Council of Academic Advisors
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
8:30 AM, Multicultural Center
Present: Bryan Barker (UAASC), Jan Clough (Art), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Monica Eskridge (COEHS), Jennifer Grimm (Communications), Sara Lytle (Student Success/Admissions), Niall Hartnett (UAASC), Molly Homer (Honor’s College), Kim McDaniel (Study Abroad), Kathy Meyers (SAPSDC and VRC), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Julie O’Brien (UAASC), Andi Potter (CBT), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Renee Simpson (UAASC), Linda Thomas (UAASC), Jennifer Tibbitts (BA/GBS), Vicki Walters (Biology), & Tammy Wilson (COEHS) Caryn Morgan chaired the meeting in Michelle Yager’s absence BGS‐ISP Merger Update The two programs have not changed, are completely parallel programs, and are exactly as they always were. Instead of Interdisciplinary Studies being housed in the Honors College they will now be housed in Horrabin Hall. This all originated with an ISP program review by an external reviewer. At the end of that review, the recommendation was to dissolve the program and move the various components into their respective areas, but instead of doing that they moved the program as is to the present location. Michele Aurand will advise transfer honors; ISP students will be advised by BGS advisors. The difference between ISP and BGS is an additional major program. General studies and Interdisciplinary Studies can both be distance. A student would go into Interdisciplinary Studies when they want a program that doesn’t have a distinct major. Concentrations come from multiple disciplines, or interdisciplinary. General Studies advisors are BGS advisors who will be advising students in Renewable Energy, Youth Development, and will move from distance advising to more traditional advising. General Studies requires 40 hours from a major and does its own advising and processing within the program, including admissions. This will become effective Fall 2014. This year is being used as a transitional mode where all advisors meet with any new prospective student interested in switching to interdisciplinary studies. There will be no coordinator, although Jennifer has coordinated the transition, and advising will be shared between all advisors. Michelle will advise students graduating summer 2014. General Studies advisors will continue advising any student who graduates past summer 2014. I.
Centennial Honors College Reception and Extravaganza Report A reception was held Friday night at the American Legion with close to 100 people attending. Molly doesn’t know yet how much money was raised. Early Registration Procedure A luncheon reception was held on Sunday with 25 students and parents in attendance. Overall, 39 students were registered; last year 32 students were registered. Molly appreciates everyone’s help with advising and registration. Last year Molly only sent names of students who had accepted the scholarship to advisors and then had to keep adding names as more students accepted. This time, she sent the names of all students who were offered a scholarship, which ended up being 100 people. It is hard to predict which people on the list are really going to come to WIU. Monday, Sarah Lawson switched everyone back to SOAR dates but found that 4 of the 39 had not selected a SOAR date before switching. Molly called them yesterday and told them to call Sarah who can manually override closed dates. If a student who has not selected a date contacts you, please have them call Sarah. II.
COAA Committee Membership Suggestions Adding Technology Committee to COAA A suggestion was made in the audit to form a technology subcommittee or add a rep to the Council. COAA will be doing a review of the by‐laws to add this committee, plus filling existing sub‐
committees. It was felt this makes sense since there are a lot of initiatives or suggestions to make improvement, or streamline current initiatives. Maybe some advisors will find technology more interesting than assessment and maybe more people will be interested who are not represented on COAA. It is definitely something to look at. Some COAA committees already have a technology component incorporated into them. An example of technology that might be investigated would be Grades First going from Athletics to everyone, electronic student files as a way to share comments when students switch majors, grants, etc. There is an IT Governance Committee on campus; the President is the owner of all technology on campus. A Technology Committee could look into suggestions and then take them to the IT Governance Committee who would determine if they is feasible. The Registrar’s Office would also need to be included. Another piece to be looked at is allowing students to sign up for their own appointments and whether Zimbra is a good tool for that or if other software programs should be investigated. Some advisors on campus already do this, but there have been some problems. Students like different forms of making appointments, such as calling, signing up themselves, and making phone appointments. Automating forms should also be looked at, as well as a wide range of other initiatives. These ideas need to be taken to respective areas to get input from a wider group. III.
There will be a COAA budget of $2,000 next year. SOAR Ad Hoc Update The committee has not met again. Sarah Jewel has approved the agenda sent to her. There will be a FYE/U100 session in the morning so it doesn’t need to be covered in the major meetings since most will have heard about it at other sessions. It is best to go with the schedule proposed instead of shortening up presentations. There are six 20‐minute presentations with no breaks, transition time, or travel time planned between sessions. Sessions will run for 2 hours with 40 students in each session, then rotating to the next. Both students and parents should see everything. Sarah Lytle will check with Sarah Jewel about when a final program will be available and will give a report at the next meeting. Debriefing April 25th Michelle has already spoken to Sarah Jewel about the fact that there weren’t any questions about advising on the student survey and that a shorter link needs to be created. IV.
