Council of Academic Advisors
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
8:30 AM, Multicultural Center
Present: Jan Clough (Art), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Monica Eskridge (COEHS), Heather Fletcher (UAASC), Jennifer Grimm (Communications), Molly Homer (Honor’s College), Kim McDaniel (Study Abroad), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Julie O’Brien (UAASC), Andi Potter (CBT), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Renee Simpson (UAASC), Linda Thomas (UAASC), Larry Tingley (Admissions), Vicki Walters (Biology), Tammy Wilson (COEHS), Michelle Yager (UAASC) Guest: Renee Sprock, Career Development Center Career Development Center There is a Professional Development Conference on April 12 at WIU. Although sponsored by RPTA, a student with any major can attend. There will be a guest speaker and a networking luncheon. The registration cost is $10. Attendance fluctuates at workshops, so if advisors would let their students know about workshops it would be helpful and appreciated. If a student attends for extra credit, they will be happy to sign any slip needed for verification of attendance. Dressing Successfully on a Budget will be held today at 2:00. A bus will take students to the Goodwill store to look for professional dress and business casual. It is hoped this workshop continues to grow. A ‘thank you’ was extended to Career Services for their help in getting students prepared for interviews. Other upcoming workshops are Managing Your Personal Finances and Resume Writing and Interviewing. A new student group is in the formation process which will provide an opportunity for students to be part of a professional development group. For questions, contact either Renee or Megan Savage in the Career Development area. I.
April 25th NSR Program Advisors were walked through the schedule. Since the Grand Ballroom is not available this year, check‐in will start in the Sandburg Lounge. Sarah was going to get in touch with ROTC, Music, Honors, and Study Abroad about participating in the Academic Fair. She had discussed these areas being in the Sandburg Lounge at check‐in. If your area is interested in participating, please get in touch with Sarah to let her know you would like to participate. 1:15, Molly will pull students out at the start of the Student Services Fair and take them to the Fox Room. 1:45, families will go to the Fox Room for a presentation after the Student Services Fair while students are taken into the Sandburg Theatre to talk about placement. Math placement students will be taken out to answer questions and then led to Stipes 331 for testing. Michelle will make sure students not testing stay in the Sandburg Theatre and then they will be divided and sent to registration with their college representative. Registration will start with those students not testing who have been walked over to Stipes, joined by students testing as they finish. Hopefully, this will allow for a staggered registration. Shannon has asked that advisors not arrive at the computer lab before 1:30. There is concern about current students on a computer being asked to leave. Shannon will post signs announcing lab closures a week before registration … please let students get to a stopping point before asking them to leave. College reps will pick up students in the Sandburg Theatre COBT: Chris Ramsey CAS: Ralph Heissinger COEHS: Missy Phillips COFAC: Sharon Evans UA: Niall When students are finished registering, please send them back to the Sandburg Theatre. The password was verbally given out; if you need the password again, please ask your college’s COAA representative. Michelle sent information about logging into printers to each college (Missy, Chris, Caryn, and Jennifer) so that they would have the password for printing in their labs. II.
Centennial Honors Registration – Molly Advisors should have received an e‐mail from Molly about registration. A reception will be held on April 27th for the recipients of the Centennial Honors Scholarship. She will send list of students receiving the award to advisors. Molly hopes advisors will contact students on the list a couple times between now and April 27th with the first call trying to get placement information and to make sure they are really planning to attend WIU. Last year the list only contained students who had accepted; this year Molly will send a list of everyone who has been offered a scholarship but will indicate who has accepted. If students are not planning to attend Western, contact Molly and Larry Tingley. If they are planning to attend, you should try to get their math and foreign language placement information and then send the form to Debbie in UAASC. English placement will be entered by UAASC. Advisors should find out what classes the students are planning to take and then register them between April 21‐27. Advisors can talk to students ahead of time, but April 21‐27 is the window where these students will be changed to advisor reg … after the reception Sarah will switch them back to their original SOAR date so their schedules can’t be changed. All these students will come to SOAR. This process worked well last year. Copies of the letters sent to students, the letter sent to advisors, the placement information form, and Honors FYE Classes for Fall semester 2014 were distributed. Molly will try to send the student letter and FYE sheet out this Friday. There are 87 students on the list. Invitations went out last week to the students. Not all GH classes will be available since Honors students will be registering before that, but all FYE