By Larry B. Dendy
Final exams under the semester calendar will be given in three-hour blocks over five weekdays, a schedule that avoids Saturday exams but will result in more overlapping or conflicting exam periods.
The University Council, at its March 17 meeting, voted overwhelmingly for the MondayFriday schedule rather than an alternative six-day plan that would have started exams on Saturday.
Under the semester calendar that replaces the quarter calendar this fall, students will typically take five classes per semester, instead of three classes per quarter. That will require increased time for final exams, which have been given in three-hour blocks over four days under the quarter calendar.
The council's Educational Affairs Committee rejected a proposal to address the problem by reducing exam periods from three to two hours. But the committee was unable to agree on whether to schedule three-hour exams over five or six days, and asked the full council to make the decision.
Several council members objected to the six-day plan because exams would be held on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. Two student members of the council also favored the five-day plan, saying that, in addition to the religious conflict, students need the weekend to prepare for finals.
Council representatives from the College of Education and the College of Family and Consumer Sciences reported their faculties strongly favored a five-day schedule.
Fall semester classes will end Thursday, Dec. 10. Under the plan adopted by the council, Friday, Dec. 11, will be a reading day, and finals will be held Monday, Dec. 14, through Friday, Dec. 18. Exam times will be 8-11 a.m., noon-3 p.m., 3:30-6:30 p.m. and 7-10 p.m.
Compressing exams into five days will increase the number of students who have two finals scheduled at the same time, or have three or more exams within a calendar day. Students with such conflicts will be able to reschedule exams through the provost's office.
Environmental literacy
In other action, the council approved a recommendation from its Curriculum Committee for an external review of the environmental literacy requirement, which requires all students to take a course dealing with environmental awareness. The committee requested the review because of concerns about the number of hours the requirement imposes on students and its "overall effectiveness."
Until the review is completed, criteria for the requirement will be limited to courses that cover basic scientific principles that govern natural systems and courses that focus on the consequences of human activity on local, regional and global natural systems.
Currently enrolled students will be able to satisfy the requirement under either current or new criteria, and students who have already satisfied the requirement for any school or college will receive full credit.
Minority faculty study
President Michael Adams reported to the council that a study by the publication Black Issues in Higher Education ranks UGA 11th in the nation in the number of black faculty members at major research institutions.
The study, using 1995 data, showed UGA had 64 black tenured and tenure-track faculty, about 4 percent of the total faculty. With additions since 1995, UGA is probably now in the top 10, Adams said.
None of the schools ranked above UGA had greater than 7 percent black faculty except Howard University, a predominantly African-American institution.
The survey included 109 schools identified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as Research I or Research II universities. UGA is a Research I institution, placing it among the nation's universities with the most comprehensive undergraduate and graduate programs and the strongest research programs.
