Council of Academic Advisors
Thursday, July 16, 2015
8:30 AM, Union Board Room
Present: Michele Aurand (Centennial Honor’s College), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Jeanne Gage (COEHS), Jennifer Grimm (Communication), Allen Kohn (Athletics), Kim McDaniel (Study Abroad), Kathy Meyers (VRC), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Charles Noble (Military Science), Estelle Plewa (UAASC), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Renee Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Renee Simpson (UAASC), Phoebe Wilson (COEHS), Michelle Yager (UAASC) Guest: Dr. Kyle Melborn, interim Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Melborn was introduced and invited to attend COAA meetings, as his schedule allows. I.
Walk Through NSR Program Univ 100 added seats Michelle has spoken to Nancy Parsons, who will add seats to the 12:00‐2:00 U100 classes. There is still a need to fill empty seats in the later sections. If there are still students who’s schedules won’t allow them to register for any of these classes, Sarah Lawson in the Registrar’s Office has been given permission to overload classes, where possible; however, you have to have a valid reason for requesting this. Be prepared to give your reason to Sarah. No FYE Added Seats No FYE seats have been added since there are enough seats to get through the July 20 registration and advisor registration Check‐in will begin at 11:30 AM Students are still signing up for the July 20 transfer registration program, which will also include freshmen. Patty Mason won’t be at the July 20 program; there are no printers available to print out WARD reports and EVALs. For walk‐in students that haven’t registered but who come to the program, please call Debbie to make folders and GAs will go to UASSC to pick up the file. Krista will be there to make sure students are admitted, but won’t be making files. Send English placement requests to Debbie Carithers or Michelle Yager. Include the student’s name and ID number in the e‐mail request. The Honors College will be in the Fox room from 1:15‐1:30 Students will be pulled for COMPASS first, which will be held in in ST 331. After that, the remainder of the students will be dismissed to go to registration. Michelle will keep track of the number of students in each college. Computer lab usage may be adjusted if numbers change for any college. Passwords haven’t changed and will remain the same as those used this summer. Summer school is still going on so please be courteous of students using the computers. There won’t be a survey during this registration period. The schedule is the same as that used in April and November. II.
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Advisor Reg and Math Placement Procedure Boris and Caryn will determine math placements for students. UAASC will continue loading English placements. Please send an email request for placement to Boris, with a copy to Caryn. Include the student’s ID and name in the email. Boris has access to the student’s HS transcripts and ACT score which are needed to make a placement decision. Either he or Caryn will get back to the advisor regarding the placement level and if Compass testing is recommended. Advisor’s should forward the email containing Boris or Caryn’s permission to test to Michelle Yager. Only students with permission will be allowed to test. Please note that Boris will be off campus the last week in July until his contracts begins in mid‐
August. Still send your placement request email to both Boris and Caryn as it will trigger the math department to make a placement decision and for that information to be loaded in MVS. Students who don’t attend registration and don’t have a math placement loaded in MVS become a problem because later forced enrollment is not activated. New or re‐entry students should be sent to the Math Department for permission to take Compass. A suggestion was made to have these students test during move‐in weekend when the PIP students take Compass on Saturday, August 22, 2:00‐4:00. Caryn will take this suggestion to the Math Department for their consideration. SOAR, NSR and Advisor Reg Registration Counts Michelle sent a report of a 3‐year registration comparison chart to the advisors. These are not an official enrollment numbers because there are students that withdraw after registering for classes and that is not reflected in this report. This only lists the number of students who have registered for classes. The 2015 numbers are close to the number of students who were here last year. Andy Borst will be at the all‐advisor workshop and will talk about official enrollment numbers. Transfer student enrollment is down. There was a question about the numbers under “Late Registration, June and August”. It was suggested that Sarah might come to a meeting to discuss and clarify the form. IV.
Multicultural Student Orientation for Collegiate Success Administration is resurrecting the Multicultural Student Orientation for Collegiate Success. It will occur on Sunday, August 23rd from 2:00‐5:00 pm in the Multicultural Center. Please encourage your students to attend. One item during the orientation will be a session that teaches students how to budget their meal plan points. Administration looked at data from the dining hall and found that there are many African American students running out of meal plan points before other students. There was a question about how the university is marketing this event so students will attend. There will probably be a TeleStars message sent, flyers in the Multicultural Center, and flagging all new students who are coded as minority. It was not known what type of special invitation was being extended. This is open to any minority student. Advisors are invited to attend as well. V.
