The university's academic calendar will change for the first time in more than 30 years in 2002-03, with the interim term moving from January to May.

In announcing the change, President James Appleton acknowledged the benefit of the month-long term while adding that a change in its place in the calendar would improve its academic focus.

Initially met with some gasps, the president's decision now has "freed up our thinking," said College of Arts and Sciences Dean Nancy Carrick.

"When you do something for more than 30 years, your planning can become routine," she said. "The president shook us up. We had to ask ourselves, 'What is it that students really need?'"

One thing that emerged from subsequent faculty conversations was the importance of the month-long learning experience.

"It's one of the special things about this university," Carrick said. "When students are in a class three hours a day every day, the subject enters their psyche in a very different way. The month opens up incredibly creative opportunities for learning with travel programs, side trips, internships and research projects."

Since the change was announced, faculty have brought forth proposals for new ways to use the month-long term. Some departments are redesigning senior seminars with more emphasis on the transition from college to graduate school or the workplace. New travel courses have been proposed that would not have been possible during the winter. The School of Music is particularly pleased by the change, as there will be less interruption in practice schedules.

In other ways, the new May term will mirror Interim, with many of the same courses and opportunities to complete the community service learning requirement. Commencement will remain at the end of the month, assuring that May term will be an integral part of the calendar.

Joining the congressman and President Appleton at an earlier dinner were community leaders such as Al Karnig, president of California State University, San Bernardino; Donald Pursley, executive vice president of Loma Linda University; members of the board of trustees; and a number of community business and civic officers.

School of Education Dean William Stanley (left) assists President James Appleton with the ribbon cutting while Vice President of Academic Affairs Phil Glotzbach watches.

The remodeling of the new headquarters for the School of Education was celebrated during a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house held January 30 in University Hall North.

The event marked the official end of a five-month renovation project. That allows all of the School of Education's faculty and staff to be centrally housed in one area. Before the move, representatives of the department were located at three different campus locations. The new working arrangement is expected to make it easier for people to communicate and to work together on a variety of projects.

Before the renovation, space in University Hall was rented to a program that served people learning English as a second language. At one time, the building also served as a student union.

The renovated building has been expanded to include four additional classrooms, as well as a high-tech computer lab. Education students use the new lab for a variety of tasks, including participation in online Blackboard discussions, research and word processing.

If you missed the open house, it is still not too late to get a closer look at the School of Education's new headquarters. Feel free to stop in and see it for yourself!

GIS students (listed below) pose for a impromptu class photo.

The first 13 students enrolled in the new master's degree in GIS arrived in February to begin classes.

The program has brought students and faculty from around the world, attracted by the distinctive nature of the curriculum and its relationship to ESRI.

Only nine universities in the country offer a master's degree in GIS, and students said they researched them carefully.

"One of the reasons I really like the program is that it's professional and not geared toward someone who wants to teach," said Thangu Narasimhan of India. "It's also a program specifically designed for GIS, not just geology with an emphasis in GIS."

Narasimhan plans to pursue a career in geographic information systems in wetland conservation and restoration.

Indeed, the program was designed not just to teach GIS but for students to learn how to apply the science, leading to careers as project managers, applications specialists and software developers.

"The focus is on making projects happen rather than 'doing GIS' in a particular field," said Karen Kemp, associate professor of geographic information science and director of the program.

Kemp was recruited from UC Berkeley last year and has drawn upon a vast network of colleagues to develop and implement the curriculum. Joining her on the faculty this year is Glenn Hyman, who will divide his time between Redlands and his work with the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research in Latin America.

Visiting faculty this year will include Marinus de Bakker, head of the Division of Spatial Planning and Soil Management at the Van Hall Instituut in the Netherlands; David Maguire, a member of the senior management team at ESRI and fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in the United Kingdom and Josef Strobl from the Department of Geography and Applied Geoinformatics at the University of Salzburg.

Kemp noted that the program will provide campuswide benefits as well. Undergraduate students, for example, will have opportunities to work with the high-level graduate students and visiting faculty in their fields of interest.

Students in the 11-month program will attend classes virtually all day Monday through Friday, with weekly seminars at ESRI featuring guest speakers. Students will be required to complete a major project of their choice, with the expectation that a number of students will work on projects under way at the Redlands Institute. They will present their conclusions at special sessions of the ESRI User Conference, an annual event that attracts more than 10,000 scientists and scholars from around the world.

The following are members of the first class of students:

Ani Balikian, Syria; Patricia Carbajales, Spain; Alfonso Davila, Mexico; Makinde Falade, California/Nigeria; Kevin Johnson, Virginia; Forrest Jones '01, Redlands; Rodney Miceli, Illinois; Ruth Nakitare, Kenya; Thangu Narasimhan, India/Michigan; Christi Noonan, Montana; Linda Shen, California/Taiwan; Rod Thornton, California; John Wood, Texas.