conversion, wants all students to be reminded to meet with their advisors.
“Students need to be on track before we hit the semester system, they need to meet with their academic advisors before they meet with anyone else,” said Pantaole.
Each of the colleges is undergoing major curriculum changes.
“The College of Business Administration will no longer have majors, we will have concentrations. This is our major change,” Weiss said.
“There will be fewer courses but the courses will cover more material. Different courses have been combined in different ways. Students will have a longer period to absorb the crucial information needed to excel in engineering,” said the Dean of the College of Engineering Allen Soyster. “Every course has been re-thought and we have some new ones. We will continue the process as we gain experience with actually teaching these classes next year. We intend to keep the overall curricula comparable.”
Due to the longer length of semesters over quarters, classes will cover more information.
“The courses will allow for more in-depth discussion and reflection on topics,” Stellar said.
Not all students will have to worry about their classes changing, the law school is staying on the quarter systems.
“This decision relates to law school curriculum and accreditation requirements for graduation with a JD degree,” said Emily Spieler, dean of the School of Law.
Despite the fact that everything is moving smoothly now, Northeastern University has faced some problems throughout the process.
“In the College of Engineering we have had one major problem, the new definition of minors. It was hard to figure out what courses and how many credits a student would need. This was a big task,” Soyster said.
The College of Business Administration also faced problems.
“We have faced numerous problems in the College of Business Administration,” said Weiss, “How big should the workload be? How many courses should each student take per year? Will we have enough faculty to teach these courses? Will there be enough classrooms? Will it cost more? These have all been problems that have been posed throughout the past few years.”
Although the College of Arts and Sciences hasn’t come across many bumps in the road, Stellar admits it has been time consuming.
“We haven’t had any major problems in the College of Arts and Sciences. The one thing I can think of is the fact that semester conversion has demanded a lot of time and therefore has pushed off some other projects, nothing students need to worry about,” Stellar said.
He said that Northeastern University is ready to roll over to semesters.
“We are ready to go. Our curriculum is planned, we are meeting with students to help the convert to the semester system, and the professors are retooling course syllabi to be ready to hand out in the fall of 2003,” Stellar said.
