Undergraduate and Graduate Courses

Effective class scheduling is critical to the academic mission of the University. It enables students to take the classes they need and create viable schedules, assures faculty availability to teach, and contributes to efficient space utilization and good stewardship of our valuable institutional resources. This policy applies to all courses that utilize University classrooms (see Appendix B).

Goal

The goal of the class scheduling policy for undergraduate and graduate courses is to meet the needs of the students and faculty by making efficient and effective use of classroom space and instructional hours. 

Objectives

• Ease student scheduling by maintaining standardized class meeting times (see Appendix A) that minimize time conflicts and ease student scheduling.
• Optimize classroom usage throughout the instructional day and week.
• Distribute space utilization across the days of the week and weeks of the semester.

Guiding Principles

Department chairs and program directors are expected to develop class schedules, in consultation with faculty, that abide by this policy.  Deans and/or Associate Deans also are responsible for ensuring that class schedules within their academic units abide by this policy.

The Office of the Registrar will review the schedule of classes for conformity to the following guiding principles each semester.  Nonconformity will be reported to the school dean/associate dean. 

All classes, regardless of length, must begin and end at official standard class meeting times listed for the meeting pattern of the class. See Standard Meeting Periods in Appendix A.  Exceptions must be approved by the Office of Registrar in consultation with the respective Dean/Associate Dean.

All classes with start times from 8:20 am (or 8:00 for MW) to 5:45 pm on MWF and from 8:20 am to 5:00 pm on TR must adhere to the standard schedule. Upon request, flexibility may be given after 3:00 pm to departments, which have already achieved utilization objectives.

Departments should create a balanced schedule with sections distributed throughout the day and the week to avoid having too many classes during prime/peak times (typically 10 am – 2 pm).  To ensure classes are equitably distributed throughout the week, departments must conform to the following guidelines:

• Academic departments may schedule up to 50% of their classes during prime time.
• Academic departments may schedule up to 50% of all classes on a TR meeting pattern.
• Any course offering only one weekly meeting, which lasts longer than a standard time, must be scheduled outside of prime time.  

Classes that cannot be initially scheduled by the department into a preferred classroom will be assigned a classroom by the Office of the Registrar.  If no space is available, the Office of the Registrar will work with the department chair and/or associate dean to modify the day and/or time to meet classroom needs.

Classrooms will be assigned by the following criteria:

• Anticipated enrollment based on current limit and historic enrollments based on past three years
• Accessibility needs
• Programmatic requirements
• Requests for technology
• Instructor preference and back-to-back offerings
• Proximity to department

While every attempt will be made to assign classrooms as requested, the Office of the Registrar cannot guarantee assignments due to conflicting requests and limited classroom resources. Every effort is made to ensure that classrooms are maximizing facility utilization considering academic and instructional technology course needs. 

Not all classes can be assigned to the day or time requested due to the limited space availability. The assignment of a specific room in one semester does not guarantee that room will be reassigned in future terms. Faculty members should not expect to use the same space on a continuing basis.

To accommodate as many requests as possible, some courses will be assigned to rooms that may not match what was requested. Also, classes using non-standard class meeting times will receive a lower priority in the room assignment process.

Department chair and/or associate deans will be notified by the Office of the Registrar if courses must be moved to another time or room due to over scheduling at a particular time.

The Office of the Registrar will retain the right to move classes to maximize facility usage, meet enrollment needs, comply with ADA requirements, and/or grant technology requests/needs.

Departments should assign faculty to classes as early as possible, before classrooms are assigned.  For classes taught by the same faculty member back-to-back, the Office of Registrar will try to assign the instructor to the same classroom or at least the same building.

Classrooms are scheduled with utilization in mind, but departments are able to request specific classrooms when schedules are submitted.

Faculty with medical conditions or disabilities (documented with Human Resources Office) will be given top consideration for room requests, however departments must notify the Office of the Registrar before room assignments begin to ensure that these sections are placed in an appropriate classroom.

All online or hybrid courses must either be part of an online or hybrid program, or have been individually approved for online or hybrid delivery by Academic Council.

All classes are expected to conform to the guidelines above.  Requests for exceptions are subject to the approval of the Registrar. The Registrar will consult with Associate Deans, as needed. 

Appendix A: Standard Meeting Periods

Standard Meeting Periods

• MWF – Classes meet three times per week for 50-minutes each class period.
  • 4-hour classes without labs, i.e. Math courses (MT1411, 2412, 2413 & 2414), require 70 minutes on MWF.
• TR, MW, WF, MF – Classes meet twice per week for 75-minutes each class period.

