Provost Aswani Volety shared the new information with the campus community as the university continues to adjust in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Provost Aswani Volety on Thursday announced updates to the Winter Term and Spring semester calendars, along with plans for a May Term that would provide study abroad opportunities should conditions allow.
The new information was shared in the following email to members of the campus community.
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Dear members of the Elon community,
Following up on our previous announcement about the cancelation of study abroad courses for Winter Term 2021, I write with an update on the undergraduate academic calendar and plans for the upcoming year.
Winter Term’s schedule will slightly change, with undergraduate classes beginning Wednesday, January 6, and concluding with exams on Wednesday, January 27. Students who were previously registered for study abroad courses may enroll in an on-campus class at no additional tuition (remember, Winter Term’s tuition is included in the Fall Semester payment). We will be adding courses for Winter Term to accommodate the roughly 600 students who were planning to study abroad. Watch for registration in September.
The undergraduate Spring Semester will start as scheduled on Monday, February 1, and will conclude as planned with exams held May 12-18 and Commencement scheduled for Friday, May 21. We are reserving the possibility of altering plans for Spring Break in March because of the uncertainty of the pandemic at that time.
At this time, we are expecting Spring Semester study abroad courses to be held. Many students moved their Fall Semester study abroad plans to spring because of the pandemic. We hope to know by October if international travel in spring will be possible.
We are developing plans for a May Term (aka a warmer Winter Term), if conditions allow. Students who had previously planned to study abroad in January may be able to enroll in an international study experience at the end of May and into early June. Not all the previous Winter Term courses will be held, but we hope that many may be possible. There would be no tuition charges for the May Term, and students would only be responsible for the travel and program costs, similar to the normal Winter Term arrangements. Preference will be given to students who registered for study abroad courses in the Winter Term 2021, before opening up any remaining seats for others interested in this opportunity. Announcements about the programs we hope to run in May will be made by late-September.
Thank you for your flexibility and resilience in making the best of this year’s evolving schedules. I hope these decisions will provide some clarity and help you make plans for the rest of the academic year.
Sincerely,
Aswani Volety
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs