Winter break is a time to visit family and friends, catch up on sleep lost during finals week and enjoy the snow, but for a growing number of UW-Platteville students, the beginning of January has become the premier time to complete credits needed to graduate or quickly knock out some general education courses.

UW-Platteville’s winterim classes were held for 11 days between Jan. 4 and 15. Registrar David Kieckhafer said winterim has been offered at UW-P during winter break since 2001, when 98 students were enrolled, and it has been growing ever since. This year 477 students enrolled in 39 different classes. Twenty-six students dropped their winterim class, but enrollment still increased 5.8 percent as compared to 2009 winterim enrollment.
“Winterim is a very successful program,” Kieckhafer said.

Kieckhafer said winterim poses advantages not only to students but also to faculty members. Students have the opportunity to quickly earn credits in a short period of time, and they also have the chance to travel, which is difficult to do during a regular semester.

Kieckhafer also said professors are given a unique opportunity in winterim, because they can choose to teach special topics or courses that are not typically offered during the normal semester.

Kieckhafer said professors propose the course they want to teach during winterim. In mid-December Associate Vice Chancellor David Van Buren makes the decision as to whether or not there are enough students enrolled in the class to offer it during winterim. The optimum number of students per class is between 10 and 12; if the number is less than that, then the professor has the option of either having his or her salary adjusted or not teaching the class.

“The only disadvantage of winterim, if you can call it a disadvantage, is the additional cost to students,” Kieckhafer said.

The most popular winterim classes are general education classes such as public speaking or history classes, because they appeal to a wide range of students.