Prime (Peak) Time

• MWF 10:20 am; 11:20 am; 12:20 pm
• TR 9:45 am; 11:10 am, 12:35 pm

Standard Meeting Times for Fall and Spring semesters

MWF	TR	MW, WF, MF
8:20 – 9:10 am	8:20 – 9:35 am	8:00 – 9:15 am
9:20 – 10:10 am	9:45 – 11:00 am (P)
10:20 – 11:10 am (P)	11:10 am – 12:25 pm (P)
11:20 am – 12:10 pm (P)	12:35 – 1:50 pm (P)
12:20 – 1:10 pm (P)	2:00 – 3:15 pm	12:20 – 1:35 pm (P)
1:20 – 2:10 pm	3:30 – 4:45 pm	1:45 – 3:00 pm
2:20 – 3:10 pm	5:00 – 6:15 pm	3:15 – 4:30 pm
		4:45 – 6:00 pm

Evening Classes
Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur
6:30 – 9:15 pm
5:30 – 8:15 pm

8-week classes

Mon-Wed or Tues-Thurs

6:30 – 9:15 pm or 5:30 – 8:15 pm

^{(P) Denotes prime time}

Afternoon Labs for 4-hour BL, CH, PY courses
Monday and Wednesday	1:40 – 5:40 pm
Tuesday and Thursday labs	2:00 – 6:00 pm

Standard Meeting Times for Non-traditional semesters: Summer, Maymester and Wintermester

Summer 1 or Summer 2			Maymester and Wintermester
Day classes Monday thru Friday			Monday thru Friday
7:45 – 9:15 a.m.			8:00 – 11:45 a.m.
9:25 – 10:55 a.m.			12:15 – 4:00 p.m.
11:05 a – 12:35 p.m.			5:30 – 9:15 p.m.
12:45 – 2:15 p.m.
2:25 – 3:55 p.m.
Evening classes Monday thru Thursday
6:30 – 9:15 pm
5:30 – 8:15 p.m.

Appendix B: University classrooms (non-law)

Classroom	Capacity	Function
Alumni Athletics & Convocation Center
2155	26	Classroom
2160	26	Classroom
Albert B. Alkek School of Business & Administration
101	35	Classroom
102	41	Classroom
103	36	Classroom
104	38	Classroom
105	35	Classroom
106	22	Classroom
107	75	Classroom
108	38	Classroom
233	31	Classroom
Charles Francis Hall
008	40	Classroom
018	40	Classroom
019	24	Mac Lab
230	20	Art Studio
234	20	Art Studio
235	20	Art Studio
Garni Science Hall
107	38	Classroom
109	55	Classroom
116	16	Lab
120	16	Lab
122	32	Lab
204	33	Classroom
211	42	Classroom
214	21	Lab
216	16	Lab
217	39	Classroom
301	24	Lab
305	32	Lab
307	48	Classroom
311	6	Lab
312	33	Classroom
315	24	Lab
Moody Life Sciences
101	101	Classroom
102	114	Classroom
205	36	Classroom
206	32	Classroom
209	22	Lab
309	34	Lab
310	48	Classroom
316	53	Lab
317	54	Lab
Richter Math Engineering
101	38	Classroom
102	28	Classroom
103	38	Classroom
104	23	Computer lab
105	21	Computer lab
106	288	Classroom
107	24	Classroom
111	60	Classroom
208	40	Classroom
209	40	Classroom
213	40	Classroom
214	36	Classroom
215	40	Classroom
Engineering Lab	50	Lab
Reinbolt Hall
001	35	Classroom (FYE)
002	14	Conference Room
003	38	Classroom
004	42	Classroom
101	35	Classroom/Computer lab
201	38	Classroom
203	35	Classroom
206	29	Classroom
305	48	Classroom (Education)
306	25	Classroom
309	25	Computer Lab (Foreign Language)
313	30	Classroom
316	25	Classroom
ATT Instructional Technology
106	32	Classroom
107	32	Classroom
St. Louis Hall
332	42	Classroom
Treadaway Hall
4M		Music studio
5M		Music studio
9M		Music studio
10M		Music studio
15M		Music studio
16M		Music studio
200	30	Classroom
202M		Music studio
204M		Music studio
206M		Music studio
207M		Music studio
292M		Music studio
296M		Music studio
300	24	Classroom
360	23	Classroom
380	18	Mac Lab
381	26	Classroom (Drama)
B	30	Classroom
C	40	Drama Studio
RCHL	165	Recital Hall