Advising and Counseling Council (ACC)
May 2013
Walla Walla College
MEETING NOTES
Welcome- Wendy Samitore, VP Student Services Walla Walla CC
•
“Walla Walla Way”- how to put a small institution on the map. Developing the technology piece
to make it a landmark best practices for the state. For those using ADP Pro, a new component
called DNA will be available soon. Allows for a student to see their degree plan and how they
are doing. Using this feature, Walla Walla had 1,300 students to complete a plan. When Walla
Walla went back to look at what the student actually enrolled in, 90% actually stayed on plan.
They now have a higher than average completion rate and have hired Completion Coaches to
assist students in this process.
Reports
•
WSSSC- Wendy Samitore:
o Placement reciprocity- all institutions have to have a contact that is published so
students know who to contact for this service. This is for course transfer and placement
transfer. Note: The statewide form will be available on the SBCTC webpage by end of
June.
o Maurine Moriarty- writes on academic development in Tacoma/Seattle area. Gave a
presentation on Pathways to Change.
o Changes for Student Achievement Initiative (SAI). Completions will have a better point
system in the new structure. There are multiple points past the pre-college area.
o Multiple measures for assessment bill- it is coming quick and will cause a lot of
discussions on the college campus with recruitment and faculty
o LGBQ student taskforce- A company has been hired to add two fields to the registration
screen for students to answer. They can opt to bypass both questions.
o Fin Aid came to the Council to let them know they were feeling under supported with
the amount of changes that they have to deal with processing. Wanted the members to
go back to their campus to talk about this with their Fin Aid office. ACC membership is
seeing an upswing in students coming to Advising for Fin Aid numbers.
o Discussion from ABE group in response to Pearson taking over GED. Movement in WA
to move ABE and GED courses to graded coursework so it can be included in some of
the HSC coursework. Would be for 19 year olds and older. This would be separate from
the HSC programs that are already developed on our campuses. Prompted to make it
another pathway other than the GED. A way to get students a GED/HSC for free to help
them qualify for federal Fin Aid.
o
•
Competency-Based Education workshops have been happening. Being driven by WGU
and legislation. ACC members need to get involved on our campuses in these
discussions.
SBCTC- Edward Esparza:
o Legislation update- a lot of bills are being processed. Highlights on student success bills.
 HB1011- expands definition of Veteran residency. Vets who were non-residents
would be able to come to WA and apply for residency. Four years stated it
would cost them too much to offer residency. Bill did not pass.
 Priority Registration for Veterans- Has done well. Looks like it will pass.
 Financial Aid for immigrant children- doesn’t look like it will pass.
 Providing academic credit for military training- Didn’t pass.
 5180- Access to higher education for students with disabilities. Taskforce on
creating pathways to education. Committee will be about 26-30 individuals
from all areas to strategize how to streamline access to higher education for
students with disabilities.
 SB5624- Aligning high demand secondary STEM with applied Baccalaureate
programs. Have 8 colleges that offer applied BAs. Bill provides support for
place bound workers. Gives student affordable access to a four year program.
Only about 2% of transfer students are using these programs. We will see an
increase. In about 18 months we will have 15 colleges with 37 programs. We
need to be developing student support services for these populations. Bill
passed. Will be signed on Tuesday.
 SB5712- Determining need for pre-college courses. The bill says that we will use
different measures like placement test, ACT/SAT, etc. Looking to improve that
students are able to come into the college and do well without having to face
barriers to access to academics, services, etc. SBCTC developed a social
economic report to look at students across soc/econ status. Looking at levels of
post-secondary attainment for those leaving the CCs. Those that come from
high backgrounds fair better in completions areas compared to those in low
standings. Transfer students in the high SES are more likely to transfer w/in one
year of leaving the CC. Those in low SES are comprised of older students,
students of color and parents. Many are single parents that are struggling in
school. There is a lot of first gen students in this group as well. Looking deeper,
the correlation was high for number of students where their parents level of
academic completion was low in K-12. Report is on the SBCTC website. Will be
emailed to the listserv.
o Students of Color Conference. Had over 900 students attend. Very powerful event.
