Council of Academic Advisors Wednesday, February 23, 2011 10:30 AM, Union Board Room Present: Keri Allison (RPTA), Michele Aurand (IS), Laurie Black (Registrar’s Office), Donna Bradford (COEHS), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Sue Danner (Athletics), Jeanne Gage (COEHS), Jennifer Grimm (Communication), Niall Harnett (UAASC), Molly Homer (Honor’s College), Patti Jones (WESL/CIS), Patty Mason (Admissions), Candace McLaughlin (UAASC), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Russ Morgan (CAS), Julie O’Brien (UAASC), Ronald Pettigrew (BA/BGS), Andi Potter (CBT‐Engineering Technology), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Andrea Riebling (CBT rep), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Theo Schultz (Pre‐Nursing), Everyone introduced themselves to Chris Firlik, 1st year CSP student working in the BA/BGS area. Patti Jones was happily welcomed back in her role with WESL. I.
By‐Laws Review ‐ McLaughlin The following addition was recommended by Ken Hawkinson : Article IX, Limitation: Through mutual agreement of the Director of University Advising and the Academic Services Center and the members of this Council, these bylaws represent a statement of agreement on operation procedures. Nothing in this document shall supersede Article 7 Management Rights in the 2010‐15 AGREEMENT or any other Board of Trustees Regulation or University Policy. Discussion on whether this should be through mutual agreement of the Director of University Advising and Academic Services Center or Chair of COAA… unanimous vote that it remain as written since Chairing COAA is part of the UAASC Director’s position description. He also asked about the non‐voting rights of the Vice‐Chair. Since the Vice Chair can be from any area, the Committee had decided that person should not have a vote because then a college/area may have an additional vote on an issue… unanimous decision to leave the wording as presented. Implementation and Next Step Since the bylaws have been approved by COAA and administration, the next step is to send it out to the advising list, showing the new structure which may encourage their involvement in other areas. Election of Vice Chair A person who is not currently on the Board is eligible to run for the vice chair position. Candy will include this in the e‐mail with the by‐law attachment. It was decided that the election should be held in July. II.
FYE Hours Clarification – Dagit and McLaughlin First Year Experience (provided by Dagit) The First Year Experience (FYE) program is intended to create a positive transition to college and to encourage students to become more active and enthusiastic learners, both inside and outside of the classroom. The FYE program incorporates the primary aspects of traditional students’ first college year: academic, co‐curricular activities, and residence hall life. Upon initial or re‐entry full‐time enrollment at Western Illinois University, students with 11 or fewer semester hours completed must enroll in and pass two FYE courses. Students with 12‐23 hours completed must enroll in and pass one FYE course. FYE courses are limited enrollment classes for first‐year students only and designated with the suffix “Y” in class schedules for each academic term. They combine subject‐based course material and co‐curricular campus activities. When students re‐enter the university, their transcripts are re‐evaluated for coursework hours at the time of re‐entry and the need for a FYE class is based on those records. Students here at WIU who have taken 1 FYE class who leave for 1 or more semesters and then return with enough coursework hours are not required to take a second FYE course. The issue we’ve discovered is with students who attend one semester, leave, and then reenter without additional coursework from another institution. The way the catalog currently reads, the hours they completed when first at WIU are used to determine FYE needs, so a student in this situation would be viewed as having completed the FYE requirement – even though only one course was taken. This is a loophole that the FYE steering committee will need to address. It would be interesting to see how many students fall into this loophole. Candy will talk to Judy and try get this clarified before the next meeting. Advisors were urged to pay special attention to re‐ entry students with FYE issues and to send scenarios to Candy for further investigation. Instead of a special section of a Gen Ed class for those juniors/seniors needing an FYE class, which most of them probably won’t need, a leadership course (possibly in the RPTA 490 Greek Leadership class that lets students examine their potential and looks at leadership, civic, and resume opportunities) was suggested . This suggestion will be shared with the FYE Class Committee. III.
SOAR Discussion Continued ‐ McLaughlin It was decided to keep the Registration Record active for the following reasons: It acts as a back‐up for placement testing results It verifies what the student was told to register for that day since the students sign the form It has the student cell phone number In the comments section an advisor can indicate if a student has declined to take specific classes recommended by an adviser It makes a student look up their WIU e‐mail account so they become familiar with accessing and using it It shows if the student has external credit coming (AP, CLEP, etc) The following changes were suggested for the Registration Record Eliminate home address Add “International Baccalaureate” under “Additional Hours” Smaller font in the foreign language section Eliminate space in the “department” section Student and advisor signatures on the same line Add additional lines in the ‘comment’ section Eliminate the ‘white copy’ and ‘yellow copy’ line Put the advisor note and the colleges on the same line (top of the form) COEHS will be in Stipes 301 again. The room has already been secured. Places will be held for the June 10/11 SOAR for freshmen taking summer classes at WIU. Alcohol‐Wise Issue: A suggestion about inserting a bookmark in student FYE books as a reminder to do the Alcohol‐Wise testing during the summer was forwarded to Vivian. Ability for them to do this will probably depend on their funding. Faculty Senate asked about the impact of the academic hold on student registration and how many students are affected. The Registrar’s Office looked at the Alcohol‐Wise data on December 8, 2010, for the spring 2011 semester. At that time, there were 1,266 students still not registered for spring. Of those, 524 had no academic holds but had not registered, 636 had an administrative hold in another category, 104 had immunization holds, and 195 had an Alcohol‐ Wise hold. Some students had holds in more than one category. By December 15, the number of students with Alcohol Wise holds had dropped to 160. [NOTE: Following the Senate Meeting Angela Lynn provided the information that a total of 33 students – 20 freshmen and 13 transfer students – who had not registered for spring 2011 as of the tenth day had ONLY the Alcohol‐ Wise hold preventing their registration). It is not known if this was the reason for this group of students not returning to WIU. Caryn has reserved Morgan 109 and will get a room for the foreign language placements. If students do not have enough time to complete the placement in the morning, Caryn will give the test to individual students in the afternoon. Debbie will check on whether Computer Sciences has been contacted about using Stipes 309 and 312 and will contact Chris. Stipes 121 and the library computer labs have been reserved. The SOAR Review Committee will meet after break. Several people have indicated an interest in serving. Candy has talked to Tracey about topics brought up at Council. Suggestions can be discussed but whoever takes Candy’s place should be in on the discussion before a final decision is made. Other schools will be looked at to see how they handle their registration programs. IV.