classes should be available. All Honors students are encouraged to sign up for GH 299, the President’s Leadership Class. This is not required, but encouraged. Students should also take 1 other 3‐hour class on this list, GH 101 or a FYE section. Molly needs to give permission for Y and GH classes. Once students are registered, please let Molly know. She will print out schedules and give them to students at the reception. Advisors are invited to come to the reception for lunch. A proposal has been put forward from the Honors College to allow students to get credit for more than 30 AP hours; however, it hasn’t been sent to CAGAS yet. Molly will keep advisors updated. Let Molly know if you have questions. III. Persistence and Retention Ad Hoc ‐ Michelle Lisa Melz (Athletics), Ehren Kuzekov (Study Abroad), Tim Johnson (UAASC) and Niall Hartnett (UAASC) are currently on the committee. Michelle needs the names of 1‐2 representatives from each college who are interested and want to delve into the advisor’s role in retention and persistence. This committee will meet throughout the summer. IV. SOAR Update Michelle has not heard if Western has received the review from the external reviewer. One item Dr. Griffin addressed during her visit was the need to have consistent learning outcome goals so each student shares the same knowledge base. One of the results of shortening or eliminating course search from last summer’s SOAR program was the increase of student confusion when preparing their spring schedule. It’s hoped that this summer’s extra time for course search with consistent student learning outcome goals will result in students being better prepared to create a spring schedule. Michelle has created an ad hoc committee to address the SOAR registration schedule and to create registration outcome goals that supplement the program’s goals. This ad hoc committee will be chaired by Caryn Morgan. This will be a short term committee, but an important one, that needs to start quickly. So far, Renee Simpson, Jane Coplan, and Michelle will be on it; Michelle would like 1‐2 reps from each college. Area representation will be provided through department reps on the committee. A proposal will be brought back to Council for approval and discussion. Day 2 from 1:15 pm‐4:00 pm will be major meetings, course search, and registration. Since there is no longer an FYE presentation, it is dependent on advisors to teach students that information. This will be a part of the registration student learning outcome goals. Colleges will need to present the agreed upon key points while customizing the course search to fit their needs within the time elements established by the ad‐hoc committee. The ad‐hoc committee hopes to address consistency, how it is addressed will be up to colleges. The goal is for everyone to agree to adhere to the same timeframe for registration in order to be fair to everyone. Jennifer will send out messages to see who would like to represent her college. Placement information letters have been sent to DPS; it is hoped to start sending them to students registered for SOAR by the first of April. When advisors speak to an incoming freshman, please ask if they have filled out their placement information form. If they haven’t, please fill it out for them while they are on the phone and send to Debbie. Placement information forms are important because it allows Boris and Caryn to make placement decisions prior to check‐in. There is also an online form that goes directly to Debbie once the student hits ‘submit’. The mailing will include a hard copy and a link to complete it online. A checklist will also be included in the mailing listing items students need to complete before coming to WIU. As a student checks‐in at SOAR they will be given a placement card, including a math testing recommendation. Students will need to know this information since the COMPASS exam is scheduled for 8:00 am on Day 2. Michelle will send a copy of the entire mailing to the listserv. The mailing is only being sent to students registered for SOAR. SOAR numbers are lower than last year, possibly because students think they need to pay the enrollment deposit before selecting a session. This is not true. Please clarify to incoming freshmen that the enrollment deposit does not have to be paid prior to signing up for a SOAR session but it must be paid prior to registering for classes at SOAR. Students can pay their enrollment fee during SOAR check‐in. If a student comes to SOAR registration and has not paid their enrollment fee, it is expected that the advisor will help the student develop a course schedule on paper, give the student the advisor contact information and offer to help the student complete their registration (possibly via a phone appointment) once the deposit fee is paid. Only incoming fall freshmen have to pay the $100 enrollment deposit. August 1st is the cut‐off date when students no longer have to pay the fee; the $100 is deducted from their tuition. It is hoped there will be a much higher show rate at SOAR this year due to students needing to make a financial commitment prior to registering for classes. V. Veterans Priority Registration The minutes were consolidated to produce one single document, which was sent to everyone on the listserv so that every advisor has a copy. It is a clarification from the discussion at the February 19th COAA meeting. A poster developed by Kathy Meyers was distributed for advisors and Ga’s to post in their offices. Each college/dept representative took enough copies for their colleagues. Please contact Kathy if you need extra copies