Although the Sandburg Theatre was nice, students had to go upstairs for the Fair, get their IDs, and to see Patty Mason. Since there wasn’t a large group, the Sandburg Theatre had a more intimate feeling. The laptop and projector were too close to the screen. SOAR Sarah will try to get an alias for the survey during SOAR. There will be surveys conducted before, during, and after SOAR with a learning outcome‐orientation survey at the end. She is looking at some type of satisfaction survey with the SOAR experience throughout the day with the end survey meeting goals. Information not covered during SOAR will be included in the weekend orientation after the conclusion of SOAR. FYE classes and academic advising should be included at some point. Advisors would like to see the evaluation before SOAR. If advisors know what questions will be asked, they can phrase their presentations in a way questions can be answered. In the future, it would be nice if there was collaboration between the people doing presentations and those determining goals because there are things that can’t be covered in SOAR, such as gen ed, major requirements, and minor requirements. Advising Audit Report (External Review) The External Review committee will be meeting to prepare a written response to the audit, as requested by Ron Williams. It was felt that the audit adequately represented what was going on here. As with any review, things shouldn’t be kept at status quo just because it is comfortable but determine what can be managed, short and long term. The advising audit included a provision for creating an Advisor Champion. This was interpreted that we need to have a rep on committees making decisions involving advising. Michelle is going to sit on the SOAR Planning Committee next year; Ron Williams was the past rep. The former Advising Champion was lost with Candy’s retirement, new administration, and changes. It needs to be formalized. Michelle would be the logical person, since she is chair of the Council. One of the themes throughout the audit was that there needs to be collaboration and to start a conversation about how to do this. There needs to be understanding between academic and student services. Even though they are two different cultures, each should have an understanding of the other and how to work within the mix of ideologies. All entities have to respect different priorities; however, the end goal of having students come and register is the same. Each one of us has a piece in that and the expectations are different, so a common ground of how everyone can work together to make this the best experience for our students needs to be found. There have been a lot of changes in student services and that contributes to the lack of collaboration. When you have spent years establishing relationships with one group of people and then it is changed, it takes time to either shift or renew relationships so you have the same working relationships again. MSU has a lot of award‐winning advising awards and recognition which might be an issue for the Technology Committee. NACADA has a lot of awards for which advisors should be applying. The reviewer cited PAA faculty components because faculty are also included in advising. Advisors don’t have a standard evaluation and the PAA was the only transparent evaluation tool that she could find on the website. There has been talk in the past about having advising levels, and the reviewer did mention that. MSU has a master level at the top. This might be a discussion for the future. Please read the report and give feedback to the reps on the groups. It needs to be read once or twice because there is a lot of material included in the audit. V.
COFAC was mentioned a lot with the highest priority recommendations. COAA Reps for 2014‐15 Andi Potter and Michelle Terry will be COBT Reps Today is the deadline for submitting names for CAGAS reps. Please send names to Michelle and voting will be conducted at the next meeting. The CAGAS rep also serves on Campus Affairs. VI.
A Student rep was not on the list but is in in the by‐laws. Michelle will ask SGA for a rep. Standing Committees Professional Dev Everyone should be receiving e‐mail about the May 12 advising retreat. Lunch will start at 11:30; presentations will start at 12:00. Dress comfortably. There will be a lot of good door prizes. Jude Kiah will be keynoter; Ann Commerford will also speak. There will be other speakers and activities throughout the day, along with prizes. There will be activities for everyone; don’t be intimidated because it is at the Rec Center. Campus Affairs The committee has met once. They had a discussion about establishing how many people are needed to make the committee run successfully and setting goals. Assessment The student survey was finished on Friday. There has been a low response rate. They are looking at new ways next year to distribute it, possibly putting it up on STARS, but permission is needed for that. Students will be selected to win prizes. The advisor survey has been approved and will be up June and July. Awards and Recognition The committee will meet next week to determine the April award winner. VII.
