Final exams will begin as scheduled at the University of Illinois Springfield on Monday after school administrators and the union that represents tenured and tenure-track professors reached a tentative agreement that will end the strike that kept instructors out of the classroom since Tuesday.

The deal was reached Sunday evening after three days of long bargaining sessions, including a meeting that went from 9 a.m. Saturday until 1 a.m. Sunday. Talks resumed at 10 a.m. Sunday and statements by both sides announcing an agreement arrived before 7 p.m.

UIS professors hit the picket lines Tuesday morning after they were unable to come to an agreement on how the university handles reappointment, tenure and promotion of faculty. The 168-member union has been working since October 2015 on its first contract with UIS.

“We have negotiated a contract that will establish greater transparency going forward,” Kristi Barnwell, an associate professor of history and vice president of the union, said in a statement issued Sunday evening. “This is a step forward in bridging the gap between faculty members and administration.”

Exact terms of the agreement won't be released until the contract is ratified by the union, UIS spokesman Derek Schnapp said. Union president anthropology professor Lynn Fisher said that vote is expected to happen before the end of the spring semester.

With the strike over, final exams at UIS will go on as scheduled starting Monday. Many students were unnerved over how final exams and final grades for the spring semester would be handled if the work stoppage endured. UIS' commencement ceremonies are scheduled for Saturday at the Prairie Capital Convention Center.

"We are so glad to be finishing this academic year on a strong note, with the largest-ever graduating class receiving their diplomas on May 13," UIS Chancellor Susan Koch said in a statement. "As we move forward, we will continue working together to realize more of the aspirations of our students, faculty and all those who belong to our university family.”