Thanksgiving break extended to one week
Jennie Pernisi
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Health & Lifestyles
Regarded as pleasant news to many, Thanksgiving break has been extended to a full week for the upcoming 2009-2010 school year. The vote was decided by clear majority at the faculty meeting on April 3.
Associate Professor of Athletic Training and Chair of the Educational Policies Committee (EPC) Dr. Pat Aronson was the faculty member who initially proposed the idea of making Thanksgiving break two days longer. She said in an e-mail that Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Julius Sigler asked her to review the upcoming 2009-2010 academic calendar. It had already been decided to begin the school year two days earlier than usual, and it was in debate whether or not to allot extra break into the year for those days or not. Aronson and other members of EPC researched the issue to decide what was best.
"I asked Dean Eccles and Kristen Cooper if this would pose a problem for international students or other students who could not go home for this break," Aronson said in an e-mail. "They assured me it would pose no greater problem than spring break poses for some students, and would actually help those who had a long trip to book a flight since they would have nine days in which to make the trip."
EPC then proposed the idea to the faculty on March 6, and it was later voted into effect.
Assistant Vice President for Public Relations Carolyn Eubank believes that the school's decision to close the doors early is a good one.
"I believe that extending Thanksgiving break is a great idea because it gives students more time to travel home and spend time with their families without having to miss classes," Eubank said in an e-mail.
Vice President and Dean for Student Development John Eccles is also positive about the extended break.
"I think it is a great idea in that it will provide students a longer period of time to travel and thus make the vacation more cost effective! I think those two days of classes were also strained anyway in that students wanted to leave to get home. My sense is that attendance was reduced. Thus it was harder to teach something that a certain % of the class was not there to hear," Eccles said in an e-mail.
Freshman Jaime Lull said she was quite excited about the school's decision to make the break longer.
"I think it's good, especially for people who live really far away; like people who have to spend a whole day just to travel home. It will be nice to have the whole week off so that people can spend more than just two or three days at home," Lull said.
Associate Professor of Athletic Training and Chair of the Educational Policies Committee (EPC) Dr. Pat Aronson was the faculty member who initially proposed the idea of making Thanksgiving break two days longer. She said in an e-mail that Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Julius Sigler asked her to review the upcoming 2009-2010 academic calendar. It had already been decided to begin the school year two days earlier than usual, and it was in debate whether or not to allot extra break into the year for those days or not. Aronson and other members of EPC researched the issue to decide what was best.
"I asked Dean Eccles and Kristen Cooper if this would pose a problem for international students or other students who could not go home for this break," Aronson said in an e-mail. "They assured me it would pose no greater problem than spring break poses for some students, and would actually help those who had a long trip to book a flight since they would have nine days in which to make the trip."
EPC then proposed the idea to the faculty on March 6, and it was later voted into effect.
Assistant Vice President for Public Relations Carolyn Eubank believes that the school's decision to close the doors early is a good one.
"I believe that extending Thanksgiving break is a great idea because it gives students more time to travel home and spend time with their families without having to miss classes," Eubank said in an e-mail.
Vice President and Dean for Student Development John Eccles is also positive about the extended break.
"I think it is a great idea in that it will provide students a longer period of time to travel and thus make the vacation more cost effective! I think those two days of classes were also strained anyway in that students wanted to leave to get home. My sense is that attendance was reduced. Thus it was harder to teach something that a certain % of the class was not there to hear," Eccles said in an e-mail.
Freshman Jaime Lull said she was quite excited about the school's decision to make the break longer.
"I think it's good, especially for people who live really far away; like people who have to spend a whole day just to travel home. It will be nice to have the whole week off so that people can spend more than just two or three days at home," Lull said.