Council of Academic Advisors Wednesday, April 6, 2011 10:30 AM, Union Board Room Present: Keri Allison (RPTA), Laurie Black (Registrar’s Office), Donna Bradford (COEHS), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Sue Danner (Athletics), Jeanne Gage (COEHS), Mollie Homer (Honor’s College), Patti Jones (WESL), Leonie Meijer (Study Abroad), Candace McLaughlin (UAASC), Kathy Meyers (SAPSC and VRC), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Julie O’Brien (UAASC), Andi Potter (CBT‐
Engineering Technology), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Andrea Riebling (CBT rep), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Theo Schultz (Pre‐Nursing), Jack Thresher (Military Science), Tammy Wilson (COEHS), Jeanette Zotz (BA/BGS) Everyone enjoyed the tootsie‐roll pops that were distributed in honor of Molly’s birthday. I.
Transfer Agenda Draft for April 30th ‐ McLaughlin A copy of the transfer agenda was e‐mailed as an attachment to the minutes previously sent. The same agenda will be followed as last year with the exception that the location has changed from the Heritage Room to the Grand Ballroom. Since there are two transfer days rather than three, if you have students who can’t attend either registration date and need placement testing, have them make an advisor appointment with you and then have them contact our office to schedule testing so that placement results will be available to you when you do the advising. The English test is timed at 40 minutes but the math test is untimed, so make sure you allow enough time between testing and appointment time to get English testing completed and loaded before the appointment. If a student has not taken math for a very long time and is willing to accept a Math 099 placement, the student still needs to have the score loaded on the computer so they can’t enroll for a higher math class once they get home. Just call 2698‐1846 or email Candy that the student is starting in 099 and we will load the placement. The same holds for English. If someone really wants to start in English 100, there is no need for the student to take the placement test, but we still need to load the English 100 into the system. II. Workshop Review Areas identified as needing to be built into the August workshop as new agenda items or follow‐up topics are listed below 1) Calculating grades with the new grade replacement policy The calculator has been modified for the plus/minus grading system and, most recently for grade replacement. Some things will have to be manual however, so it was felt it would be helpful to have examples and perhaps a worksheet listing different scenarios where advisors could practice calculations at the next workshop. Remember that twenty hours of different courses can be replaced; however, Math 099 does not count in that since students can take Math 099 as many times as needed to pass. There are no honor points or semester hours attached to that course. 2) A chat session on PAAs 3) Global Issues/Foreign Language Requirement Students wanting credit for the second year of Chinese can still take the proficiency exam through the Foreign Languages Department even if the class is not currently being offered. It was voted, and unanimously approved, to move the fall advisors workshop permanently to Wednesday (full day) since the current and new CAGAS reps can’t attend on Tuesday. The fall workshop is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, August 17t,h, 2011. III. Forced enrollment in Math 099 ‐ Wilson/McLaughlin Forced enrollment in Math 099 by the first semester of a student’s sophomore year was unanimously passed by CAGAS and will now move to Faculty Senate. This will be reflected on the WARD report. IV. CAGAS News – Tammy Wilson The topic of Academic Integrity is being finalized and will soon move to Faculty Senate, then to Grad Council. They are looking at data and what other schools are doing in order to finalize Admissions Standards. V. News from the Office of the Registrar When notifying Donna or Joyia of changes to a student’s program requirements, please e‐mail only one of them. There is no need to contact both. New 2011SP transfer matrics who have not submitted proof of an Associate’s Degree have been moved from their “good faith” tuition assessment rate of Plan K to their “new” assessment rate of Plan L. Update on the question about WESL students who become degree‐seeking students needing to take Alcohol Wise: The International Studies Office changes the status of WESL students who become freshmen or transfer students. The change in status was not totally completed before AIMS ran the list of students who needed to complete Alcohol Wise. In the future, International Studies will work to change the status sooner and/or AIMS will wait longer than the 10th day to run the lists and send them to Vivian for follow‐up. College/Area News Arts & Sciences, Caryn Morgan, Theo Schultz, & Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio Voting on the FYE book was tied at 285 votes each. The Theme Committee and others who have read the book will choose which one to incorporate. Since there are only 11 students who are currently 2nd semester sophomores in their 2nd FYE course, the small number becomes a non‐issue for creating a new program for these students. If any fail, they will be put into a FYE class. If any of these students are particularly disruptive to the class, then the topic will be re‐addressed. CITR is doing a workshop on April 14th dealing with sensitive data handling. Anyone interested in attending can register through the CITR website. The pre‐nursing program is looking for ways to help pre‐nursing majors who lack a sufficient science background improve their performance in Micro 200. Theo will let Candy know what is decided. Chem 100 will not be offered this fall. Students needing this as a pre‐requisite will be allowed to use Chem 150 as the pre‐requisite. This waiver will have to be hand loaded in the computer. COBT, Chris Ramsey There will be many new changes in the business curriculum; the changes will be announced once approved on all levels. There will also be many changes in Graphic Communications in the fall in regard to available options. Students should be sent