Council of Academic Advisors
Thursday, March 21, 2013
10:30 AM, Union Board Room
Present: Jean Bird (COBT), Donna Bradford (COEHS), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Jeanne Gage (COEHS), Jennifer Grimm (Communications), Anna James (CBT), Ehren Kuzekov (Study Abroad), Lisa Melz‐Jennings (Athletics), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Julie O’Brien (UAASC), Chris Ramsey (CBT),Colin Rogness (BA/BGS), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Renee Simpson (UAASC), Vicki Walters (Biology), Michelle Yager (UAASC) I.
Consideration of Minutes The February 14, 2013, and February 28, 2013, minutes were both approved as presented. II. SOAR Update The schedule is being sent to Administration for approval The Task Force is meeting weekly on this. A tentative schedule is being sent to the VP this afternoon for approval. When do you want Debbie to start sending lists? How often? College lists will be sent now, then every 2 weeks until May, and then weekly. Student Evaluation Progress The committee that is evaluating SOAR evaluations will meet tomorrow. This will be put on the agenda as a discussion topic for the next COAA meeting. Once the evaluation has been approved, the information may be moved into an online survey version in the future. III. New Student Registration Update – Transfer Students Only Eliminate the word “Freshmen” from the title Jennifer Grimm’s name should be eliminated from Check‐in Michelle will be meeting with ROTC, Music, the Honor’s Program, and Veterans Resources to see if they want to have a table to answer questions at the academic fair at check‐in. The Grand Ballroom is not available this year. Events ordinarily scheduled in there will be held in the Heritage Room instead. The Student Fair has been moved to 1:30‐2:30. An announcement will be made at the Fair that students who need placement testing need to be ready to go to Stipes Hall at 2:00. Students who need placement testing will be pre‐identified through their files. There will be a statement about placement on their green math placement sheet and there will also be a verbal announcement made about this before students leave for the Fair. Those students who for some reason miss the COMPASS placement testing can take it when they come to campus in the fall. At 2:30 the remainder of the students will leave for registration; the students who take placement testing will go to registration immediately following placement testing. Advisors need to be in their room by 2:00 to be ready for students who finish their COMPASS test early. This is traditionally a smaller testing group. Computer lab spaces could change. Details about rooms need to be worked out. Biology has a student who wants to do both advisor reg and attend the program. The student can do both, but he needs to sign up for the program on STARS in order to have a file ready; otherwise, he will not be cleared to register until Monday, April 22. College leaders are needed to pick up students in the Heritage Room. Arts and Sciences: Ralph Heissinger, A&S COBT: Has not yet been determined Education: Missy and Keri COFAC: This is a question for Sharon Evans. Jennifer will ask Sharon to contact Michelle. IV. Reminder: COAA VP Nominations due to Michelle by April1st. Michelle hasn’t heard from anyone who is interested in the vice chair position. She asked advisors go back and talk to their departments to try and determine someone who would be interested in running for that position. Someone is also needed to represent the Council as CAGAS rep. If interested in either of these positions, please let Michelle know. V. Request for COAA Funds Form A form for requesting COAA monies was attached to the agenda. Now that we have a budget, one of the things that has become apparent is that we need to streamline paperwork and make sure we have accurate bookkeeping. This form should be submitted when requesting funds. 1) Standing Committee Reports Professional Development and Networking Upcoming Events: 1) A webinar and Panel: Advising Transfer Students: Strategies for Today’s Realities and Tomorrow’s Challenges, March 29th from 1:00‐3:00 in ST 121. A second showing will be held on Friday, April 12 from 8:30‐10:00 at the Multicultural Center, but there will be no panel discussion following this second showing. 2) A webinar and Panel: Strategies for Students who are on Academic Probation, Facing Dismissal, or Seeking Reinstatement, April 24th from 1:00‐3:00 in ST 121. A second showing will be held on Monday, April 29th from 8:30‐10:00 in the Multicultural Center, but there will be no panel discussion following this second showing. 