U‐Select Program – Patty Mason U‐Select is the program replacing use of the Illinois Articulation Handbook, which is no longer available. Patty, Caryn Morgan, and Tishley Harrington will discuss this at the March 23 Advisor Workshop., so please plan to attend. Codes that appear in the course description area are listed below. Please also be sure to note that if a student’s transcript has been evaluated, it is recommended that advisers use the WARD screen to look for courses a student can take at other institutions – not U‐Select. G1 ‐ communication skills G2 ‐ natural sciences/mathematics G3 ‐ social sciences G4 ‐ humanities GH ‐ humanities GF ‐ fine arts G5 ‐ multicultural studies G6 ‐ human well‐being ED ‐ EIS 201 credit after WIU EIS 203 is complete You will see other codes in the 'satisfies' area and hopefully a list of all of those for everyone to use will be available very soon but until then, if you have questions, let Patty Mason know. V.
CAGAS ‐ Tammy Wilson Tammy was absent but Candace reported that CAGAS has begun to discuss what information it will need to begin to address new admission standards. VI. News from the Registrar – Dagit • Monday, February 28 8 AM – Early Warning Grade screens will be turned on Overnight – e‐mails will be sent to students with their registration appointments for summer and fall •
Monday, March 14 4:30 PM – Early Warning Grade screens will be turned off Overnight – Early Warning Grade notifications will be‐emailed to students • Friday, March 18 Graduation applications are due in the Registrar’s Office for names to be in the Commencement program • Friday, March 25 Incompletes are due in the Registrar’s Office • Transfer holds are now on – SP 11 transfer students must get final transcripts in before their registration appointment time. • Transfer students with Associate’s Degrees must get their final transcript in by April 1 or their tuition rate will be increased. Students will get notification. Students requesting their transcript need to ask for have it sent after their final grades are recorded or their degrees have been conferred. VII. College/Area News – Council Members UAASC ‐ McLaughlin There will be a Tutoring Open House on March 24 from 10:00‐4:00. Anyone who wants information on tutoring or wants to see our facility is free to attend. Invitations will be sent to students leaders and others who come into regular contact with students. Handouts on tutoring and refreshments will be available. The student advising survey will be sent out this semester in order to do a yearly comparison. Julie will separate freshmen from juniors before it is sent (date to be determined at the next meeting). It was decided to do the advisor survey on a yearly basis as well so that we can compile some longitudinal data. UAASC will be developing an outreach advising program. This will be an informal program in that the advisers for the students will not change. Primary advisers will stay the same. It is hoped to reach those students who are in trouble after their first and/or second semester to try and redirect them before the are in such deep academic trouble they cannot recover. An example of one such student would be a freshman who enters declared in Forensic Chemistry but who does not have the math or science background to succeed in this major. The student picked the major because of the CIS television show. If that student can be presented with different options early enough in his/her college career, the chances improve that that student will persist and succeed. UAASC plans to have this fully operational by fall with some initial contacts with students later this semester. It is hoped that the UAASC website will be active after spring break. There are many resource areas on it, such as a form for students requesting a reference letter, the TAP contract, and quick reference pages. Eventually the entire university will be using the new template. Many departments have gone ‘active’ on their websites. Students trying to access LEJA advising on their website are being directed to the UAASC website. Donna will check on this. Veterans Affairs – Candace McLaughlin In order to be eligible for GI funding, a veteran must not remain ‘undeclared’ for more than 1 year. Call Kathy Myers for questions. Veterans taking an internship during the summer can get GI funding beginning when the internship begins if the internship dates are verified by the department writing. Send documentation of internship dates to Cary King for GI bill coverage. Arts and Sciences – Caryn Morgan The Math Department will be offering different math courses this summer: Math 099, a 4‐week Math 100 class with a new format, Math 101, statistics, and Math 128. Math 099 and the statistics class will be online with restricted registration. Russ Morgan reported that the enforced enrollment in Math 099 will go to Faculty Senate this week. It is anticipated that it will be also be sent to CAGAS. WESL – Patti Jones Advisors may see more international students in the future. If you have students who are having difficulties with language, WESL is a good resource for referral. WESL is able to do placement testing before school starts in the fall. It was suggested that Financial Aid be notified about this resource. The cost for a full‐time student taking 15 hours per semester to be in the program is $3,750 plus university fees. This can be pro‐rated for those students enrolled for less than 15 hours and student enrolled full time in University courses would probably not be able to fit an entire WESL schedule in. VIII. Miscellaneous Special Advisor Workshop, March 23 – Topics covered Grade Replacement U‐Select Global Issues/Foreign Languages COBT 29 Hour Rule PAA points (added after COAA meeting) per request from PAA committee There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:45 am. Respectfully submitted Debbie Carithers