Faculty & Staff Announcements

Revised Academic Calendar

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 22:05:15 +0000

Revised Academic Calendar Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/31/2024 - 15:05 Office of the Registrar

Related Campus Communications

Dec. 20, 2023: �� Boulder 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, �� Boulder 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 Boulder Valley School District’s and St. Vrain Valley School District’s 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–Sunday; and the final exam period will be Monday–Friday, 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

How many instructional minutes would the typical 3-credit class lose during a semester under the new calendar, as compared to the current one?

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

Does a shortened semester comply with federal and state requirements?

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.

Does a shortened semester comply with campus accreditation or academic disciplinary accreditation?

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.

What about lab classes that are set up to run the same lab experiment M-Th or M-F? Won’t the midterm reading day mess up a week?

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.

Why is the midterm reading day a Thursday?

It’s necessary to equalize the number of MTWRF instructional days.

Won’t students just skip classes on Friday to make the midterm reading day into a four-day weekend?

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.

Does the midterm reading day govern when midterms are scheduled?

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

Does the revised academic calendar extend the length of the semester?

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.

Are faculty able to have exams or other due dates on the midterm reading day?

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 “blackout date” for concerts, sports events or other campus events.

What about common midterm exams? Can they be scheduled on the midterm reading day?

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.

What will happen with the B81 and B82 “seven-week” sessions, which are currently 37 days?

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

What will happen with the Colorado Law calendar, which is already different from the academic calendar for the rest of the campus?

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

Will we have to make up snow days or other days when campus is closed due to emergency?

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

Have BVSD and SVVSD agreed to align their spring breaks with ours?

The Boulder Valley School and St. Vrain Valley School Districts have agreed to align their spring breaks with �� Boulder’s starting in Spring 2026.

Whose decision was it to change the academic calendar?

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 �� system and the Board of Regents have been informed of these changes.

Who decides when spring commencement takes place?

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

When will fall and spring departmental/program recognition ceremonies take place?

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.

As announced in December 2023, �� Boulder will follow a revised academic calendar beginning with the Fall 2025 semester.

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2025–26 Catalog: Getting Started

Naomi Porper — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 16:12:54 +0000

2025–26 Catalog: Getting Started Naomi Porper Tue, 11/05/2024 - 09:12 Catalog News

Thank you to everyone who submitted workflow edits for the 2025–26 catalog production cycle! If we didn't receive any updates to your workflows, then the same people who reviewed your catalog pages last year will be set up for catalog review access again this year. If your workflows are affected by any additional staffing changes this fall, please let us know by submitting a workflow update.

Getting Started

As previewed, we began kicking off the workflows for academic program pages in the 2025–26 catalog this week.

If you're the first reviewer in the workflow, you should receive an automated email for each page as it’s ready for your review with a link to access your approval queue.
If you're set up to edit/approve catalog pages but not as the first reviewer, you'll receive an email as soon as those ahead of you in the workflow have completed their review and approved the page(s).
If you’re reviewing other catalog pages including those related to university policies, procedures, student services and more, a reminder that these pages open for edits beginning Dec. 15.

For pages where you need to update curriculum information (e.g., program requirements, plans of study, learning outcomes), don't forget to:

Propose your curriculum edits through CIM program management.
Approve the catalog page and the corresponding CIM program edit form from your approval queue. We recommend approving both at the same time. Note: Curriculum edits submitted in CIM will only display on the corresponding catalog page after they’ve been fully approved, but please be assured that they’ve been received.

Remember, the target department/unit review deadline for academic program pages is Dec. 15. (View all upcoming catalog dates & deadlines.) Please ensure updated program learning outcomes are included in your submission, and contact Aaron Zimmerman if you have any questions related to program learning outcomes.

Submitting Course & Faculty Updates

A reminder that some of the information displayed in the catalog is pulled in from other campus systems and must be edited in those systems accordingly. Once approved/processed, edits will automatically carry over within the catalog as well.

Submit a course proposal or revision. All course proposals and revisions are managed through our curriculum inventory management system (CIM). To learn more, see Course Proposals.
Request faculty updates. Only the catalog production team has access to modify the catalog's faculty database. To learn more, see Faculty Lists.

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2025–26 Catalog: Workflow Updates Due Oct. 28

Naomi Porper — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 15:08:47 +0000

2025–26 Catalog: Workflow Updates Due Oct. 28 Naomi Porper Thu, 10/17/2024 - 09:08 Catalog News

Welcome to the start of the 2025–26 catalog production cycle!

