Next fall’s academic calendar will see the semester start earlier in the year to allow for breaks throughout the semester.

A committee consisting of Provost Donald Nieman, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Enrollment Donald Loewen, faculty representatives, graduate and undergraduate student representatives and staff from various departments decided upon changes earlier this summer to be implemented for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 academic calendars.

The Fall and Spring semesters will start approximately one week earlier than usual, which will allow for short breaks at the mid-point of each semester.

The changes also ensure 14 weeks of instruction with exactly 14 of each instructional day and at least two reading days to help students prepare for finals. In addition, Winter Session will now consist of one week in December after Christmas and two weeks in January. There were no changes made to Summer Session.

The committee’s goal, Nieman said, was not only to meet federal, state and SUNY requirements for course meeting time, but also to promote convenience and student success.

“With fall semester ending at least one week before Christmas, the committee hoped to better facilitate holiday travel, campus shutdown, and Winter Session,” he wrote in an email.

According to Nieman, the committee also hoped the inclusion of the four-day weekends mid-semester in early October and early March would give students time to relax.

“These breaks are designed to reduce the stress that builds over the course of a long semester and help improve academic performance,” Nieman wrote.

The calendar has been generally well-received thus far. Students such as Christina Barra, an undeclared sophomore, said moving in a week earlier in August is actually desirable.

“I wouldn’t really mind coming in a week earlier for school in the summer because we do have such a long summer break and I find that I’m already ready to go back a week earlier than we usually do anyways,” she said.

Barra added that beginning break earlier in December by starting a week earlier in the summer is another positive addition due to the impending harsh winters.

“It would be better to end earlier in December because that’s when I feel like I need a break from school, especially when it starts to get cold,” she said.

According to Max Steinbach, a junior majoring in environmental studies, the addition of the mid-semester breaks is the greatest benefit of the new calendar.

“For a lot of students, the idea of having a shorter summer or winter break seems unappealing because we think of those as the times we really get to unwind, but I think we’ll realize that it’s actually worth it so we can have the mid-semester breaks,” Steinbach said. “Breaking up the semester will really give us time to breathe.”

Kate Gerontianos, an undeclared sophomore, agreed, adding that the previous calendar didn’t feature enough time mid-semester to unwind.

“This past year there were no breaks from January until April, which is too long,” she said. “The mid-semester breaks would give us some time to regroup ourselves and come back with a better mindset.”