Council of Academic Advisors
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
8:30 AM, Multicultural Center
Present: Bryan Barker (UAASC), Gloria Barr (BA/BGS), Jan Clough (Art), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Monica Eskridge (COEHS), Heather Fletcher (UAASC), Jennifer Grimm (Communications), Kim McDaniel (Study Abroad), LeeAnn Meyer (Admissions), Kathy Meyers (SAPSDC and VRC), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Kelly Morris (UAASC), Julie O’Brien (UAASC), Andi Potter (CBT), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Jocelyn Simmons (Military Science), Linda Thomas (UAASC), Vicki Walters (Biology), Tammy Wilson (COEHS), Michelle Yager (UAASC) Major Jocelyn Simmons, Military Science, was introduced. I.
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April 25th NSR Program There were no questions about transfer registration COAA Committee Membership Suggestions There are established committees within COAA to help do the work of the Council. Every advisor on this campus is a member of COAA; however, there are designated individuals who act as representatives of their areas and have voting privileges. Unfortunately, there is dwindling membership on COAA committees with only a few people shouldering the lion’s share of responsibility and work. There was discussion about how to have more advisors engaged in the work of the Council, which supports our students and promotes academic advising on campus. There are currently four committees: Professional Development and Networking, Campus Affairs and Public Relations, Assessment, and Awards and Recognition. Suggestions were discussed. 1. Increase PAA Awards for those who sit on some of the COAA committees. If PAA points were increased, they would go under equivalent activities and would need approval by the advisor’s immediate supervisor. There are 1‐2 PAA points awarded for membership on committees. For the last two years, supervisors have met to determine PAA points in order to provide consistency. It was suggested that the Professional Development and Assessment committees be awarded more PAA points due to the larger amount of work and responsibility those members provide. It was also suggested that faculty committees be reviewed for comparable points. A suggestion was made to increase COAA meetings to 2 hours, with the last ½ hour reserved for committees to meet. According to the current By‐Laws, each committee needs a chair. The chair will serve as a member in the year following their leadership to ensure consistency. The chair would receive 2 PAA points for their service. Michelle will talk to advising supervisors to see if PAA points should be awarded differently, and that information will be available at the August workshop. 2. Draw names for each committee like Faculty Senate? Drawing names out of a hat would give advisors adequate time to volunteer for the committee in which they were interested before drawing names; however, advisors might choose a committee they really don’t want to be on just because they feel they are being forced to choose. There was a concern that individuals might not be matched with strength area. The Faculty Senate Nominating Committee (formerly Committee on Committees) relies on a survey returned by those who have indicated they would like to serve on a committee. It was felt this could not be required because advisors might have their own reasons for not wanting to be involved. Additionally, some chairs want advisors to be involved, which leads to COMP time, but other chairs prefer that advisors be in their offices rather than on committees. A lot of jobs are changing with retention and recruiting, so it would be difficult for an advisor to be told they would be on a committee in 2 years. Not everyone wants to be involved. 3. Make all committees ad hoc to address individual projects 4. Other ideas Advisors are on a lot of committees outside of COAA, as well as advising student groups outside of office hours. There is an understood need and value in the COAA committees, but to force someone to be on a committee when they don’t have the time, is not in the best interest of that committee. A suggestion was made to determine how many people are needed on each committee, divide by the number of advisors on campus, and then put committee members on a 3‐year rotation. It would be hard to determine what years advisors will be busy. It was decided that the need for more representation on COAA committees, and the respective PAA points assigned, should be discussed at this year’s advisor workshop. A handout listing a description of each committee, the tasks they work on, and projected membership numbers, be distributed at the August workshop. Chairs of current committees were asked to send to Michelle the number of people needed for the committee to operate optimally, committee expectations, and how frequently the committee meets. III. SOAR Ad Hoc Update The proposed timeline for Advising and Registration is 1:15‐4:00. Caryn sent a suggested agenda to Sarah Jewel but hasn’t heard back from her yet. 12:00‐1:00 Lunch 1:00‐1:15 Academic Check‐in located in the Grand Ballroom. Students get orange folders and directions to major meetings. 