Council of Academic Advisors
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
8:30 AM, Union Capitol Room
Present: Bryan Barker (UAASC), Laurie Black (Registrar’s Office), Julie Brines (UAASC), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Angie Comrie (COEHS), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Stacy Dorsett (COEHS), Jennifer Grimm (Communication), Niall Hartnett (UASSC), Anna James (CBT), Ember Keithley (CBT), Kim McDaniel (Study Abroad), Lisa Melz‐Jennings (Athletics), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Ronald Pettigrew (BA/BGS), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Vicki Walters (Biology), Michelle Yager (UAASC) Guests: Dr. Mark Mossman, English Chair & Dr. Roberta Di Carmine, Associate Professor Drs. Mossman and Di Carmine were introduced and spoke about the role of Eng 290 (Intro to Film) in the university general education program The department is now the Department of English rather than the Department of English and Journalism. The film portion remains in Arts and Sciences in the Department of English … Journalism is now in the College of Fine Arts and Communication in the broadcasting area. The department wants to work with specific individual degree plans on incorporating English 290 and other courses into student schedules. Being a gen ed course, English 290 fits nicely within the film minor and students from many disciplines have taken the class, highlighting many different job opportunities, such as distribution (marketing), writing and editing, and English education. Dr. Mossman, Dr. Di Carmine, or Ellen Poulter would be glad to work with advisors and students in finding out how the course works into degree programs to complement a student’s wider interest. Introduction to Film (English 290) touches on different areas of knowledge within our university, attempts to develop critical thinking about how to frame cultures, teaches about the nature of film, and impacts many areas of knowledge. Film is interdisciplinary (works with faculty from all over campus) since it introduces students to writing, thinking critically, and seeing things in a different way. The structure of the class touches on many different disciplines. The minor consists of 18 credit hours and has a lot of flexibility for students, is a good complement for a wide variety of disciplines, and fits student needs, especially within area of development and evolution of new media. Jennifer hasn’t had a student graduate with a film minor without waivers. Dr. Mossman is working on curriculum development and will be looking at pre‐reqs in a meeting with the theatre chair since the course rotation sometimes doesn’t fit within a student’s schedule. As far as delivery, the department can handle that on a case‐by‐case basis until the program is revised. Please send a list of ideas, suggestions, or issues that advisors have encountered in the past when advising students with a film minor to Poulter, Di Carmine, or Mossman and they will try to address those individual instances. Dr. Di Carmine will send an electronic copy of the flyer to include with the minutes. Kim Moreno, COEHS academic advisor in the Quad Cities, was introduced. I.
10th Day Review – Michelle Official numbers won’t be released until the report runs tonight. It will be available to advisors tomorrow. There was a freeze for offices starting at 4:30 Friday night, but students had until midnight to do schedule changes. If advisors need to correspond with the Registrar’s Office about withdrawals and/or schedule changes, they should send an e‐mail to r‐office@wiu.edu, which is a general inbox that either Sue or Angela looks at. Advisors put in constant calls about U100 classes to Sarah during the first week of classes. Rather than adding any additional spots, Nancy decided, due to budget restrictions, that advisors should get STAR numbers and call Sarah Lawson for permission to place students into sections where rooms could hold additional students. Advisors felt this was a challenging time. Chris asked if advisors could have the ability to overload U100s, if given the same criteria as Sarah. Advisors would like to accommodate students who want to register on the Friday before classes begin, but after 4:30 the Registrar’s office closes and they can’t get overload permissions. The ability to let students get into a U100 class is ultimately deferred back to Nancy. It was felt that either advisors should have the ability to give permissions or the Registrar’s Office should remain open later on the Friday before classes start. Michelle suggested that a meeting could be set with Nancy, Sarah, and a few select advisors to talk about how to better handle this situation next year. It was suggested that maybe one person from each area could have the authority to overload U100 classes, given the same criteria as Sarah. Waiting until the Monday of classes to get students registered causes them to miss classes. In addition, not being able to load U100 permissions prevents advisors from registering students since they can’t load other classes for freshmen until they register for a U100 class. Without a schedule, students can’t use food points. In the past, housing wouldn’t let students who didn’t have a schedule move in; however, this year they relented, but students still couldn’t use food points. A ‘thank you’ was extended to CBT for helping with student problems. Advisors are happy that students seem to be reading their e‐mails. Biology has initiated a new retention program by expanding tutoring. Prizes will be given in various categories. The process will be assessed in May. Information is being distributed in biology classes. Any student, regardless of major, can go to tutoring, but only declared biology majors can win prizes. The spouse of a veteran who is working toward a certificate can be either fully or partially refunded by the military for the amount paid for the class. Specific programs that are certificate‐
driven, such as EMT, can be reimbursed because there is a state or federal certificate given at the completion of the course. Please send a list of specific programs that offer certificates to Ron Pettigrew. You may also contact him for questions. II.
