Greetings from A&S Summer Session!
It is now time to plan for Summer 2026 courses! The following webpage is available for you to reference and share with potential instructors as you begin your planning and recruitment efforts:
https://summersession.wustl.edu/course-planning.
Next Steps
Schedule a Summer Course Consultation: If your department/program hasn't already scheduled an individual consultation with me to talk through your goals and priorities, review enrollment histories, and discuss Summer 2026 course allotments, please do so by Monday, November 24 using this link.
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Enter Course Sections: Summer 2026 courses will now be managed in Workday. Please work with your Workday Course Section Manager to update approved Summer 2026 course sections by Friday, December 5. For a list of Summer Session dates and times, please visit the Course Planning webpage.
Submit Course & Course Section Fees: The process for submitting course and section fees for Summer Session will mirror the academic year procedure. For additional instructions, please refer to the Submitting Course & Course Section Fees section on the Course Planning webpage.
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Recruit & Hire Instructors: Please work with your department/program to recruit instructors for the approved A&S Summer Session courses you plan to offer. Summer Session instructors should be identified by April 1, 2026. Our A&S Summer Session pay scale is currently undergoing review. We will share the updated scale once it is available. The funds to cover this instruction come directly from the College Office. (Note: this is for standard undergraduate summer courses and does not include internships, directed research, or graduate-level courses). Hiring letters will be sent via DocuSign again this year. We will send additional information in the coming weeks about how to update your Docusign workflow recipients and request TA/AI support for a course. As a reminder: Graduate student instructors must follow all Mentored Experience Requirements established by your department/program's plan and by the Office of the Provost. Graduate student instructors should be cleared for summer teaching and given an academic appointment before listing them in Workday.
Items of Note
Tuition & Minimum Enrollment: For Summer 2026, tuition will be $1250/credit and the minimum enrollment has been set to 5 students. We may allow a course to run slightly under-enrolled in some instances if the course is still pedagogically viable, meets student need, and the instructor has agreed to a reduction in pay. Please reference the Summer Registration & Refund Deadlines for our standard course cancellation dates.
- Course Allotments: To facilitate effective course planning, each department/program will be allotted a certain number of courses based on how many courses ran at or above minimum enrollment the previous summer.
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Hiring Adjuncts & TAs: Additional approval may be required when hiring adjuncts & TAs/AIs. Please contact the Summer Session office before beginning a search or extending an offer to an instructor not already affiliated with WashU; an undergraduate TA; or a graduate AI.
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Instructor Credentials: It is each department/program's responsibility to vet their summer course instructors. The university policy on instructional faculty qualifications is available here. Please be prepared to submit instructor CVs to the College Office before hiring letters are issued.
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New Graduate Student Instructors: Graduate students who will be the instructor of record for the first time are required to complete the A&S Summer Course Institute offered in partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning in late Spring 2026 (more details to come).
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Summer Online Teaching Innovation Grants: All full-time A&S faculty have been invited to submit course proposals as part of the 2026 A&S Summer Online Pilot. Submissions are due October 15. We will be in conversation with chairs, directors, and summer course contacts about any submissions from your department/program before final pilot cohort selections are made.
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Pre-College Students: Pre-College students typically enroll in courses during Summer 2. Departments/programs most interested in offering courses to this population should refer to the Pre-College section of the Course Planning webpage for additional information including suggested course start times and the course proposal process for noncredit Exploration Courses.
We hope this helps you get started with Summer 2026 planning. Since this is the first summer that we are managing Summer Session in Workday, we anticipate there being new challenges and opportunities throughout the process, and we will do our best to keep updating the course planning page with any additional information. I will also be available to connect with departments and programs over the next couple of months to answer any questions and be a thought partner as you consider which courses to offer this summer.
We are so incredibly grateful for your efforts in planning for Arts & Sciences Summer Session, and I look forward to collaborating with you more in the weeks and months ahead!
Best,
Ashley June Moore
Director of Summer Session & Programmatic Initiatives
College of Arts & Sciences
p.s. These are the A&S Summer Course Contacts we have on file for your program/department. Please use this form to notify us of any changes.