National best practice event.
o 18th annual Faculty and Staff of Color Conference will be Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in Spokane
Title IX presentation- Tim Sells: Handouts will be posted to ACC listsev.
•
•
•
•
Three Handouts: PowerPoint overview, Dear Colleague Letter, 2001 policy guidance on sexual
harassment.
Have a new rapid resolution process. Allows for a quick phone call to help bring forth a more
informal resolution. Allows for resolution within 75 days instead of 180 days.
Title IX prohibits sex discrimination
Dear Colleague Letter in the Wall Street Journal.
o The Dept. of Education has determined that the appropriate legal standard for
misconduct involving sexual harassment has to show evidence. Most colleges before
2011 looked for evidence. The 2011 letter shows the change in standard.
o Makes the connection between sexual harassment and sexual violence. Hostile
environment is created by a series of events or single event that make the educational
program you are offering inaccessible to the student. A college that doesn’t have
measures in place to deal with an event or series of event then is in violation of title IX.
o Confidentially issues. What do staff at the college need to report, not report?
OCR enforces civil rights laws, provides technical assistance and information. Mission is to ensure equal
access to education and promote educational excellence. Nationwide there were 5,000 complaints last
year. 350-550 in Seattle annually.
There is an obligation to make sure that anyone on the college campus complies with Title IX, includes
those on campus who are not directly employed (ex: construction workers working on campus).
Basis of “basis of sex” has been extended to include gender ID, transgender, etc. where it related to an
offense on the basis of sex. Ex: a male student who hangs out with girls and has a feminine backpack is
being harassed by the other male students that is Title IX offense.
If a student comes to make a complaint the question should be “what outcome are you looking for?” If
the student is just making a complaint but does not ask for any further action then the employee does
not necessarily need to do anything further, but leave the door open for further assistance and
document the meeting.
OCR doesn’t deal with employment related sexual harassment, dealt with by a State or local office. The
college still has the obligation to help the faculty work in a hostile free environment.
If OCR does come to your campus to follow up then the “worst case scenario” normally is that they find
some areas that need to be improved in the reporting and prevention mechanisms for the college that
they recommend be resolved.
Title IX applies to Running Start students, HS students on campus for recruitment activities, visiting
underage students.
If a staff member is made aware of an incident that maybe doesn’t even include students of the campus
they college still has an obligation to reduce the likelihood of another instance or occurrence because it
happened on the campus even though it might not have been associated with college students. It
doesn’t matter who it is- it is preventing a hostile environment.
Texting is a good example of the college having an obligation for something that may have occurred off
campus but creates a hostile environment on campus. The geography is not a limit on the college’s
responsibility to address a concern or issue.
The more severe the conduct, the less the need to show repeated incidents. Less common conduct may
not require a formal investigation if it happens once and then through direct work in the college it
ceases.
Confidentiality- The 2011 guide has an entire section on confidentially. The investigation by the college
can go on with keeping the student’s ID confidential as long as it does not prevent the college from
responding effectively and preventing harassment of other students. (Ex- a student asks for no further
action, but taking no further action potentially puts other students in harm’s way)
If a student makes a formal complaint and then change their mind or recant the college would still have
to follow through with the investigation because it is the college’s responsibility to make sure that they
are reducing the risk for potential future harm.
Any additional questions please feel free to email Tim directly. Might take some time to respond but he
will get back to you.
Tools of the trade- Satisfactory Academic Progress
Edmonds- Students submit a plan for review and then after review if they are denied then they are
brought in. The person reviewing is looking for past academic performance, reasons behind the
quarterly bad grades. Students that end up on suspension are blocked from registration for one year.
They have to write a letter and are required to meet with the Directors and then they discuss a list of
conditions for reinstatement. Struggling with reporting because the reports don’t run until close to 10th
day
North Seattle- Probation students get notification of what will happen if they go into suspension.
Energy gets put on probation to keep the numbers of suspension down. Has a flow chart that shows the
whole process from concern to suspension that can be gone over with students so they can see the
process to understand it.
