Timetable goes online: Bidding farewell to a campus institution

Beginning in fall 2006, editions of the fall and spring Timetable at UW–Madison will only be available online. The paper version of the summer Timetable will continue to be produced.

The university has had a “homegrown” Web Timetable since 1994, says Joanne Berg, associate vice chancellor for enrollment management and registrar. “We added another online option, built in ISIS, with the launch of Web enrollment in 2002,” she says. “After that point, use of the paper Timetable began to decline dramatically.”

Berg notes that the decision to go online was based on a collaborative process that was informed by surveys of peer institutions, focus groups to measure the need for a printed copy and research on user patterns.

For more information about online Timetable options, visit the Office of the Registrar homepage. E-mail suggestions for future editions to Timetable@em.wisc.edu.

Timetable and Class Scheduling (TACS) staff in the Office of the Registrar recently celebrated this passing of an era by autographing the final printed version of the Timetable. Many colleagues have already obtained this TACS-autographed “collector’s edition.” Copies are still available for those who are interested.

As a fun way to bid farewell to this campus institution, TACS staff person Chuck Dvorak and Assistant Registrar Sharon Pero unearthed historical Timetable trivia. Did you know? …

• In the earlier years of the university, class listings were printed within the Course Catalog; a separate timetable document did not exist.
• The original book containing university course listings was called the Time Table until fall 1961, when it became the Timetable.
• According to University Archives, the listings were printed by school or college in the early part of the 20th century. By the end of the 1910s, the Time Table became a listing of all school and college class offerings.
• Beginning in the 1922-23 school year, the printed Time Table was 6 inches by 9 inches. This continued until the summer edition of 1962, when the Timetable became full size.
• During the 1977-78 school year, the Timetable included paid advertising — from Magnavox to Lipton soup to Honda mopeds — to lower printing costs. A campus committee was formed in opposition to advertising appearing in an official university publication; the practice was discontinued after the summer 1978 issue.
• Photographs appeared on the front cover of the Timetable from fall 1979 until spring 1996, when the use of a glossy cover also was discontinued. The switch was made to a newsprint cover to allow the printer to continue to staple the Timetable, despite the additional pages needed to accommodate the growing list of course listings.