PIP Update – Caryn Unofficial numbers:  One hundred eighty students were recommended to PIP 100 logged into the program but didn’t complete anything By mid‐summer, about 50 students had logged in and done something  The top 50 scores were determined as those students who had the greatest potential for raising their placement  Students who had not logged in at all were not offered COMPASS testing.  Thirty students were recommended for testing … due to misinformation, there were 33 who actually took the test.  About half of the students who tested improved their placements It was asked if students would take it more seriously if there was a cost involved, but because the Math Department was able to get the program for free this was not pursued this summer. Students weren’t notified earlier in the summer about participation in the program because the Provost Office decided not to fund the program and the Math Department then negotiated with the company to offer it to students at no charge. It was felt that telling parents about the program might be more effective than telling just students. III.
Freshmen Reconnect: What’s Everyone Doing? The Provost’s Office wants advisors to reconnect with students after they come back to school. CBT They are talking to students in managment classes This afternoon and tomorrow they are having a mandatory freshman meeting for CBT majors Advisors have also sent out Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3 e‐mails with information on things students should be aware of and deadline dates. COMM They are attempting to reconnect with all students, not limited to only freshmen On the Friday before classes began, Comm majors got an e‐mail asking them to stop by Jennifer’s office to talk; she had about 45 students stop by. This was followed‐up with an e‐mail asking how student’s first week had gone; she had about 25 students stop by. They are also putting an invitation to attend meetings on student’s Zimbra calendars. COEHS Starting today, advisors will be speaking and distributing handouts in LEJA 101 classes. They will also be giving information about education programs. UAASC For OAS students, there was a mandatory meeting Sunday before classes; there was a good turnout. For UA students, there was an Exploring the Majors meeting; there was not a good a turnout; this will be discussed and adjusted. Walk‐ins this week have been busy. IV.
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Flipped Pre‐Advising This was discussed during the advising workshop. With COMPASS being phased out, it might be a good time to begin discussing this again. Who’s representing your college/dept? Michelle would like to form a committee to discuss Flipped Pre‐Advising. This committee will meet heavily this fall because Michelle would like to have a plan ready to include in the Annual Report, since funding might be requested. Those who have already responded about committee reps are listed below. Please send names of other area reps to Michelle. COEHS: Missy Phillips and Phoebe Wilson COFAC: Jennifer Grimm BGS: Ron Pettigrew Assessment Liaison All areas need to be doing ongoing assessments so that we are prepared with data for the university’s accreditation program. Who’s your college/dept liaison? Those who have already responded about committee reps are listed below. Please send names of other area reps to Michelle. COFAC: Mike Murray COEHS: Stacy Dorsett Linkages Vision  Sharon Hunter will be advising those students who are in the Linkages Program  She will be at SOAR, along with a SRC rep. The hope is to have Linkages students leave with a full schedule of classes.  Sharon will meet with students, similar to the UA advisors.  The goal is to have these students transition to WIU to finish the rest of their degree, so they need to stay on track with their major areas. VII.
