Council of Academic Advisors
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
8:30 AM, Union Board Room
Present: Michele Aurand (Centennial Honors’ College), Laurie Black (Registrar’s Office), Julie Brines (UAASC), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Jeanne Gage (COEHS), Jennifer Grimm (Communication), Ehren Kuzekov (Study Abroad), Lisa Melz‐Jennings (Athletics), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Andi Potter (CBT‐Eng Tech), Estelle Plewa (UAASC), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Jennifer Tibbitts (BA/BGS), Phoebe Wilson (COEHS), Michelle Yager (UAASC) Guest: Julie Gibbes, Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance (Current Issues in the Lives of a Student Athlete) Julie distributed a NCAA Rules Education handout, the same one that is given to all tutors in their department which gave a general overview of NCAA athletes and information that the department staff and institutional staff members should be aware of. She also distributed a tip sheet entitled “Ethical Conduct – Academic Advisor” summarizing what was discussed today and an overview of ethical conduct. WIU is a Division I Institution composed of 14 division universities, both private and public. This is the only division that can give full athletic scholarships. WIU‘s requirement is to uphold the compliance of the Association. NCAA rules and code of conduct must be followed as a member of NCAA. Student athletes have to be working toward a degree and are constantly monitored as far as academic eligibility. Early registration for student athletes is permissible since it is an institutional policy and is set up for other groups, as well. Online courses continue to be a problem with NCAA and probably will continue into the future. Athletics as we know it now will be changing in the near future. Initial eligibility standards for new freshmen will change in the near future and transfer student standards have recently changed. Julie would be happy to meet with groups and/or subgroups to educate them in order to provide institutional control. Contact Lisa or Julie if you have compliance questions; a good rule to follow is ‘ask before you act’. Julie will send electronic versions of the presentation to Michelle. I. SOAR – Michelle Yager OAS Reminders in the Major Meetings  Make sure you are passing along information and material to others in your department so they are aware there will be OAS students in major meetings. 
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Make sure to watch verbiage and be sensitive to the differences between OAS and regular admit students. OAS advisors will not be in major meetings. When introducing yourselves to students, tell them that if they don’t see their advisor it’s because they will meet them at the next session immediately following this meeting. Major Meeting Dismissal 
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This is a tight time frame. Please refer to the handout for dismissal information Suggest parents take a picture of the schedule on the front of the orange folders; if they don’t have a camera make schedule copies and distribute so parents can meet their students for lunch. There will be two O‐Team members in every major meeting. Do not allow students to take orange files to lunch. COEHS Dismissal Instructions are on the handout “Reminders for the Major Meetings” Michelle will send the lunch matrix and Reminders for the Major Meetings to the listserve. Maps will be included on the back cover of the GenEd handbook. A checklist will be included in the folders. 
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II. Not‐Returning Codes on ADEN Screen – Michelle Yager The list of students not returning to Western has been sent. Advisors should include the code but leave the advisor encumbrance on. Individual circumstances dictate whether the hold is removed or not. The Brazil population of students who are here for 1 year is growing. Even though they are only going to be here for 1 year they are coded as degree‐seeking students; it was suggested that they be coded as non‐degree seeking students instead of regular admit students since it advertsely effects retention rates when the students leave the department to return home. Michelle suggested a meeting be set with David Bell, Rick Carter, and Ron Williams to address international student concerns. Please take a few weeks to see what additional codes are needed on the ADEN Screen Pick the most relevant choice if a student is eligible for more than 1. III. NSR Review An alias should be requested for the freshman and transfer registration survey. Some students are still listed under IDT, which is no longer a major. This created a problem at transfer registration. Once a student goes to STARS, it automatically takes them to the Landing Page first; this will continue until the 10th day. Use the ‘menu’ option to change it. It was suggested that the heading on the landing page be changed to “New Student” to include both freshman and transfer students. IV. 2015‐2017 COAA Vice Chair and 2015‐2016 CAGAS Rep No voting will be needed. Lisa Melz‐Jennings will be the CAGAS rep Caryn Morgan has agreed to stay on as vice‐chair for another 2 years. Appreciation was extended to each V. Automated Major Change Report Suzanne wanted to know if we wanted to continue with the Change of Major green‐bar form. OAS students can change majors without changing advisors. The Major Change Report would print out daily. The report still depends on how quickly the advisor responds. Previous and incoming advisors would be notified. Major changes to/from would go to that advisor, not everyone, as well as from/to. A UA student who has more