The Office of the Registrar is responsible for initial classroom assignments. The Campus Scheduler in the Events Office is responsible for changes and additional scheduling requests once classes begin each semester.
Instructors have the opportunity to state their classroom preferences when they submit their Classroom Request Form for the upcoming semester. They are also asked to provide information specifying required or preferred facilities and equipment.
Every effort is made to provide faculty with the rooms they prefer. In the event someone is not given a first-choice room, it is likely due to one of the following reasons:
Accommodation of disabilities. Some classes must be scheduled in certain rooms because the instructor or a student in the class requires a particular space to accommodate a disability.
Popular time block. When instructors choose to teach during the most popular time blocks, it reduces the likelihood that they will receive their first-choice teaching space.
Enrollment. In order to maximize the use of space, classes are scheduled in rooms for which capacity is as near as possible to the enrollment of the class. For example, if an instructor's first-choice room is larger than what they need, the class might be put elsewhere to accommodate another class that needs the larger room.
Equipment needs. Some classes require special equipment--technology, boards, or window shades, for example--that are uniquely available in particular rooms.
Room arrangement. An instructor might not be placed in a first-choice room because, for example, seminar space is at a premium at that hour, and someone else has a greater need for that type of room.
Instructor's schedule. When an instructor teaches back-to-back classes, every attempt is made to keep that person in the same room or in rooms that are near one another.
Proximity to offices. An instructor with special circumstances, such as having to carry unusual amounts of material to class, is sometimes assigned to a classroom near their office.
The first three of these reasons generally end up having the greatest impact upon classroom assignments, especially when space is tight.
If an instructor decides to teach a class in a department conference room, an office, or some other space that is not scheduled by the Office of the Registrar, the instructor is asked to indicate this on the Classroom Request Form. If an instructor moves a class to one of these spaces after classes have begun, the instructor should inform the Campus Scheduler in the Events Office ASAP in order to allow someone else to have access to that space.
Classroom assignments are reviewed with representatives from Information Technology and the Office of the Dean for Academic Affairs to ensure the best possible match is made between the course schedule and available classroom and equipment resources.