Expect things to be a little quieter around campus on Thursday, Oct. 25 and Friday, Oct. 26. 

That’s when students will be participating in Queen's University’s first fall term break, a two-day rest period designed to ease stress and improve student success. 

“The goal of introducing this break into the fall term was to balance student wellness while retaining our valued traditions and instructional days,” says Teri Shearer, Deputy Provost (Academic Operations and Inclusion). “As this is the first year of this revised fall term schedule, we will continue listening to feedback from the community to ensure this break achieves its goal of enhancing the student learning experience.” 

In February 2017, Queen’s University Senate approved the addition of a fall term break at the recommendation of the Fall Term Break Task Force, which Dr. Shearer chaired.  

To accommodate the addition of a break, the university shuffled the move-in and orientation schedule at the start of the term. In making these schedule changes, there were no changes to the December pre-exam period study days nor were there any changes to the number of instructional days in the fall term. 

Students are encouraged to use the two days to catch up on their readings and their rest. The campus will remain open for students wishing to visit a library, hang out at a food outlet, or access a gym. 

For students wishing to better equip themselves for their studies, the Queen’s Student Academic Success Services team and the School of Graduate Studies will be running workshops. The Queen’s University International Centre and Residence Life teams will also have programming during the break. 

Additionally, the Ban Righ Foundation’s 2018 Inspiring Women event is being held on Thursday evening at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts. The guest speaker is Kristin Cochrane (Artsci’94), CEO of Penguin Random House Canada. This event is free to attend and open to all students, staff, and faculty. 

Students in Stauffer Library on Oct. 25 or Oct. 26 will have the opportunity to learn about the hard work of some of their peers as part of the Undergraduate Student Summer Research Fellowship (USSRF) Poster Display – though the display will run through November 2. 

To view the Fall Term Break Task Force’s final report, visit the University Secretariat’s website.