Academic Calendar Fields & Term Sessions

The Academic Calendar contains the dates and terms sessions that guide registration across the University. These dates are managed by the Registrar's Office. 

Examples of key Academic Calendar settings are: 

  • Term Dates
  • Term Sessions
  • Dates for Registration Period Milestones 

Requesting Updates and Modifications to the Academic Calendar:  To request an update to an existing term session or to create a new one, complete the Term Session Update form linked here: https://columbia.service-now.com/cu?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=f08066ec879b9a54897d0e96cebb358a

These settings are viewable to School Administrators in the Academic Calendar under 'Academic Administration/Settings.' 

This is the Academic Calendar Management page. The green boxes and smaller green boxes with arrows highlight important calendar management information. In order they are: Schools, Academic year, Academic Term, and Term Sessions.

Academic Calendar Term Sessions

Term Sessions, also known as Subterms, are specific dates within a semester that allow schools to uniformly organize their courses. 

Term Sessions can be structured by weeks, months, terms, or an entire academic year. For reporting and compliance purposes, dates set on the University level Calendar determine the dates of each session across every school.

Schools can request modifications to term sessions upon completion of a review and approval process by the Registrar's Office using this form - https://columbia.service-now.com/cu?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=f08066ec879b9a54897d0e96cebb358a

Certain Subterms are used for tuition and Billing purposes only; these are not visible. 

An image highlighting the correct placement of selecting "All" for the School name and where the Term Sessions are located. It also points out that Sessions are all attached to a Session Code.

NAMING CONVENTIONS: SESSION CODES, SESSION NAMES, DISPLAY NAMES

Terms Sessions are now visible and available in Vergil as a filter when searching for classes. Departments can now establish naming conventions for a given term that will be used consistently across each term going forward. 

For Instance, if the Graduate School of Business opts to create the session below, it will be visible to Vergil users as 'CBS A-Term' until it is modified. 

This image displays the list of Subterms available to Vergil users. After clicking on the Subterm(s) field, a list of subterms and their dates are available to Vergil Users. Schools can choose to have their subterms displayed in the search box.

Registration Period Dates determine the first day of the term that students can no longer complete an action in the system without School/Departmental review and approval. 

These dates can be set at the School level to be adopted by new or existing term sessions on the Academic Calendar, or customized for individual term sessions. 

Currently, Schools can submit a  New or Updated Term Session Form request to the Registrar to set the: 

  • Last Day to Add
  • Last Day to Drop
  • Day Wait Lists are Deactivated
  • Last Day to Drop to Receive a Tuition Refund 

Form Link: https://columbia.service-now.com/cu?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=f08066ec879b9a54897d0e96cebb358a

*Coming soon: Additional dates will be modifiable with the release of Appeals Workflow. 

 

This image depicts the Registration Period Dates window where dates can be set to restrict or guide student registration.
Key things to remember: 

Creating a Term Session for ALL Schools: 

  • Creating a term session while the School Name field is set to All (All) will make the term session visible to all class administrators and become a part of the official schedule for all Schools under Columbia College.

Creating a Unique  School-specific Term Session:

  •  Setting the School Name field to a specific school (e.g, SIPA, SBUS)  while creating a new term session will make that subterm visible exclusively to departments under the school as they are preparing their class schedule
  • . For instance, if a new subterm is created while School Name is set to SEAS, all departments under SEAS will be able to view that term in their schedule. 

Creating a Billing or Tuition Term Session: 

  • Some Subterms serve as tuition and billing assessments so they are not visible on the schedule. 

Schools interested in creating a new term session should do so via the Term Session Update Form - https://columbia.service-now.com/cu?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=f08066ec879b9a54897d0e96cebb358a

HOW TO CREATE A NEW TERM SESSION/SUBTERM: 

  1. Selected your School Name, Academic Year, and Term of choice
  2. Click on the "Add a New Session Button" to open the Add a New Session Pop-Up
  3. If your goal is to reinstate a session that was created but is not currently in use, fill out the fields and click the Save Button. 

 

If you want to create a brand new session name/code, do not fill out the fields. Click on Create A New Session Name/Code; this will allow you to create and head down to Step 4. 

Creating a term session while the school name is set to All (All) will be visible to all class administrators and become a part of the official schedule for every school under Columbia College. Highlighted in green is the School Name field while it is set to All(All). It also points to the Add A New Session Button that allows users to create a new session for their selected School[All(All)], Academic Year[2023-2024], and Term[Fall].
This image displays the data entry field in the Add a New Session Pop-Up. Session Name: select an existing session. Create a New Session Name/Code: Please see step 4. Start Date: choose your preffered start date for a new session. Choose your preferred Start Date for the new session. End Date: choose your preffered start date for a new session. Choose your preferred Start Date for the new session.

      4. After clicking the Create A New Session Name/Code button, fill out the fields as illustrated in the image below. 

  • When the School Name is set to All(All), the school-specific toggle will give you the option of which school the new session will apply to.
  • When the School Name is set to a specific school, the school-specific toggle will default to that specific school

     5. Press Save, then Follow steps 1-3 above. 

 

It is an image of the Create a New Session Section pop-up. It includes various data entry fields for users to fill out such as: the Session Name, Display name which is visible in Vergil, Session Code, as well as two toggles to set the session as a Standard or School specific subterm.

There are two methods to complete requests to modify an existing term session's date, display name, and visibility in Vergil Course Search. 

Requests made by schools to update these sessions will be submitted in the Term Session Update form accessible here -  https://columbia.service-now.com/cu?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=f08066ec879b9a54897d0e96cebb358a

METHOD 1: COURSE MANAGEMENT

  1. Click on an existing Term Session in the column outlined by the green box in image
  2. Enter the desired Session and Display Names in the  "Update Existing Session Information," window.
  3. Verify that the new session and display names are visible in the Academic Calendar.
There are two boxes closer to the left-hand side. The Green box highlights the Session column with the session names, while the Black box highlights the Display Names. In the center of the screen is a white pop-up box with data entry fields to enter your desired Session and Display names.

To make this term session available in Vergil Course Search and the Directory of Classes, toggle the 'Available In Search' on  to  show or hide your Display Name.

 This will make the term session appear in the Subterm as a search option for users, as shown in image 3.

*Commonly shared Term Sessions should be more generic.
The boxes identify the display names and the Available in Search section. The red box identified the purpose of the available in the search column, underlined in red. The green rounded box identifies a class that is not visible in the search, while the red box is a display name that is visible in Vergil as a subterm.
After clicking on the Subterm(s) field, a list of subterms along with their dates become available. Schools can choose to have their subterms displayed in the search box.

Method 2: Detailed Table

Review the Naming Conventions section before completing the steps below. 

 Create and share a .CSV table containing your session with Sheila Serrano. 

  • Organization Code(s)
  • Session Code(s)
  • Session Name(s)
  • Display Name(s)

 

KEY POINTS: 

  1. Establish a naming convention that will be used in your department across term sessions going forward.
  2. Send a list of your chosen Display names in line with their Organization code, Session Code, Session Name, and Display Name as illustrated in the table located in the  Subterms In Vergil Search Section