History

In the 2020/21 school year, the Princeton University academic calendar shifted from fall semester finals being held in January to fall finals being held in December. This meant there was a new space in January for different types of campus engagement and the first University-wide Wintersession was launched in January of 2021.

The calendar reform effort began in 2016, when a task force of faculty, student and administrators were charged to research and review whether to keep the current schedule or make adjustments to the calendar. This group conducted research of peer institutions and gathered data through surveys and focus groups of faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students.

Some of the key findings from Ad Hoc Committee on Calendar Reform Survey (conducted January-February 2018) included that 81% of students surveyed said the placement of fall finals in January made them feel stressed over winter break. Sixty-three percent of faculty and 72% of students surveyed supported moving fall term finals before winter break. The faculty then voted and passed a resolution to change the calendar.

Along with the calendar change came the introduction of a new two week Wintersession, in great part because of student interest. Almost two-thirds of undergraduates and over half of graduate students polled during calendar reform research reporting that they might or definitely would participate in a two-week Wintersession. In focus groups, students further shared that they were interested in more freedom to explore creatively, socially and intellectually through innovative sets of activities and courses with no homework and no grades. Wintersession seeks to meet those goals.

Part of the reason that faculty, staff and students decided to create a University-wide Wintersession was the success of the one-week enrichment program that University Student Government (USG) held during Intersession break time from 2014 to 2020. The USG Wintersession was founded by Katherine Clifton ’15, Laura Du '14 and Elan Kugelmass '14 with the tagline, “Discover a hobby. Meet other Princetonians. Learn something new.” Andres Larrieu ’23 led USG Wintersession 2020 and was part of the first Wintersession Advisory Committee, and many other past leaders have already contributed their time and insight to planning the University-wide Wintersession. USG members will continue to be involved as planners and close partners in Wintersession.