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Academic Approval Form The back of the Study Abroad Academic Approval Form is in the process of being revised, changing the wording to reflect that advisors confirm that they have discussed with the students that the courses they are taking may affect their degree plan. This indicates that advisors have had a conversation with the student but puts the responsibility back on the student so they are making an informed decision. Students must sign the form. The Study Abroad office will continue to use the old forms before the new ones are finalized and copied. All‐Campus Advisor Workshop The All‐Campus Advisor Workshop will be held on Wednesday, August 19th from 8:30‐4:00 in the Multicultural Center. Advisors are encouraged to bring a snack to share and a sack lunch. The Admission office will definitely be coming and other offices will also be represented. Please respond to Jane if you are planning to attend. Jane will ask Andy Borst to speak about recruitment and enrollment/retention numbers. A lot of things advisors do are geared toward retention and they would like to hear how that is going. This workshop is open to GAs, support staff, and anyone else who would like to attend. In past years there has been a session for new advisors. Since there are no new advisors on campus, but there are new GAs, Tim and Jane will be doing a session on Monday, August 17th, for UA GAs. Others may also send their GAs. They will not be talking about the WARD report. Jane will send an agenda and would be glad for other GAs to attend. Please send her an e‐mail letting her know if you plan to send GAs to this workshop. New COAA Representative A new list of COAA Representative was distributed. Please get back to Michelle with names if your area is blank. Standing Committee Reports Professional Dev … no report Campus Affairs and Public Relations It’s still possible to make donations to the book scholarship fund through Foundations. If anyone wants to make payroll deductions, contact Foundations. Students did not approve the book plan presented by Jude Kiah, so that makes this scholarship even more important. Assessment The committee is planning to do a presentation at the All‐Advisor Workshop on August 19th. There will be more information on that later. It was realized when doing the self‐assessment of advising in preparation for the external review that there was no written formalized assessment plan. The committee is working on developing this. It is very difficult to assess our advising programs on campus because of decentralized programs. The assessment plan needs to reflect the advising organizational structure. The committee can’t assess individual programs, since that is the responsibility of those advisors. Awards and Recognition ... have not met Technology … have not met IX.
CAGAS Report CAGAS has met but Jane hasn’t been able to attend because of SOAR. The last regular summer meeting will be held on July 23 and Jane will attend that. Lisa will attend the August 18 day‐
long meeting where the committee will consider students who have applied for re‐admission. Please make sure all submissions have documentation included. A question was asked about grade forgiveness for veterans. No one was aware of forgiveness, but after 3 years out and with a very low GPA, a former student can apply for new‐start. X.
News from the Registrar’s Office Wednesday, July 22 – Grading screen (GRRP) opened for summer instructors Thursday, July 23 a. Tenth Day Freeze – Files of currently enrolled students frozen for reporting purposes b. CAGAS meets Friday, July 24 ‐ “Freeze Over” notification will be sent by Registrar’s Office Friday, July 31 ‐ Summer Session ends Tuesday, August 4– GRRP screen closed at noon Wednesday, August 5 – Grades available; academic status letters go out Thursday, August 13 ‐ Deadline for special CAGAS appeals by 4 p.m. (Appeals must be complete, i.e., with all documentation.) Friday, August 14 – Deadline to clear summer graduation deficiencies Tuesday, August 18 – c. Summer 2014 degrees conferred overnight d. CAGAS Meeting (Special Appeals heard) Monday, August 24 – Fall classes begin Friday, August 28 – Open Registration for FL15 ends Friday, September 4 – Restricted Registration for FL15 ends/Tenth Day Freeze for FL15 XI.
College News Sarah Simonson is the new interim chair of COEHS Kyle Melborn is the new interim assistant dean of CAS Jill Meyers is the new interim chair of LEJA Jack Baily is the new interim dean of CBT Michele Aurand is the new ASP rep for the Union. If you have any questions or concerns about what is happening at WIU, please contact Michele. Freshmen retention issues and what is being used as a first contact with advisors was discussed. Please let Michelle know what initiatives are being used by advisors and then she will send an e‐mail to supervisors that can be shared with everyone. XII.
New Business Kathy Meyers did not see a lot of students during SOAR so a lot of servicemen may not know where to go or what to do. She will send an e‐mail to Caryn to send out about a welcome program that is being planned to bring a small group of veterans together. Please contact Kathy if you need more VRC flyers to put your office. ROTC experienced a 20% increase in contact with students having high ACTs. Because of this, students can receive federal scholarship dollars (not waivers). Appreciation was extended to advisors for their help. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:45 AM. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Carithers