October 26, 2020 - Academic Calendar for IAP and Spring Semester 2021

Dear Students and Colleagues,

Section 2.102 of Rules and Regulations of the Faculty states that when a significant disruption of academic activities occurs, the Chair of the Faculty, in consultation with the Deans’ Group of the Academic Council and the chairs of the Committees on the Undergraduate Program, Graduate Programs, and Academic Performance, and the Registrar, may declare that emergency academic procedures are in effect, and may promulgate temporary regulations related to academic activities. In June a significant disruption was declared for all of Academic Year 2020-2021. In August, the Academic Policy and Regulations Team (APART) announced Emergency Academic Regulations and Policies for the Fall 2020 Semester. We are writing now to announce the decision on the calendar for IAP and the upcoming spring semester. This calendar was developed by the Office of the Vice Chancellor, the Registrar, and the Academic Policy and Regulations Team (APART) after consultation with key students, staff, and faculty. Further Emergency Academic Regulations and Policies (including grading) for IAP and the Spring will be announced later this fall.

Academic Calendar for IAP 2021

The dates for all activities and deadlines in IAP are available in the Academic Calendar published on the Registrar's Office website.

Academic Calendar for Spring 2021

The dates for all activities and deadlines for the spring semester are available in the Academic Calendar published on the Registrar's Office website. Based on consultation with public health experts, the beginning of the semester has been moved later by two weeks and in-person class meetings will not begin until March 1. The traditional week-long spring break has been replaced by three- and four-day weekends distributed throughout the semester to avoid the usual travel away from MIT that often takes place during the spring break.

The attached calendar shows key dates in the spring calendar, which include the following:

Registration Week will begin on Monday, February 8 and end on Friday, February 12
Classes will begin on Tuesday, February 16
During the first two weeks those classes that are authorized to have in-person components will be remote
There are 62 teaching days in the spring calendar (the “normal” spring calendar has 65)
There will be no spring break but 6 break days have been included during the semester (the same number of break days as in fall semesters)
The calendar includes two 4-day weekends and two 3-day weekends (the same as in fall semesters)
The distribution of teaching days is 11 Mon, 11 Tue, 14 Weds, 14 Thu, and 12 Fri (a ”normal” spring has 12 Mon, 12 Tue, 14 Weds, 14 Thu, 13 Fri)
H3 will end Friday, April 2, and H4 will begin Monday, April 5
Theses for doctoral degrees will be due Friday, May 7
There will be a 3-day “reading period” as in spring semesters prior to this past year
Final exams are scheduled on Monday, May 24 to Thursday, May 27
Commencement will take place on Friday, June 4

Please do not hesitate to contact either of us with any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Rick Danheiser
A. C. Cope Professor and
Chair of the MIT Faculty

Brian Canavan
Registrar

Note: This was sent to all students, all instructors, department/section heads, undergraduate/graduate officers and administrators, assistant deans, Administrative Officers