Highline- notification is based on cumulative GPA. It comes from Academic Advising. Students are sent
a letter, the transcript and the process. Students on probation that then make a 2.25 GPA are on a
probation hold which keeps them from going further down the cycle. Notify special groups like RS,
Athletes, etc. so those departments know who is on probation/suspension. Knows the percentage of
the average number of students on probation. Running Start was disproportionality high. Saw that
students were taking too many credits. Could see relation to GPA and credit load and set new policy to
limit number of credits based on GPA.
Walla Walla- having accurate faculty reporting is important as well as the follow up on tracking to see if
students are actually going to the intervention. Using the portal to communicate information about the
process and notification.
Early Alert integration- Edmonds is going to integrate with SARS. Yakima Valley found no difference in
using Early Alert.
Some schools ask the student what interventions they feel they need as part of the process of
completing their plan for reinstatement. North has a pre-created list that students can choose from and
then add if there is something they feel would be useful.
Tutor Track allows for tracking students in computer labs, tutoring centers, etc.
How to get students logged into the portal- faculty putting materials in the portal for class, the structure
is “facebookish”, portal can’t be used for mass email. It is specific to them. “300th” login gets a coffee
card.
Is there a goal of how many students should be able to move from probation or suspension back to good
academic standing?
It seems the highest number of students on probation/dismissal seem to be in the transfer-based
programs or special admissions/competitive programs like Nursing.
Student Veterans Presentation- Peter Schmidt
660,000 undergrad Vets.
Vets need process orientated tasks. Military is about a culture, higher education is also a culture. As
Advisors we need to explain what the higher education culture is like, understanding the frustration and
focusing on how to get to success.
Service members are looking for the chain of authority. How do they know who the authority is on
campus? They are going to look to Advising or Counseling as the authority. They are relying on Advising
& Counseling to lead them through how to come down from their training and experience and get a new
set of skills to help them make the transition into Education.
Important to talk about what kind of behavior is acceptable on campus. There may be low tolerance on
their part for other students or staff who they feel are being disrespectful.
What helps Vets to self-identify with you or your office? Having military friendly icons, images,
memorabilia around. A picture of service men or women, the American Flag, a sticker that shows
military friendly.
1 in every 5 women in the military experience sexual trauma, 1 in every 100 men. 80% of active duty
women report experiencing sexual trauma.
Promising Best Practices- what’s working on your campus?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Student club with designated space on campus
Separate branch in Fin Aid who deals directly with VA
Resource Center
Boots to Books monument (Edmonds)
Having a point person on campus that supervises coordination of services for Vets on campus
Faculty who have military experience as advisors for military population
Having the Vets Coordinator come to staff meetings
Having speaker come to talk to faculty specifically about what they will see in the classroom
with Vets
Separate orientation for Veteran students
Strategies for Success course for Vets. Taught by Vet Counselor. Anthony Carson (Olympic
College)
Veteran’s Center on campus
Challenge Coins info@challengecoinsltd.com 1-800-818-3229
You can have all the symbols in the world, but the most important thing for Vets is the human
connection, personal relationship. Resiliency = Support, high expectations, opportunity to give back
NACADA Admin. Institute
Next institute is scheduled for Feb. 6-8th 2014 in Albuquerque, NM.
•
•
•
•
Reports
It is an opportunity for administrators in Advising to bring a particular issue or problem on their
campus to create an action plan around.
It involves small group cohort work and then larger presentations that complement the work
that you are doing in the small group.
Access to networking resources with other administrators, ability to see what issues you have
that are the same and what solutions others have implemented.
Summer institutes are meant to mimic the February institute work, but on a group level
•
•
•
•
•
WAAC
o Washington Academic Coalition. Professional Development for Advisors. Spring
conference cancelled. Holding a general meeting for any Advisor. April 26th at GRCCKent Station. 9am to 12pm. Talking about the future of WACC. Looking for new
membership to bring it back to life and create new professional development
opportunities for Advisors.
o There is interest from the group in keeping it going.
Running Start
o Looking at joining Washington Council as a sub council/commission to allow for more
professional development opportunities. Would still run our own meetings, but just
have a larger association.
o 1.20 FTE will not change. Things will run “business as usual” for next year. Legislature
wanted to see savings, they did, so it stays.
o Possible separate form for 5th year seniors. We are seeing a need to separate out this
group. This summer there will be a small group meeting to discuss 5th years and refining
the definition of that student group with access to RS.
o Concern from the group about testing reciprocity and what that means for Running
Start placement.
