<p>Why the late May graduation this year? It has been early May in the past.</p>
<p>Graduation is later this year due to the new academic calendar, which extends the brreak between the fall and spring semesters:</p>
<pre><code>To: The Rensselaer Community
From: Robert E. Palazzo, Provost
Date: March 31, 2009
Subject: Change in Academic Calendar
As you know, a key provision of The Rensselaer Plan has been the
creation of new types and levels of opportunity for study, academic
engagement, and community building for students, faculty and staff. To
further this goal, the Board of Trustees at its most recent meeting took
an action, on the basis of a recommendation by President Jackson in
consultation with the academic leadership of the university, to modify
the academic calendar of Rensselaer to enable significant new prospects
for curricular, co-curricular, and personal growth programming that is
in keeping with the spirit and reality of The Rensselaer Plan.
Accordingly, we have adjusted the academic calendar, beginning with the
2009-10 academic year, to extend the period between the fall and spring
terms. By beginning and ending the spring semester one week later than
has been the case with the existing calendar, we will create a five-week
break between the fall and spring terms. This period of time may be used
to explore new study abroad experiences, intensive undergraduate
research experiences may be pursued, or directed self-study programs may
be undertaken. Faculty members may use this time to interact with
colleagues on topics ranging from interdisciplinary curriculum
development, to student learning assessment, to the integration of
academics with student life. We expect that the new schedule will also
present opportunities for activities that enrich the social and cultural
life of the university community. In fact, a graduate student group at
Rensselaer is already planning to sponsor such independent activities
under the auspices of the summer program in 2009.
Under this new calendar, classes for the spring term of the 2009-10
academic year will begin on January 25, 2010, and will end on May 11,
2010. Commencement will be held on Saturday, May 29, 2010. The fall
semester schedule remains unchanged with classes beginning on August 31,
2009 and ending on December 11, 2009.
I look forward to working with the academic deans, the leadership of the
faculty, and the Office of Student Life on creating the new
opportunities this change enables.
</code></pre>
<p>Thanks for the reply. Sounds like a potential trimester situation. I wonder if that could be in the future?</p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like a move towards trimesters at all. Instead, it sounds like RPI may adopt a brief January term between the fall and spring semesters such as they have at MIT. They call it the Independent Activities Period (IAP) and it features a limited set of acadmic and research offerings combined with various exploratory and fun classes.</p>