As always, before we open the catalog for annual edits, we need your help updating the workflows for your catalog pages. Please submit a workflow revision request by Monday, Oct. 28, if both of the following are true:

You've had staffing or other changes that affect who should review your program or policy content in the catalog, and
Your revisions aren't for Education or CEAS. Those workflow revisions are being coordinated by Travis Anderson (Education), Mary Steiner (CEAS undergraduate pages) and Meredith Canode (CEAS graduate pages), respectively.

If needed, email catalog@colorado.edu to request a breakdown of current workflow configurations for your page(s).

Working Sessions

We’ll continue to offer virtual catalog working sessions starting in November, which are a great opportunity for both returning & new catalog reviewers to get one-on-one training, troubleshooting help and/or general guidance from a member of the catalog team.

Production Schedule

We'll begin kicking off the workflows for academic program pages in the 2025–26 catalog starting on Monday, Nov. 4, with a target department/unit review deadline of Dec. 15.

View all upcoming catalog dates & deadlines

Stay Connected

If you know someone who could benefit from these periodic catalog updates, please encourage them to subscribe to our catalog news email list. (Use the following link to unsubscribe.)

We look forward to working with you in the time ahead!

Before we open the catalog for annual edits, we need your help updating the workflows for your catalog pages

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Class Enrollment and Timestamp Issues, 10/2

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 21:19:18 +0000

Class Enrollment and Timestamp Issues, 10/2 Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/02/2024 - 15:19 Office of the Registrar

Last updated Friday, Oct. 4 at 1:45 p.m. MT.

On Wednesday, Oct. 2 we became aware of the following two issues occurring intermittently in �� Boulder Class Search after a recent vendor server upgrade, including:

The “last updated” timestamp on each class does not show as current, indicating potential issues with the class rebuild/refresh. Update: This has been resolved.
An error message appearing when a student tries to drop a Fall 2024 full-semester class or add an 8 week session 2 class. In all cases, students were able to successfully add or drop their classes once directed to use classic enrollment. (Total cases reported: 5.) Update: This has been resolved.

We are actively working with our vendor to diagnose the root causes of the issues and will continue to update this webpage with new information as it becomes available.

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Spring 2025 Continuing Student Enrollment Dates

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Spring 2025 Continuing Student Enrollment Dates Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/01/2024 - 00:00 ��-SIS Development Team

Registration Overview

On Monday, Oct. 14, each student's assigned enrollment appointment date and time will appear on their enrollment dates card in Buff Portal and in a registration e-memo from our office. Enrollment appointments are based on total completed cumulative hours for all but law students. If a student has �� or transfer hours added after their enrollment appointment is set, they may be eligible for an enrollment appointment adjustment.

Registration remains open through open enrollment, which begins Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.

Student Enrollment Blocks

Registration opens for each student block at the dates and times below. The time indicated below is the start time of the first appointment within that block. A given block may have several appointment start times. If that is the case, start times occur every 15 minutes.* Numbers in parentheses represent total cumulative credit hours, where applicable.

Monday, Nov. 4, 2024

8:30 a.m. – Priority registration students**
8:30 a.m. – Graduate BAM & concurrent degree students
9:30 a.m. – Veteran seniors
9:30 a.m. – Seniors (90+ credits)*

Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024

7:30 a.m. – Graduate students*
3:00 p.m. – Undergraduate and graduate transfer exchange students

Monday, Nov. 11, 2024

8:30 a.m. – Veteran juniors
8:30 a.m. – Juniors (60–89.99 credits)*

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024

11:30 a.m. – Veteran sophomores
11:30 a.m. – Sophomores (30–59.99 credits)*

Monday, Nov. 18, 2024

8:30 a.m. – Freshmen (0–7.99 credits)
8:30 a.m. – Veteran freshmen
9:30 a.m. – Freshmen (8–29.99 credits)*

Friday, Nov. 22, 2024

9:00 a.m. – Law students

*Staggered enrollment appointment start times.

**Student athletes and students with special accommodations as identified by Disability Services.

Starting Monday, Oct. 14, continuing students will be able to view their assigned Spring 2025 enrollment dates and begin adding classes to their shopping cart. Enrollment appointment dates will occur from Nov. 4–22, 2024.