 Sharon will work with Housing to see if these students can be housed on the same floor.  Sharon will also work to see if university resources, such as the Rec Center, can be made available to them since they are not full‐time students, Curtis Williams does Linkages at Black Hawk in the Quad Cities. He might be a resource as to what they are doing with Linkages there. There are ten Fall 2015 matric Linkages students. They take U100 their first semester and an FYE class their 2nd semester, although there have been exceptions to that. This is an evolving program. Meet Sharon Hunter Sharon Hunter was introduced as part of the UASSC area. She is coordinating the vision for the Linkages program; there is alot of room for input. Standing Committee Reports There were no individual committee reports. Committees have been formed and Caryn will be meeting with them next week. Let Caryn know if you would like to be on a committee. The Assessment Committee still needs members and Awards and Recognition still needs 1 person. CAGAS Report Jane and Lisa attended the day‐long CAGAS meeting. There have been 2 other meetings since then. There were 34 re‐admission appeals, 20 approved, 14 denied. The majority of those approved were from students who were close, had legitimate documented reasons of why things happened (death in the family, etc.), and advisors and instructors sent letters of support. A couple students who took summer school classes who were already on probation and got Cs filed appeals. CAGAS looked favorably at these since they had advisor and instructor support. CAGAS shows interest and are willing to listen to anything that is close, has good support, and contains documentation. Students need to stay in contact with their instructors when something happens that impacts their class attendance. There were 2 requests for Phil 140 to count as a substitution for math competency. CS 114 has also been used in the past for meeting competency. The request was approved. To be viewed more favorably, a student should have had contact with the Counseling Center or Disability Resource Center and have made an attempt to pass Math 099. If Philosophy 140 or CS 114 have been used as substitutions, neither can be used to fulfill a requirement in another area. A student also needs to have earned a C or better in the class. VIII.
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News from the Registrar’s Office Beginning Saturday, 9/5 ‐If students withdraw from all classes at this point, they will receive a prorated refund. 
If a student drops one or some of his/her classes at this point, there is no refund. 
A student may appeal to Billing and Receivables for a refund only if s/he has not attended the class since tenth day. Wednesday, 9/9 ‐Early checkout for FL15 graduation began 
Advisors will be emailed the categories that their graduating advisees fall into before the letters are mailed to students, i.e., FL15, SP16, SU 16. 
Notification letters apprising students that their graduation date is being moved because of deficiencies will be held for a few days in case there are adjustments to degree plans that will allow students to graduate “on time”. 
If a student is moved to a future graduation term and something changes that puts them back to the original term, the advisor must let Donna know. She will not run a subsequent check after students’ terms are moved. Monday, 9/14 – Spring 2016 schedules will be available on Course Search Friday, 10/ 23 – Last day to submit Graduation Application in order to get name in Fall 2015 Commencement program College/Area News Study Abroad Ehrin is back at work. The Study Abroad Fair is tomorrow in the Grand Ballroom from 10:00‐3:00. They talked to classes last week about study abroad opportunities. Have students contact their office if they are thinking about this. Pedro will be meeting with different academic advisors. If you would like to help with this, please volunteer to work on some of the ideas he brought to the advising workshop. UAASC Tutoring offered through UAASC started today. Julie will post the schedule on the website tomorrow and on the app by Thursday. She and Tim are trying to make the website more appealing. There should be a new look on the tutoring website by spring. Arts and Sciences There will be a science activity fair from 10:00‐3:00 tomorrow by Currens Hall which will showcase available science resources. Students who are looking for minors or thinking about majors should attend. There will be prizes and lab opportunities. Foreign Languages and Literature The Foreign Languages and Literature Department is not doing proficiency credit anymore, but credit can be obtained through CLEP and other means. X.
New Business Career Services is sponsoring a Career Carnival outside North Quad on Thursday afternoon. Jane will send a flyer to the list serve. Please encourage students to attend. The carnival is designed to help students explore careers, think about majors, and connect freshmen to the Career Development Center. The event will be held outside Tanner & Bay/Hen; if raining, it will be held inside the Tanner circle. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:00 AM. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Carithers REMINDERS Next COAA meeting is Tuesday, September 22nd at 8:30 in the Union, Capital Room