3) There will be a team‐building retreat for all advisors, GAs, and support staff, entitled, ‘Swinging into SOAR’ from 11:00‐4:30 on May 13 at the Harry Mussato Gold Course. Golf skills not required. Anita Sells will speak on team building, there will be an update on the Union remodeling, and putting techniques will be provided by Mel Blasi, for those interested. Contact Renee Simpson for additional information. For more information, contact Michelle or Renee. The Webinars were purchased with COAA funds. Campus Affairs and Public Relations The committee is continuing its media campaign to encourage students to see their advisors and register. The words will be changed to from “make your appointment with your advisor” to “it is time to register”. This is now on the electronic bulletin boards. Table tents and flyers will be developed. At the annual report presentation, Dr. Hawkinson asked about steps being taken to get students to register for classes. He would like advisors to participate in more webinars and that there be a strong representation from WIU at ILCACA in May. There may be funds available through the Provost’s Office for ILCADA. Arts and Sciences may have seats available in the van they have reserved. Assessment Committee The committee is working on the student survey with the new person in the Quad Cities who took Terri North’s position. They are looking at an alternative to the gift certificates they were going to give to students as prizes. Surveys will be sent out to students throughout the month of April. Julie will ask Jane to be on the agenda at the August Advisor Workshop to go over survey results. The committee has put a lot of time and effort into the survey and they are proud of the end result. Julie will send out an announcement when the survey has been sent to student. It is being sent to all students this time, so please encourage your students to fill it out. Julie will see if a copy of the survey or a live link can be sent to advisors for viewing, but it can’t be given to students because of the way it is linked. The General Education Handbook is completed. Awards and Recognition Jennifer Tibbits has been named advisor of the month. They are in the process of completing advisor of the month for March. Each advisor of the month will get a trophy. Applications for Advisor of the Year are out … the committee would like to encourage those who have received Advisor of the Month to apply for Advisor of the Year. Advisors of the Month need to apply directly since they will not be automatically included. Dr. Hawkinson wants to see the Council as a whole go out and seek more national recognition and apply for national awards. There are different programs and advisor awards that are part of NACADA. It is too late to apply for these this year, but advisors should look at that for the future. Dr. Hawkinson would like to see WIU advisors be more active and visible in the state and/or national arena; it is hoped the exposure will attract more students. There are several awards available from NACADA. This will be discussed in the Awards Committee meeting next week. VI. CAGAS Report CAGAS met on March 7. One student requested to be changed from one section of a course to another. Approved. Three students appealed for late registration, Requests were heard and approved for an exception to the final exam policy for athletes to attend a required conference tournament. Approved. Four academic integrity reports were heard, 1 of which was a 2nd offense. The committee is meeting this afternoon. At this meeting, they are considering: 1) changing the criteria for undergraduate admissions. Andy Borst has developed stats that support his proposal to raise the admission criteria and create a balance between academic standards and potential enrollment. This proposal looks at both ACT and GPA together. More information will be brought back from CAGAS as it unfolds. 2) the academic integrity policy, and 3) the grade appeal process VIII. News from the Registrar’s Office (Sue)  Important Dates: o Monday, March 18 ‐Caps and gowns went on sale in the University Bookstore o It is too late for Spring Commencement participants to get their names in the program if they have not submitted their Graduation Applications already. (Deadline was Friday, March 15) o Thursday, March 21 ‐ Grad Prep Day at the Quad Cities Campus o Friday, March 22 ‐  Incompletes from Fall 2012 are due  Grad Prep Day at the Macomb Campus o Sunday, March 31 ‐ Last day to withdraw from a Spring 2013 class. (Grace period Monday, April 1, for students unable to drop class over the weekend) o