Faculty

What is SMU Intersessions?

SMU Intersessions gives undergraduate students the opportunity to take condensed-format courses year around between the Fall and Spring terms, with terms offered in January, May, and June-July on the Dallas campus.  

Dallas Intersessions

  • Jan Term 2026

    • 8 class days (longer for the online classes offered over an extended session)
    • Students enroll in one course (credit hours vary by course).
    • Courses meet Tuesday, January 6 to Friday, January 16. 
    • Monday, January 8 is a reading day with no class meetings.
    • Courses meet 6 hours/day with meeting times from 9am - 4pm, with an hour lunch break.  

  • May Term 2026

    • 11 class days
    • Students enroll in one course (credit hours vary by course).
    • Courses meet from Monday, May 18 to Tuesday, June 2.
    • Faculty set their own class hours for a minimum of 4 hours/day*.  We ask that faculty not choose a start time before 9am. 

  • June A/B & July A/B 2026

    • 11 class days
    • Students may enroll in multiple courses in the summer term, but may only take one 11-day session at a time     
    • Courses meet Monday-Friday for a minimum of 4 hours/day.*
      • June A: June 3 - June 17
      • June B: June 18 - July 2
      • July A: July 6 - July 20
      • July B: July 21 - August 4

* In a typical semester, a 3 credit hour class is scheduled for 45 hours of contact with students (final exams included). To stay as close as possible to this, SMU has adapted the following hours/schedules for each term.

Total scheduled hours for Jan Term: 48.  Total scheduled hours for May Term, and 11-day sessions: 44.

Procedure for setting the schedule for all other Summer sessions varies by department and school. We recommend checking in with your Department Chair (or the chair for the department in which you plan to teach) as a first step in this process.

Structuring Courses for Condensed Sessions

Intersessions is not involved with curriculum development, but we can offer a few useful tips in setting up a syllabus and thinking through how to handle course meetings over a shorter session.

  1. Consult teaching resources available through the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE).
  2. Use the focused time you have with students to promote experiential learning opportunities (e.g., schedule field trips or other activities that would be difficult to coordinate on a fall/spring schedule).
  3. Assign pre-work by email prior to the start of term. For example, assigning reading assignment prior to the first day of class can help ensure that all material fits into the condensed term. If expectations of pre-work affect the final date students may enroll (which is typically the day before start of term), please communicate this to Intersessions staff.

Marketing

The Intersessions program office markets all undergraduate courses offered in Jan Term, May Term, and Summer courses held on the main campus (or online). We use both print media (posters, stake signs, swag, etc.) and digital outlets (our website, email blasts to students, social media, digital signs across campus) to do so. Consequently, we recommend that faculty help promote their courses as well. Some of the most common means of doing so include:

  • Promote your course during the fall/spring semester. Share a PowerPoint slide, a flyer, or a few talking points to help put the course on students’ radars.
  • Ask colleagues in your department to help promote your course
  • Include promotional information about the course on the first page of your syllabus. Go beyond the traditional course summary to draw attention to the unique experiences your course cultivates.  
  • Create and distribute flyers around campus  
  • When faculty or departments post something about an Intersessions course on their social media accounts we’ll re-post it. Follow us @SMUintersession on Instagram; we’ll follow you back!

PLEASE NOTE, SMU-in-Taos and SMU Abroad are separate programs with their own administrative offices outside of the main Intersessions Office, whose focus is Dallas campus courses.