HSC:
o No official report
o GRCC- “iGrad” program in partnership with Kent SD. Youth re-engagement program.
o Next year would like to have a meeting on that topic
WCTCCA:
o Next year with Student Services conference there won’t be a spring WCTCCA
conference.
ICRC:
o Great professional development session on the overview of the Canadian transfer
system. Transfer is by providence. So if you move from one to another then it is like
you are in a whole other country. There is a large centralized articulation system. A
student could upload their courses into the system and see providence-wide what
colleges or universities will take their credit and where it would fit within university
system.
o Made three recommendations to JTC. With CTC Link they should take into account the
Canadian system and build in the infrastructure to have a state-wide transfer
articulation process.
o Student progress report now up on SBCTC website. Tells where our students have
transferred to. http://www.sbctc.edu/college/_d-acad2011-12.aspx
o Subgroup working on creating a formal transfer degree for RN to BSN. Standardize the
curriculum so that you can get the nursing degree at the two year level in a shorter
timeline and then seamless transfer to the BSN.
o
o
o
o
o
New proposal for changes to math in the DTA. For those courses that use alternates to
intermediate alg. The new version allows for intermediate alg. Coursework inbedded in
the course then that can be a prereq instead of intermediate alg.
Proposed changes to PE to make it no more than 3 activity credits in the DTA for
transfer students.
ICRC is looking at editing the handbook and have the BIs revise the provisos for more
clarity. If you are looking through the handbook and find something that doesn’t make
sense you can email Debbie Crouch so she can take it into review.
Bill Moore presentation- 11th grade assessment that would give access to college-prep
courses/programs
Fall meeting in Heritage university. Oct. 10th and 11th. Spring meeting SPSCC April 17th
and 18th
Breakout Sessions
•
•
Counseling presence with ACC
o Lack of presence of membership from Counseling in ACC. Varying structures of
Counseling on our campuses (faculty/part time)
o How to increase membership- current members should talk to their counseling staff to
see why they don’t attend to get some feedback about what would help Counselors
attend.
o Looking to create a master list of positions and functions inventory for Advising and
Counseling.
Early Alert
o Many schools after the report comes in to Early Alert then send a letter to the students
to follow up with an advisor or faculty
o Some have special population reports that go to specific groups
o Clark College has some special population groups that will make phone contact with
students and then report back in to Early Alert.
o Many have homegrown programs and send out a list of resources to the students
o YVCC blocks students from registration if they do not follow up from the Early Alert
letter
o Having a larger reporting window may be useful to faculty. Clark opens week 2-7.
Advisors now have access to the AEW reports to see what work has been done with a
student.
o North Seattle- Advisor attached to pre-college math instructor and they work side by
side in communication about the students in the class that need assistance and
resources.
o Works best to make the conversation with a student about just having them come in to
create an Education Plan which then opens the door to the conversations needed to
take place because of the AEW report.
o
o
o
Getting faculty involved to meet with the student about the reporting is helpful to bring
accountability on the part of the student to deal with the issues that are being observed
by the faculty member.
Important to look at do you want this to be a retention tool or a tool to support those
students who may struggle, were misplaced, etc. to get them on track with appropriate
academic coursework and resources.
Important to have faculty in on the conversation about what it is that they are reporting
on. It can help identify what is a classroom management issue, what is a Disability
Support issue, is it a true academic issue.
Positions 2013-14
President: Elaine O’Brien – South Seattle
President Elect: Kristi Wellington-Baker – Walla Walla
Treasurer: Sy Ear– Green River
Secretary: Anne Molenda – South Puget Sound
Member at Large: Peggy Sharp – North Seattle
Past President- Jessica Gilmore – Green River
Meeting Dates/Locations 2013-14
Fall Meeting: Lower Columbia College- Longview Oct. 16-18th or 23-25th backup
Winter Meeting: Bellingham Tech- Bellingham Jan. 22nd to 24th or 29th to 31st
Spring Meeting: Student Services Meeting- Tacoma April 29th to May 2nd