Monday, April 1 ‐  Transcripts showing Associate’s Degree are due in Registrar’s Office for Transfer Cost Guarantee  Advance Registration for Summer and Fall 2013 opens; open registration begins Monday, April 22. The request made last month that the undergraduate advisor signature be included on the form “Undergraduate Permission to Take a Graduate for Graduate Credit” probably will not added. The Registrar’s Office and Grad Office are trying to streamline forms instead of adding more layers to them. Any change needs to be made if it affects a number of students and is not an isolated incident. Early Warning Grades Summary by Semester Term Active Students1 2012SP 2013SP 9553 9285 2043 2200 807 825 39.5% 37.5% Course Sections‐EWGs Submitted 1236 1375 Percentage 60.5% 62.5% Course Sections in EW Population Course Sections‐No EWGs Submitted Percentage Grades Applied C‐ D+ D D‐ F 5585 851 1177 647 577 2131 100.0% 15.2% 21.1% 11.6% 10.3% 38.2% 6350 907 779 1356 543 2390 100.0% 14.3% 12.3% 21.4% 8.6% 37.6% I 2 202 3.6% 228 3.6% U 147 2.3% Students Receiving EWGs 3394 35.5% 3734 40.2% 3
1
Includes all undergraduate students ‐ not just those in early warning population classes (per Enrollment Comparison report from S. Lawson). 2
Cannot be Determined (Insufficient evidence to determine grade) S and U options available on GRRP beginning 2012FL 3
Note: Beginning 2012FL online class sections were included in EWG reporting.
If students have trouble dropping a class on Sunday, March 31st, the Registrar’s Office has a way of checking to see if they have actually attempted to drop a class on STARS. Grace period ends at 4:30 on Monday when the Registrar’s Office closes. IX. College/Area News Study Abroad Applications for Study Abroad in Berlin and India are due April 1 Athletics There will be approximately 30 student athletes in summer school. Those who have applied and been accepted have been given the phone numbers for their academic advisors. If they call and say they are calling for summer and don’t have a summer matric date, please call Laurie Black and she can quickly change that. Lisa was asked by coaches to give suggestions for summer school courses, but the students and the academic advisor make that decision so these are only suggestions. Lisa talked to Theatre and Theatre 110 is increasing it numbers, so that class will have a few more seats available. As a reminder Lisa will send out to the listserv today that Kin 370 is an upper division class for practice credit, so please be careful when enrolling students in that class. If you have suggested Kin 370 for upper division credit, please make sure the student will be practicing with the team; if not, they shouldn’t take that course. It was suggested that the department might look at making that class permission only. COBT After early warning grades came back, instructors contacted COBT advising about why student who were not in their class were still listed on WesternOnline but not on MVS. WesternOnline and MVS do not syn up. Instructors need to notify someone in U‐Tech that these students should be dropped. Instructors need to check WesternOnline against their rosters after the 10th day. In having access to WesternOnline after dropping the class, students still have access to class information, tests, etc. For budgetary reasons, the Summer and Fall IC and IQs are not set yet. If you have advised students to take COBT classes, they can be added to waiting lists or they can try to enroll after March 22nd. The Ag Department is currently conducting on‐campus interviews for interim Ag chair because Dr. Bailey is going back to faculty. Veteran’s Resources The Veterans Resources Fair is being held today from 1:00‐3:00. The mobile vet unit is parked in Q Lot. The resource fair is being held at the rec center on the mezzanine level. X. New Business Kind words from the Provost Following presentation of the Annual Report, Dr. Hawkins talked about what a great job advisors are doing and what a strong role advisors play in students’ lives which reflects back onto retention. Pass this on to your colleges and colleagues this reflects how much the Provost appreciates advisors. In the annual reports, goals were only set only for UAASC, departments set their own goals, although this year COAA was included because Michelle would like to reduce the number of students who have enrolled for the current semester, have an advisor encumbrance, and have not enrolled for the next semester. Caryn’s group is working on that, too. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 11:35 AM. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Carithers