than 45 hours earned needs to be changed to a major in MVS. There was discussion about having minors listed on the ‘Change of Major’ form VI. Fulbright US Student Scholarship It is hoped to get more WIU students to apply. More resources are now being offered, including teaching abroad or research abroad. Students should really start thinking about it at the end of their junior year. This is meant for any student with a bachelor’s degree and be can individualized to fit a student’s needs. Students don’t have to have an educational background. It is hoped that advisors would help think about eligible students and encourage them to look into this or send names to Ehren who can contact the students and provide them with information. She would really like faculty members to nominate students, too. VII. Standing Committee Reports Professional Development and Networking No one was in attendance to give a full report Information on the May retreat will be presented soon. Vans to go to the Quad Cities campus have been reserved. Campus Affairs and Public Relations An e‐mail has been sent seeking donations and volunteers for the lemonade distribution. A sign‐up sheet was also passed around. Jane will send this by e‐mail again. Tentative dates are May 5‐6 and it is hoped to be able to be outside. One day will be in the Quad and the other on the sidewalk between Browne, Simpkins, and Memorial. The time will be 10:00‐2:00. The committee is taking donations of products or money. Coolers have been purchased from Athletics. There will be a lunch at Thompson Hall on April 28. They are still working on the Spring for Books campaign. It is hoped that another follow‐up reminder will be sent today. Assessment Send any last minute changes to Julie. The committee is trying to plan a work session for the summer on changes. Awards and Recognition Andi Potter was the March Advisor of the Month. They will decide on the April award winner the first week of May. The committee also met to decide the Advisor of the Year; a winner and runner‐ up have been selected. The Provost and CITR will be making an announcement about the winner soon. A faculty member appointed by Faculty Senate will be on selection committee in the future. Technology The survey monkey has been sent, asking for a rank order of the top 12 items. If you still have things that you want to have pushed through, send to Phoebe. One of the items on the tech report was to ‘create a way that students couldn’t see how many seats were open in a class’ … clarification was asked as to why that would be a good thing. VIII. CAGAS Ann Gregory came to CAGAS to present info on the el ed change to create a mid‐level education plan that would be for students to teach grades 5‐8. There are several other things to go through before it is official, but it is hoped it will be in place by 2016. The new and old CAGAS reps go to the all‐day August meeting together. IX. News from the Registrar Friday, May 15, 2015 
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2:00 p.m. ‐ Honors Convocation, Western Hall, Macomb 5:30 p.m. – Graduate Commencement Ceremony, Western Hall, Macomb Saturday, May 16, 2015 
9:00 a.m. ‐‐ Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony #1, Western Hall, Macomb o College of Business and Technology o College of Education and Human Services  Athletic Training  Bilingual/Bicultural Education  Elementary Education  Exercise Science  Media and Instructional Technology  PE K‐12  Special Education o College of Fine Arts and Communication 
1:00 p.m. ‐‐ Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony #2, Western Hall, Macomb o College of Education and Human Services  Emergency Management  Family Consumer Sciences  Fire Protection Services  Health Services Management  Law Enforcement and Justice Administration  Public Health  Recreation Park and Tourism Administration  Social Work 
4:30 p.m. ‐‐ Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony #3, Western Hall, Macomb o College of Arts and Sciences o General Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies degree programs Sunday, May 17, 2015 
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Noon ‐ Quad Cities Honors Convocation, The RiverCenter, Davenport. IA 1:00 p.m. ‐ Combined Graduate/Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony, The RiverCenter, Davenport, IA X. College/Area News Be aware of the 29‐hour rule for business minors. The Global Issues/Foreign Language Committee will meet again next week. It would be nice to give veterans who have served abroad FL/GI credit. GCom 211 is now 112 (Intro to GCOM) … GCom 217 is now 117. Julie needs to get changes today in order for them to be added to the gen ed catalogue. Michelle has been asked to include pre‐req for all classes in the gen ed catalogue (even if no pre‐req is required) Advisors might be getting phone calls from student athletes who are trying to register for summer classes. Michelle will resend the e‐mail from Sarah Lawson about summer matrics. Be sure to contact Admissions to have the matric date change. Students should select the SOAR option on STARS before registering for summer classes … once registered for summer courses, contact Admissions who will put a hold back on for fall registration. It would be nice to have a COAA rep on the Provost Search Committee. Freshman military registration for veterans is still going on. They can register early; however, they do not have to come to SOAR … that is an option that can be waived through Sarah Jewel. XI. New business Council meeting times may be changed next year so that the Quad Cities can participate. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:15 Respectfully submitted, Debbie Carithers