For years, it's been common for Wayne State students to ask their professors if they can arrive five or 10 minutes late to class, or leave early to make their next class. The problem has been a scheduling matrix with seemingly random and irregular class start times that overlap with each other and don't provide sufficient time for travel between classes.

The current matrix, in use since the 1970s, was built around one-hour Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes. But 90-minute and three-hour time blocks are now the most popular among faculty. As a result, about 30 percent of classes are taught outside of the matrix, resulting in schedule conflicts. In addition to making life difficult for students, the matrix makes inefficient use of classrooms and complicates scheduling of final exams.  

Provost Margaret E. Winters experienced the problem firsthand when she was chair of the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. As she prepares to step down as provost on May 30, she will leave the university with a more coherent, cohesive and student-centered class schedule matrix.  

In Winter 2017, Wayne State will implement the new matrix. Classes will begin on the hour and half hour and will run for 50 instructional minutes per hour, instead of the current 55 minutes, to give students enough time to get from one class to the next.  

"The driving principle behind the new matrix is that it be student centered," said Winters. "By offering classes when students want to take them, we hope to reduce the time it takes them to earn a degree, and improve our four-year and six-year graduation rates. If you can schedule classes better, you are going to progress more quickly."

Beginning in January, morning classes will begin at 8:30 a.m., evening classes will end by 9:20 p.m., and options for 90-minute and two-hour class times will dramatically increase. Standardized start times for late afternoon and evening classes should allow students to take more than one evening course.  

The change will also allow for four final exam time slots each day, as opposed to the current three, with no overlap and conflict.  

The new matrix will offer more flexibility in the length of Friday classes because of lower classroom demand, and the matrix will not be enforced on weekends.  

"With everyone sticking to the matrix, it improves the utilization of classrooms by allowing us to schedule classes back-to-back-to-back," said Registrar Linda Falkiewicz. "We only have about 200 general purpose classrooms, so we need to make the best use of them that we can."

Falkiewicz was one of 10 committee members who Winters tasked with simplifying and clarifying Wayne State's course scheduling matrix by minimizing the number of overlapping courses and using scheduling to help reduce time to degree.

The committee, chaired by Joe Rankin, associate provost and associate vice president for undergraduate affairs, gathered input from faculty, benchmarked other universities and implemented best practices from around the country into the new matrix, which was later approved by the Faculty Senate.  

New class times for the winter 2017 semester will be available the first week of October.