CAGAS There was not much discussion as far as policy. One of the things that has been a trend is that students are trying to get the math competency requirement waived. CAGAS questioned 1) Why are we admitting so many student who can’t get through Math 099, and 2) should it be waived, but if it is waived for a large amount of students what are we saying about our admissions process? If a student doesn’t think they can get through math, what does CAGAS look for in waiving math? They look for students who have gone through DRC and those who have had to use external testing. There needs to be some sort of supporting documentation. There is a new inclusion of CS 114 in the Gen Ed area, possibly using it as an alternative to Math Competency. This has more math using logic than word problems. This might be an alternative for those who can’t through math, but has relationship to math since it is in the math area. Since Math 099 is not a requirement but a pre‐req, students are appealing for Math 100 competency. Philosophy 140 can also be submitted as a waiver. X. News from the Registrar’s Office Important Dates a. 4/28/2014 (Monday) – GRRP screen opened for final grading b. 5/13/2014 (Tuesday) – GRRP screen closes at noon; grades will post overnight c. 5/14/2014 (Wednesday) – Grades available; Academic Status letters printed and mailed; early checkout begins (check for completion of all graduation requirements) d. 5/15/2014 (Thursday) – Degrees for graduates with all requirements met will be processed. e. 5/22/2014 (Thursday) – Last day to drop pre‐session courses or withdraw from pre‐
session. f. 5/23/2014 (Friday) – Deadline for clearing deficiencies for the May 10 graduation date g. 5/28/2014 (Wednesday) – Degrees will be posted overnight Note: Students will now be notified by email if their registration date or new student registration option has changed. This applies to new students who select, change, or cancel their new student registration option (SOAR, NSR, advisor registration, or early military registration), and current students whose date changes for any reason. All current notifications including postcards, brochures, and emails will continue to be sent. VIII.
Program Change Announcements Jennifer sent an e‐mail about a new communication minor which can be done completely on‐line. It will be in the catalog next fall. Call Jennifer if you have questions. RPTA 112 is a 2‐credit FYE class. The intention is that all 110 FYEs will switch to 112Y. There will no 110Y, but there will be regular 110 sections. Finance 101 is 2‐hour class, not a Y class. Julie will contact Keri to double check on this. Math just had a new option approved which is more of a focused area where other courses can be brought in. It is aimed at students planning to go into industry rather than on to grad school. An integrated bachelors/masters 5‐year program in math was approved, which assumes students will start in Math 133. IX. College/Area News The Gen Ed handbook went to the printers last week. There were a few minor changes; lab sciences are in bold. There is a multicultural section listing 100‐level courses and then 200‐level courses and above. It is hoped this will make it easier to find 100‐level classes. In the past, the list of gen ed course were on 2 pages; now with 14 new courses it has expanded to 3 pages. There are several cross‐listed classes. There is an additional Comm 241 course for summer. It could close quickly. The Fallen Soldiers scholarship application is due tomorrow. The award is for fall; there will be two $500 scholarships that can be used for any expense. The Elks Club is sponsoring a free brunch this Sunday, 9:00‐1:00, for all WIU student veterans. A guest can be taken; the cost is $5 for non‐veterans. Major Change General Studies requires a separate form from the regular Declaration Form since they have their own admission procedures. If a student switches from General Studies to a traditional major, they need to fill out a re‐admission form through Admission; if the re‐admission is to gen studies, they have their own re‐admission form. There is no fee for General Studies readmission. Sarah Lytle thanked advisors for helping get holds dropped and for their push to get all students in for advising. Ninety‐three freshmen have an advisor hold. Sarah’s office is working with RAs to get in touch with students. Please let her know if you have a student with whom you are having trouble contacting. Another suggestion as a way to get in touch with students was to ask instructors to hand out notes in class. Sarah would be happy to meet individually or as a group to discuss the CSI. It was suggested she could give a presentation at the advisor’s workshop in August. X. New Business The Housing Committee met yesterday. 1)
2)
There is apparently a lot of director and sub‐director turnover in the fall. The HOPE initiative is being discontinued since it was a large media promotion where only 1 person was nominated. If brought forward again in the future, maybe a network through the advisors could be established for more of a push where advisors would promote professors by encouraging students to nominate them. Another possibility would be to ask each student group to nominate a professor. Niall went to all RA training classes and gave a presentation to each about deadlines for dropping classes and repercussions, academic status and consequences, etc. They have asked Niall to come back next year. 3)
Because of the Pension Reform going through, some departments may have to fill classes with adjunct professors. Many areas are facing the same problem. If students are signing up for classes based on professor names, there may be a lot of changes. A lot of upper div prof are leaving. This may become a huge issue for students to graduate on time, since a lot of positions have not been approved and SURS is backed up. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:55 AM. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Carithers