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Spring 2025 Advising Holds Applied to Continuing Students

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Spring 2025 Advising Holds Applied to Continuing Students Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/24/2024 - 00:00 ��-SIS Development Team

Thank you to everyone who confirmed or revised their Spring 2025 advising holds. We set most of the advising holds for continuing students (listed below) by Monday, Sept. 23.

If details of a hold are outstanding or if an SID file has not yet been received, the hold has not been set. Please keep in mind that the Office of the Registrar will begin communication to continuing students about registration for the Spring 2025 term on Monday, Oct. 14, and all holds, including those sourced by SID file, must be applied prior to that date. As a reminder, Thursday, Oct. 10 at noon is the final advising hold deadline after which no new advising holds will be assigned to continuing students.

Thank you to everyone who confirmed or revised their Spring 2025 advising holds. We set most of the advising holds (listed below) by Monday, Sept. 23.

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Fall 2024 Full-Semester Waitlists Canceled, 9/16

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Fall 2024 Full-Semester Waitlists Canceled, 9/16 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/16/2024 - 00:00 ��-SIS Development Team

Related Communications to Students

"Reminder: You're on a Fall 2024 Class Waitlist," 8/22/2024
"Reminder: You're on a Fall 2024 Special Session Class Waitlist," 8/22/2024

On Monday, Sept. 16, we canceled (a.k.a., purged) the waitlists for Fall 2024 Main Campus Boulder full-semester (Session B) and Western Colorado (Session BWU) classes. Waitlists for Colorado Mesa (Session BMU) classes were canceled on Tuesday, Sept. 10 and waitlists for Boulder Law full-semester (Session BLW) classes were canceled on Friday, Sept. 13.

To request a snapshot of the students who were still on a class waitlist when it was canceled, please email cusisdev@colorado.edu. The report also includes students who were waitlisted for more than one section of a class or who were waitlisted for one section but enrolled in another.

As a reminder, students who remain on the waitlist through the cancellation date lose access to the class's online materials and no longer appear on the class roster; however, they may be eligible for course reservation the next time that course is offered.

If you have a question about waitlist functionality or a particular student’s enrollment, please email registrar@colorado.edu.

Additional waitlist cancellation dates are published on our web calendars:

On Sept. 16, we canceled the waitlists for full-semester sessions B. To request a snapshot of students who were still on the waitlist, email the ��-SIS development team.

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Waitlist Enrollment Issue, 8/19

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 15:28:32 +0000

Waitlist Enrollment Issue, 8/19 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/27/2024 - 09:28 Registrar Network

An enrollment issue occurred in the early morning hours on Monday, Aug. 19 that affected waitlisted students.

The process to repopulate waitlist capacities when open enrollment began and when waitlist processing resumed (12:01 a.m.) did not run as scheduled. As a result, some students were enrolled in classes ahead of students on waitlists before the issue was detected and swiftly resolved. These incorrect enrollments occurred when sections had students drop a class section during this timeframe creating open seats and permitting non-waitlisted students to enroll. These students should have been placed at the bottom of the waitlist.

Unfortunately, neither Campus Solutions nor Cognos has point in time data for enrollment and waitlists, as such, we are not able to easily retrieve a list of impacted students to contact with resolution or options.

We recommend that if there is a student or class in question, advisors or the Office of the Registrar can review individual student enrollment request history to see how to best support them. Please contact cusisdev@colorado.edu if you’d like help with this process.

We apologize for this processing error and inconvenience it caused for students and advisors. To mitigate such issues in the future, we are considering having open enrollment start during business hours to ensure we have staffing for troubleshooting and support if/as needed.

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Summer 2024 Grades Very Overdue (Targeted Message)

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Summer 2024 Grades Very Overdue (Targeted Message) Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/27/2024 - 00:00 Office of the Registrar

Who Received This Email?

We sent this email on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, to instructors with post access who had unapproved grades in one or more Summer Session classes (law, specialized program, thesis and dissertation classes excluded).

Dear [instructor],

You have overdue grades for one or more summer sessions. All grades must be posted to avoid causing serious negative consequences for your students, which may include academic standing, financial aid and graduation eligibility.

Session	Class Info	Class #	Class Description	# Enrolled

Web grading is the only method of posting grades, including late grades. Do not email grades, as this violates campus security policies.

All grades must be posted to avoid causing serious negative consequences for your students, which may include academic standing, financial aid and graduation eligibility.