1:15‐2:00 Major meetings with students and parents 2:00 Parents go to the Union for a Q&A panel 2:00 Advisors take students computer labs for course search and registration. Registration can start any time after 2:00 pm. Areas all colleges/depts. Need to address in major meeting presentations: FYE/U100, needs to be expanded in all area presentations since there will not be any other presentations about this at SOAR FERPA, parent/guest access to STARS (we think parents are getting this information at another session if they choose to attend that session) The advisor role and student responsibility in advising General Education, share categories and why we have a general education curriculum Comprehensive vs. non‐comprehensive majors AP, military, and transfer credit Placements in Math, English, and Foreign Language Semester hours equated to study time Other topics discussed as possibilities were the first‐week expectations and how to use a syllabus. It was decided not to include these topics in the SOAR major meetings as many felt it was too early for the students to use the information and because it these topics will be included with fall orientation programming. A new common student checklist will be created. The committee still needs to address how best to get it to students. The need for textbooks is not on the checklist but is addressed during course search. The problem of students not having money to purchase/rent textbook will be addressed in a couple of ways during SOAR. First, the O‐Team members will be talking to the freshmen about the correlation between academic success and purchasing their textbooks. Second, the students will receive an itemized bill after registration. The bill will cover tuition, housing/dining, fees, and textbooks. The student’s financial aid package will be included so the student can see the amount of gap they will need to cover prior to coming to campus in the fall. Financial Aid advisors and representatives from Spoon River CC will be on hand to discuss options for meeting the monetary gap. Every student and parent should have a good idea of how they will pay for college before leaving SOAR. All students will leave SOAR with the same learning objectives taught. A number of freshmen still have advising holds. The list of those students with holds comes out during pre‐reg. It was asked what percentages of those holds are advisor holds as compared to other areas who have holds, since 100% of students need to register where a smaller percentage of students would have housing holds. Freshmen Advising Holds: Michelle is proposing to Nancy Parsons that on one of the FYE ‘instructor choice’ days there be a lesson to teach freshmen how to conduct a course search using STARS. A possible assignment could include students seeing their academic advisor and turning in a proposed Spring/Fall schedule. Advisors will sign off on it, with a completion date before November 1 or April 1. In that way, students will be forced to see their advisor earlier in the semester and will be better prepared to register for classes when their registration window opens. This may help reduce student holds. If Nancy approves this idea then details of particular dates can be addressed. A suggestion was to make an appointment by the due date and advisors would sign something to make it consistent, showing that students have met with their advisor and/or have made an appointment to see them. Another suggestion was using a small group advising model especially in prescribed majors where there is little room for student choice. The growing trend of students not showing up for their scheduled advising appointments was discussed. Advisors shared that some students will make multiple advising appointments and then not show or cancel. This a growing problem that negatively affects the number of available appointment slots for students needing to meet with their advisor. In Biology, if a student misses an appointment for a second time, with no cancellation notice, the student must see the chairman to discuss responsibility levels. The student is allowed to make another appointment, but holds will not be released until open registration. The Communication Department also has a No‐Show policy in place. Vicki and Jennifer will send their policies to Michelle. At this time, it’s up to the college/dept to institute a No‐Show policy that best addresses the needs of the students. IV. Mizzou’s Learning Living Communities – Reported by Jane Coplan Housing is expanding the number of Learning Living Community (LLC) offerings for the 2014‐2015 academic year. Last Friday, Jane went with a team to Mizzou to see their LLC program. Mizzou’s LLC is really a floor or wing of people who share a similar major or interest. Within each LLC, there are 10‐20 1st year students who share a similar interest, called FIGs (e.g., FIGS can be