Council of Academic Advisors
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
8:30 AM, Multicultural Center
Present: Bryan Barker (UAASC), Laurie Black (Registrar’s Office), Jan Clough (Art), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Monica Eskridge (COEHS), Jennifer Grimm (Communications), Niall Hartnett (UAASC), Molly Homer (Honor’s College), Katie Mey (UAASC, GA), Ehren Kuzekov (Study Abroad), Kathy Meyers (SAPSC and VRC), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Kelly Morris (UAASC), Julie O’Brien (UAASC), Jinny Page (BGS/ISP), Andi Potter (CBT‐Eng Tech), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Andrea Riebling (CBT), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Renee Simpson (UAASC), Claire Smalzer (Athletics), Linda Thomas (UAASC), Vicki Walters (Biology), Tammy Wilson (COEHS), Michelle Yager (UAASC) I.
OAS Academic Standing Update The idea to change Fall 2013 matriculating OAS students to “good standing” came from the Enrollment Management Committee. Prior to that OAS students came in on academic warning while regular students came in on “good standing”. Because of resources available to students now that weren’t available before, such as grade replacement, building connections mentoring, and U100 mandated classes, the Enrollment Committee felt that OAS students should come in on “good standing” like other students. When comparing the data of regular admits and OAS students, who have GPAs below 1.0 after their first semester, the numbers were similar yet regular admit students had an additional semester to recover their GPA. Ron Williams, Angela Lynn, and Michelle Yager took a proposal before CAGAS and Faculty Senate to change OAS admission status to “good standing”. The proposal was approved by both CAGAS and Faculty Senate. This new policy will begin with the Fall 2013 OAS students. OAS students who started at WIU in the Spring or Summer of 2013 are not included in this policy change. Faculty Senate was assured that the OAS Participation Agreement would remain the same except for the entry academic status. This proposal had a lot of faculty support behind it. Michelle has drafted a letter to be sent to students and parents, pending Provost approval, and advisors are also talking to the OAS students individually during their appointments. II. External Review There are no new updates on the external review. Ron Williams is working on securing an external evaluator, but no one has been selected at this point. Ron is working with NACADA administrators to help identify potential external reviewers. Need representatives from each College/Department to be on committee Michelle will be asking for 2 reps from each college to help with assessment since good representation from across campus is needed. There is a lot of data already collected through the years that needs to be included with current data. 2010 Review Document Julie just sent the CAS assessment to the Assessment Committee; Michelle has already sent the 2010 Overview of Academic Advising but she will resend a copy to anyone who wants it. III. By‐Laws Discussion The existing by‐laws and proposed changes highlighted in yellow have been sent via e‐mail. Recommended changes are: 1) Change Committee “heads” to committee “chairs” globally through the document. 2) Add: The chair will serve on the committee the following year as a member for transitional purposes. Michelle will send this to the all‐advising listserve. Please talk to your constituents before coming back for a vote in 2 weeks. Update: Proposed changes were sent to the advisors through the Advising listserv on October 14th. COAA members will vote on the changes at the October, 30, 2013 meeting. IV. April NSR Date The 2014 SOAR dates are still tentative and will be discussed once they are approved. At this time, the only predicted change will be to the April NSR event. It’s set for the Saturday of Easter weekend which could negatively impact student attendance. The proposed change is for Saturday, April 26th. Update: The April NSR has been changed to Friday, April 25, 2014. The large meeting rooms in the Union were not available on April 26th. V. OARS Advising Reports Advisors are not receiving OARS advising reports, although Jessica has said that OARS is getting a lot of use by students. The name of Kelly’s student who sent an OARS notification will be sent to Roger Runquist. Andi Potter will also work with him on this. VI. Housing & Dining Academic Committee Report – Niall Hartnett Niall is meeting with the Housing and Dining Academic Committee two hours per week as a representative of COAA. He will be at the first COAA meeting of each month to discuss initiatives needing advisor’s input and assistance. The committee participates in the following yearly events: Academic Success Package … the committee compiles a booklet with text drawn from the web to try and help students on probation in the residence halls. Michelle and Niall are working on revising this document. Resource Fair … UAASC represented tutoring at this yesterday. Contact was made with approximately 50‐60 students who were urged to set advising appointments, the registration process next semester was explained, and tutoring was encouraged. 4.0 Dean’s List Party … This was a party that celebrated students who received a 4.0 GPA … it has been renamed Dean’s List Dessert and will be a drop‐in event where certificates will be given to students who have a GPA of 3.6 and above. Students living both on and off campus who meet the GPA requirement will be invited to attend. Because of the change in GPA requirements, students from last semester who received a 3.6 and above will be included. This is still under revision. Niall will check to see if deans have been invited to attend. E‐mail Niall with any comments. He will also check to see if summer students are included. GPA Group Goal: prizes are given to floors where students reach the Dean’s List. RA GPA Goal: RAs are recognized by meeting GPA goals. HOPE: Housing Outstanding Professors Award … Students nominate faculty who have impacted their college experience. This is still under revision. The committee is chaired by Jessica Wood. If you have ideas to take back to the group, contact Niall. VII. Standing Committee Reports Professional Development and Networking … Monica Eskridge The committee met last week and established the following dates: November 7 … 12:00‐1:00, brown bag lunch, place TBA Instead of reading a book, the committee is looking into articles to save costs, which can be sent by e‐mail to those interested. December 11 Webinar: Developing Intercultural Communication Skills for Academic Advising March 27, 12:00‐1:00, brown bag lunch, place TBA Another article February The committee is working on a suicide prevention program. They need to submit a date and get it approved. May A Retreat will be held on May 12, the Monday following