to Andi for questions. Although the changes will be reflected on the WARD Report, it will depend on the catalogue year. UAASC, Candace McLaughlin Julie needs changes to the Gen Ed Handbook e‐mailed to her by Friday, April 8th. If you are waiting for changes to be approved, please let her know. Even though DPS wants more time to print this time, changes may still be able to be incorporated. Look specifically at 1st semester schedule for the major. Candy will bring the Pre‐advising handout to the next meeting. This will be given to students and family members at SOAR. Check changes to curriculum for accuracy. Information about the different ways the Global Issues/Foreign Language Requirement can be met for certain majors will be included. Information from the Dean’s and Director’s Meeting: The Provost and Academic Vice President position will not be filled until January. A Search Committee has been formed and the ad has been published. The search for Vice President of Administrative services is ongoing. Charles Darnell is the only internal candidate. Reference checks are being conducted on candidates for the Vice President for Student Affairs. The university is attempting to go back to a centralized approach for tracking and replacement of computers. Candace received an e‐mail from a student who said another student got into her e‐mail and forwarded medical documentation to a 3rd party. The student was upset and wondering what to do. She was referred to Michael Rodriguez. Kathy Meyers, Veterans Affairs Sharon Heres will be working in the Veterans Resource Center as an additional assistant. The VA will now pay for a veteran’s entire internship, even if it starts “between” semesters. Kerry Keeney needs a verification e‐mail from the department in order for the VA to cover this. The National Organization has accepted all vets for membership. WIU has the largest group accepted. There will be many new changes to the GI bill, such as discontinuing break pay effective August 1. Students are being notified about this by the VA. Major Jack will be leaving for Mississippi in July. He will be missed very much. Candy has received correspondence from two military personnel who will begin at WIU in the spring (due to military commitments in the fall) but who want to attend SOAR this summer. Since they will not be in accept mode yet, all SOAR information for the folders will have to be done by hand. Candy will let you know if either of these students is from your area. There will be two units returning from the Sinai in May/June so there may be more students. VI.
Miscellaneous Roommate Matching Program in UHDS The Roommate Matching Program is on the UHDS website. Students are requested to fill out the form and, based on compatibility, will receive their top 10 matches. They can then contact one of the persons on the list asking them if they want to be roommates. This is intended to lessen dissatisfaction with roommates. Candy will check with Tara Monroe to see if the roommate matching is available to international students needing housing. SOAR According to Sarah, appointments are up 260+ last year, with the first 4 dates filled. Since there are still open spots on the Friday/Saturday June program, let Candy know if you have students taking summer classes who need to register on that date because the date can be overbooked, if needed. A copy of the confirmation brochure sent by SDO to new incoming freshmen was distributed. Library Summer Hours Phyllis Self has agreed to do summer M‐W evening hours at the library during the interim session. The library will stay open until 9 PM M‐T and until 5 PM on Friday. Saturday and Sunday hours will be 1‐5 PM. Candy will share final summer hours once they are received so you can tell students. The library administration will check counts to see if the extended hours are working. Double Major It is hoped that advisors who have students with double majors will work closely with each other to make sure students are getting the courses needed for both majors. If you are the primary advisor and are not having interaction with the 2nd advisor, initiate it yourself; if you are the secondary advisor and are not having interaction with the primary advisor, initiate it yourself. Students shouldn’t suffer because of lack of communication between advisors. Advisors were not opposed to having a hold on the computer for students with 2 majors, in a limited capacity, perhaps similar to the one time teacher education hold that guarantees at least one meeting. Candace urged those in attendance to talk to advisers in their areas to see what the feeling is. This will be an agenda item at next month’s meeting. Sue will check on the number of students with double majors. There are many double majors within the same college which might not be as problematic. PAA Caseload issue The caseload issue will be revisited. Candy encouraged advisers to remember that advising is a profession, not just a job. Professionals should be recognized for contributions above and beyond the traditional expectations of the position, but when individuals engage in or seek out ways to contribute just to get PAA points, that changes the profession to just a job. We all need to be sure that our primary goal/mission to serve students and our availability to them isn’t adversely affected by the PAA initiative. She is confident advisers won’t abuse this and she acknowledged that it will take a couple of cycles to get things hammered out so that the system is equitable for all. Retirement Party Candy’s “roast” retirement party will be held on December 2, 4:00‐6:00 in the Lincoln Room. Patti Jones is in charge of arrangements. If anyone would like to participate (as a speaker at the “roast”), please let Patti know. SOAR Candy will e‐mail Judi about either raising the maximum number of students above 20 or adding an additional section of FYE classes if student enrollment increases. The SOAR agenda will be reviewed at the next meeting. Next Meeting The next meeting will be on April 20th. Once finalized, Candace will send around the name of the guest speaker for that meeting. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 12:12 PM. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Carithers