women in engineering, journalism students interested in sports broadcasting, students interested in science, etc.). Within FIGs, students are preregistered in a couple of selected course so they share the same homework and can form study groups on their floor. Students take a class similar to WIU’s UNIV 100, related to their FIG taught by a peer advisor living within their FIG community. There are currently 108 FIGs at Mizzou WIU is not looking at common classes this fall, but maybe in the future. If anyone is interested in discussing a LLC, contact Michelle Oaks or A.J. Lutz. It was suggested that it might be good for commuter students to be included within a particular FIG area. V. Advising and audit Report (External Review) The advising audit report is on campus. Michelle has read it and has met with Ron. Ron will send the report to all advising supervisors. From there, the supervisors will disseminate it within their advising community. It will not be put online. If anyone wants to see it, contact Michelle and she will forward it to you. There were no surprises within the report. Included was research to support the four areas the reviewer was asked to address best practices, observations, information from the self‐assessment, and recommendations within each of those 4 categories. Once disseminated, the Self‐Assessment Committee will come together to write a formal response with recommendations to be sent to Ron and the Provost. Hopefully the report will be sent to advising supervisors this week. VI. COAA Rep for 2014 Michelle needs the name of each College’s voting members for 2014‐2015 by June 1st. The COAA meeting times next year will remain from 8:30 – 10:00 am on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month during the academic calendar. The exact dates will be sent out soon. COFAC voting members: Jennifer Grimm and Jan Clough If anyone is interested in serving on CAGAS, please let Michelle know by April 30, with voting on May 14. The CAGAS rep is a non‐voting member who also serves on the COAA’s Campus Affairs and Public Relations committee. The COAA rep has an important responsibility to share advising concerns and perspective with CAGAS members. VII. Standing Committees Professional Development and Networking May 12, 11:30‐3:30, Advisor Retreat. Reservations will be out next week. A ‘Save the Date’ announcement has been already been set Campus Affairs and Public Relations No report Assessment The advisor survey has been approved. The student survey is out. Data from both will be available during the summer. Michelle will get prizes. Awards and Recognition Keri Allison is the March Advisor of the Month. The committee will be discussing the April award winner during the first week of May VIII. CAGAS Faculty Senate has voted in favor of overturning the 30‐hour limit on AP courses. This will be catalogue driven, beginning fall 2014. If students haven’t received AP credit and fall under an earlier catalog, they can appeal. VIII. News from the Registrar’s Office 
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IX. Monday, April 21 – Open Registration begins Monday, April 28 – Final Grade Reporting available Wednesday, May 14 ‐ Final Grades available for students to see Program Change Announcements CS 114 was approved by Faculty Senate for math/science and gen ed credit. X. College/Area News Julie sent out the Gen Ed handbook information via e‐mail. Please send any changes to her. The handbook needs to be set to DPS by next Thursday, April 24th. She is revising the multicultural section and has asked for more description on some courses. Julie has created an Advisor of the Month website. It can be accessed through the UAASC website. Caryn Morgan, Vicki Walters, Jean Bird, Jennifer Grimm, Julie O’Brien and Michelle Yager will be co‐presenters at ILCADA. A ‘thank you’ was extended to Caryn for the time she put into submitting the presentation proposal. If a student needs to get into Comm 241, they need to send an e‐mail to David Zinolla, asking to be put on the wait list. If there are enough people on the wait list to create a new section, it will be taken to the Provost. If granted, those students on the wait list will be notified. If students want to get into a closed class in the business, tech, or computer science areas, please send a request to cbtadvising@wiu.edu. For ag, send a request to khadvising@wiu.edu. If a chemistry lab is on hold, it will be opened as other chemistry labs fill. Concern was voiced that too many summer school flyers had been ordered, they were late in being distributed, and did not contain useful information. It was felt that money spent on the flyers could be used more beneficially in other areas. The May 14th COAA meeting has been moved to Thurs, May 15th due to a conflict with the Dealing with Differences conference. The COAA meeting will be from 8:30‐10:00 in the Multicultural Center’s Board Room (second floor). The next COAA meeting is Wednesday, April 30th from 8:30‐
10:00 am in the Multicultural Center’s Board Room (2nd floor)