for your area. Copies should be sent to the Quad Cities. VI. Standing Committee Reports Professional Development and Networking ‐ Monika Brown Bag Discussion Thurs, March 2, 12‐1:30, Union Board Room This discussion will deal with mental health issues and college students. Please feel free to come and leave early if you can only stay for the lunch hour. An e‐mail with links to the two articles has been sent. Jim Ditulio and Kathy Myers will be there to answer questions. Advisor Retreat May 12, 12:00‐4:30 The committee is meeting with Judy Yeast to look at a program about ‘getting in shape for SOAR’. Jude Kiah and Ann Cummerford have also been asked to speak. Campus Affairs – Caryn The committee is continuing with their outreach campaign. There are postings on electronic kiosk message boards at the Union and Western Hall; another TeleStars announcement will be sent the first of April to any student who still has an advisor hold. The message on the STARS screen has been changed from ‘see your academic advisor by March 31’ to ‘currently enrolled students, please see your academic advisor.’ The original wording was confusing to incoming students. The next message will be, “you have seen your advisor, now register for classes.” Assessment – Jennifer Sandrick‐Rubio The committee is reviewing the advisor survey for summer and when finished will be sent to Council for input. They hope to have it run from May‐August. The student survey will be live until May 2. Please remind students to take the survey and make sure they know there is a difference between evaluations and surveys. The generic e‐mail or the reminder notes previously are additional ways to let students know about the survey. Students are much more likely to respond to an e‐mail from their advisor than from a TeleStars announcement from someone they don’t know. Lindsey can create a separate link for viewing survey results. A suggestion was made to have the survey go out in the fall rather than spring so that adjustments could be made the following year. Surveys are sent in the spring to give freshmen and new students an opportunity to know their advisor and the advising program. It is difficult for students to understand that the survey is not an advisor evaluation, just an evaluation of the advising process. Also, if sent late fall, students don’t ordinarily log into their email during Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. The survey and evaluations may be revamped for a more holistic approach. It was suggested that 2‐3 key points from the student survey be moved to the advisor evaluation. More students complete the advisor evaluations so we’d generate more student input on essential information. The results from these questions can then be reported back to the assessment committee. The self‐assessment team, once the review is received, will come back together and create an action plan of where to go from here. Awards and Recognition‐ Tammy Wilson The committee will meet next week for the March Advisor of the Month. VII. CAGAS Report No CAGAS Report VIII. News from the Registrar’s Office 
New Staff Member Peggy Lutz has joined our office, working at the front counter. 
Early Warning Grade Reporting 65.7% of course sections in the EWG population reported grades. 34.3% of course sections in the EWG population did not report grades. SP13 reporting was 62.5% and 37.5% respectively. SP14 was the highest reporting percentage for a spring semester since online grade reporting began. 
Friday, March 21 – “Incomplete” grades due in the Registrar’s Office. If grades are not received, the “I” will convert in the next week or so. 
Sunday, March 30 (Sunday at midnight) – This is the deadline for a student to drop a class or withdraw completely from the University. IX. Program Change Announcements There are 570 students signed up for the March 22 Discover Western; it is anticipated that at least 300 of those students will attend. Most attending are seniors with a few juniors. X. College/Area News U‐Select There is an announcement on U‐Select about program changes at the end of March. There is also a video about how classes transfer to other schools. Patty Mason doesn’t know yet how it will change. RPTA 112 RPTA is trying to get approval on a RPTA 112, Recreation Toward Life, a 2‐credit class proposal for human wellbeing. It was presented at the Gen Ed Council meeting but was sent back for revisions. It will fit well with U100 for 3 hours total. Michelle will keep everyone updated. Once passed through the Gen Ed Council, it will go to Faculty Senate. Re‐Entry List If a student has been suspended and is returning to WIU, they will automatically be readmitted after suspension and will appear on the re‐entry list; however, students who have been discussed can’t automatically be readmitted. Re‐entry students have to apply for readmission and can’t change majors when applying. To change majors, they need to talk to the advisor of the new major. Bio‐medical science and bio‐medical engineering are two different areas. Bio‐medical sciences is under Physical Sciences in the catalogue. Biomedical engineering is not supported through biology. XI. New Business There is an open candidate session for the athletic advising position at 10:30 today in the WH Hall of Fame Room. Lisa has invited advisors to participate in the open session. Your input is appreciated. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 AM. The next meeting is Wednesday, April 2nd at 8:30 am in the Union Board Room. Please note this is a change of venue. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Carithers