You must complete grading immediately by following these steps:

On My��Info's Teaching Tools tab, click "Go to Web Grading."
If the wrong term is selected, click "Change Term."
Click the grade roster icon next to the class you want to grade.
Sync, upload or enter your grades.
Approve and post your grade roster(s).

For online assistance, see OIT's Canvas web grading sync page webpage and the Office of the Registrar's step-by-step instructions and videos. You may also contact:

Office of the Registrar
303-492-6970
registrar@colorado.edu
Hours: Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Please note: On September 12, 2024, all students who remain ungraded for Summer 2024 will be assigned a grade of NR (not reported). After NR grades are assigned, instructors must submit an individual grade change request to assign a final grade for each student.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Regards,

Daryl Maeda
Dean & Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

E. Scott Adler
Dean of the Graduate School & Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs

Office of the Registrar | University of Colorado Boulder
303-492-6970 | registrar@colorado.edu

You have overdue grades for one or more summer sessions. It is critical that you post your grades for the following class(es) as soon as possible.

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Spring 2025 Advising Hold Changes Due Sept. 12

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Spring 2025 Advising Hold Changes Due Sept. 12 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/26/2024 - 00:00 ��-SIS Development Team

Spring 2025 Advising Hold Timeline

Friday, Aug. 30: The ��-SIS Development team contacted departments with existing holds.
Thursday, Sept. 12:
- Deadline for departments with existing holds to submit additions, changes or deletions.
- Deadline for departments to request a new advising hold (email your request to cusisdev@colorado.edu).
Wednesday, Sept. 18: Deadline for departments to submit SID lists for batch processing (if applicable).
Monday, Sept. 23: The ��-SIS Development team sets advising holds.
Thursday, Oct. 3 at noon: Final advising hold deadline.
Monday, Oct. 14: Assigned Spring 2025 enrollment dates are visible to students in Buff Portal. No new advising holds will be assigned.

We will begin setting Spring 2025 academic advising holds (a.k.a., advising service indicators) for continuing students after fall census and expect to complete that process on Monday, Sept. 23. Once set, these holds will prevent students in those programs from registering until they've met with their academic advisor.

If your department would like to discuss creating a new advising hold for Spring 2024, email the ��-SIS Development team with the details of your request by Thursday, Sept. 12.

Review Your Holds

If your department currently uses advising holds, you should have received an email from the ��-SIS Development team last week to confirm the population and text of your hold. Reply with any necessary changes, additions or deletions by Thursday, Sept. 12.

If your department's advising holds are assigned using an SID list, submit your list by noon on Wednesday, Sept. 18. Lists submitted after that date will be processed in the order in which they're received, allowing at least two business days for processing.

Notify Your Students

To support student success, academic departments are responsible for notifying their students when an advising hold is placed and for providing a clear explanation of the steps the student must take to have it released.

If you wish to request an e-memo, student communications are distributed by Strategic Relations & Communications using �� Boulder Today and associated campus communication tools. Visit the �� Boulder Today website to view the different tools (e.g., �� Boulder Today stories and administrative e-memos) and submit your message for campus audiences.

Release Holds Promptly

Advising holds include a timeline for release (e.g., "After you've met with your advisor, your hold will be removed within three business days"). Please remove the advising hold as soon as you can after the student has received advising to ensure compliance with this timeline.

For step-by-step instructions for both manual and batch removal, see our advising holds page.

We will be setting Spring 2024 advising holds (a.k.a., advising service indicators) for continuing students on Monday, Sept. 23. Once set, these holds will prevent students in those programs from registering until they've met with their academic advisor.

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Faculty & Staff Announcements

Revised Academic Calendar

Changes to the Academic Calendar

Academic Calendar Working Group Members

Frequently Asked Questions

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2025–26 Catalog: Getting Started

Getting Started

Submitting Course & Faculty Updates

We’re Here to Help

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2025–26 Catalog: Workflow Updates Due Oct. 28

Working Sessions

Production Schedule

Stay Connected

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Class Enrollment and Timestamp Issues, 10/2

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Spring 2025 Continuing Student Enrollment Dates

Registration Overview

Student Enrollment Blocks

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Spring 2025 Advising Holds Applied to Continuing Students

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Fall 2024 Full-Semester Waitlists Canceled, 9/16

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Waitlist Enrollment Issue, 8/19

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Summer 2024 Grades Very Overdue (Targeted Message)

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Spring 2025 Advising Hold Changes Due Sept. 12

Review Your Holds

Notify Your Students

Release Holds Promptly

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