finals Campus Affairs and Public Relations The committee hasn’t met since the last COAA meeting. They organized a campus security workshop. Reminders about registration have gone out, which included an e‐mail link about how students can find the name of their advisor and financial aid advisor. There will be 3 different TELESTAR reminders that will go out on September 25, October 10, and November 1. If the advisor hold has been removed, the student won’t receive the TELESTAR reminder. Students are aware of the reminders and are seeing the signs around campus. The committee is working with Roger Runquist on piloting a texter … when it is ready to be launched campus‐wide Roger will come to a COAA meeting. COBT uses Goggle Voice, set up by Matt Clark. They don’t think there is a commercial limit usage and there is no monthly fee or cost to set it up. It has been positively received by students. ElEd uses a cell phone to text reminders to students. Assessment The committee is working on information for the overall assessment review. An updated SAG was found. CAS hasn’t changed so it won’t be redone; there are presently 12 standards. The committee would like to have representation on this particular project; the person volunteering wouldn’t have to continue on the Assessment Committee after the review. Chris will represent COBT on the CAS program only. Student surveys will go out early next semester. Advisors would like to receive confidential statements included on the student survey. These comments can also be forwarded to the Awards and Recognition Committee. The committee will work next semester on the advisor survey to go out next summer. SPSS Software has been installed on some UAASC computers. Awards and Recognition The committee has not met since last the last COAA meeting. At their next meeting they will discuss the September award. The October award notification has already gone out. VIII. CAGAS Report In general, the last few weeks have been quick meetings. SGA proposed an incomplete form to be filled out by the student and instructor of a class so that they are in complete agreement as to the conditions for class completion. The form would list rationale for the incomplete, work to be completed, what the student needs to do, and date to be completed. This will be signed by both faculty and student. The form will be sent by the faculty member to the chair with a copy sent to the advisor, so there would be accountability on all sides. The form will be available online for a student who is to on campus to sign it. This won’t be mandatory, so won’t be included in the syllabi. Internships are automatic “incompletes” so would they would not be included in this category … this would involve, for example, unforeseen circumstances such as a death in the family, hospitalization, etc. Faculty would be expected to do the exact same thing they would do for an independent study, which would protect both them and the student. As with an independent study, grades will still have to be submitted. It was suggested that SDO could tell students who call that they need to complete the “incomplete” form. If approved by CAGAS, it will then go to Faculty Senate for approval. This was previously presented to Faculty Senate and sent back to CAGAS by them. It is hoped this will eliminate confusion and curtail appeals since everything will be outlined in the signed form. IX. News from the Registrar’s Office o Early Warning Grade screens opened on Monday, September 30, and will close on Monday, October 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Early Warning Grade reports will be generated overnight 10/14‐15, so you may get more calls and contacts that week. o Reminder: Graduation applications must be received by the Registrar’s Office by Friday, 10/18, for the student’s name to be included in the Commencement program. o Registration holds are now on for transfer students who have not submitted a final transcript. o The “Warning” status for students admitted through OAS for FL13 has been removed. o Registration appointments for students who are with the armed services or those who have completed their commitment to the military have been moved to the first days of SP14 Advance Registration.  If you have an advisee whose registration appointment should be moved because of veteran (or non‐
veteran) status, please email me. X College/Area News COFAC A fair for students interested in a COFAC major/minor will be held today in front of Browne Hall. Entertainment will include the current musical, the steel drum band, demonstrations of silk screening and chalking, and other different activities to get students involved to see what they can do with the major. Students and faculty members will be available. This is provided through the Recruiting Committee, with the College paying for hot dogs and Pepsi donating soft drinks. Advisors who have signed up for We Care will be planting on Tuesday, October 8, 3:30‐5:00. Please let Jennifer Grimm or Jean Bird know if you would like to attend. UAASC Julie is still working on the Tutoring App. Stats from the first 3 weeks of operation are as follows: Total number of clicks: 2,710 Courses Menu Viewer: 1640 Schedule view: 746 Days View: 721 Tips: 469 Contacting: 353 Video: 200 Tutoring events (special sessions): 600 Julie will try to look at clicks for different departments and/or classes and will request views of the website through Jeremy Merritt. Freshmen downloaded the WIU app during resident hall meetings. Upper classmen may need to be reminded to download the app. It was suggested that all academic advisors have an app postcard on their desk to remind them to show their students. A convenient QR code is on the postcard. These postcards are still available. Please let Julie know if you need some and she will send them to you. Some advisors have taped the QRs on their desk and have had students put it in their phones while at their advising appointment. Please ask students if they have the app on their phone during advising sessions. Julie will also send out a TELESTARS message about the app/tutoring website in the next few days. Hopefully that will alert students to the app’s availability. Registrar’s Office Progress forms have been sent to advisors for NCAA eligibility status, certifying students are in the right degree plan. It should be noted on the form if there are students taking the class to prepare them for the CPA exam, since this is not on the degree plan. XI. New Business None There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 AM. REMINDERS President Thomas’ Town Hall Meeting, October 2nd, 4:00‐5:00 in the Prairie Lounge We Care Day, COAA Team, October 8th, 3:30‐5:00 PM, location to be announced (see Jennifer Grimm or Jean Bird) Next COAA meeting on October 16th at 8:30 in the Multicultural Center’s Board Room. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Carithers