Council of Academic Advisors
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
8:30 AM, Multicultural Center
Present: Bryan Barker (UAASC), Andy Borst (Admissions), Jan Clough (Art), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Monica Eskridge (COEHS), Jennifer Grimm (Communications), Niall Hartnett (UAASC), Kim McDaniel (Study Abroad), Caryn Morgan (CAS), Julie O’Brien (UAASC), Chris Ramsey (CBT), Jennifer Sandrik‐Rubio (Physical Sciences), Claire Smalzer (Athletics), Linda Thomas (UAASC), Jennifer Tibbitts (BA/BGS), Vicki Walters (Biology), Tammy Wilson (COEHS), Michelle Yager (UAASC) Guests: Erik Brooks, Chair, African American Studies Tracy Scott, Director, Student Development Office I.
Erik Brooks, African American Studies Dr. Brooks discussed the AAS Program and asked advisors to encourage students to take AAS courses and/or declare AAS as a minor, major, or double major. He also asked questions and gave prizes for the correct answers. It is not true that AAS is a major only for African America students. It is a major which will make all students more marketable, regardless of race. He wanted to stress that you can do anything with an AAS major. Please encourage students to stop by the AAS Office in Morgan Hall to talk to someone about the AAS Program. There will be a recruitment drive the first week of November. Someone from the AAS Department will be in the Union asking students if they want to become an AAS major, minor, or take classes, and then Caryn will contact those students who have filled out interest cards. II. Tracy Scott, Director, Student Development Office (SDO) Tracey discussed the changing role of the Student Development Office. SDO operation is basically the same, other than Orientation and Building Connections have moved to Admissions. Whenever advisors are working with a student in crisis, SDO is still the referral office. If the student is in need of immediate attention, call OPS, but if you have a student you are concerned about, send to SDO and they will work with that student. They still work closely with Sarah Lytle. A SDO graduate assistant has been assigned to work with Attendance Tracker. If all faculty were using this, students at risk could easily be identified. If a student has missed several classes, the GA looks at all classes in which the student is enrolled, then sends an e‐mail message to the student to schedule an appointment with SDO. Advisors are automatically copied on these e‐mails so they are aware of what is happening with students. Absences usually impacts more than one class and SDO attempts to give students resources to get back on track and manage their classes. They may need to drop a particular class in order to manage the other ones. SDO can give students deadline dates for appeals or offer suggestions for appeals after the deadline date has passed. If a student is dropping a class before the drop date, students are directed to see their advisor. If they are dropping a class after the drop date, the appeal needs to go to CAGAS. If it is a total university withdrawal, students should be directed to go to SDO. If there is an extenuating circumstance beyond a student’s control, the request will probably end up in SDO since they probably have a file on the situation and/or student. If a student’s absences deal with an illness, SDO might want to talk to the student because sometimes the length of time they will be out determines the type of documentation they need bring back that will support their absence; however, it is up to the individual faculty member to determine if they will excuse the student or not. SDO will keep the documentation on file in their office, where it will be available for review by faculty or Billing and Receivables. SDO receives OARS absences. OARS is designed for a single day’s absence; if student will miss more than one session of a class, they should contact SDO. Since this is the first semester using OARS, CITR will probably solicit information about how to make it more user‐friendly. If you see a pattern of students missing classes, please let SDO know. If a faculty has a concern about a student, call Student Development because they may have questions. There are approximately 700 faculty/staff contacts each semester and approximately 1,000 student contacts. The Interpersonal Violence Initiative, originally through the Women’s Center, is now handled through SDO. The grant was not renewed so there is no project coordinator and the graduate assistant who was working with the project withdrew. Things have to be done by federal and state law. SDO will pick up presentations for the U100 classes. Tracy would still like to see the Western Interactive Theatre do skits and presentations. SDO will help them develop a structure and do training so that they can do campus outreach. Although LGBTQA is not directly under SDO, they work with a graduate assistant in the SDO area and their resource area is housed in Seal Hall. There is a study area that is open on Tuesday nights from 5:00‐9:00 and there is a social night with games and movies in the lounge on Wednesday evenings from 5:00‐8:00. Please let students know that these resources are available to them. SDO also does exit interviews. They appreciate any student who has been/will be referred to them because they can usually help. III. Living Learning Communities (LLC) Housing and Dining is expanding their Living Learning Communities. One new LLC coming in the fall of 2014 is geared toward undeclared students. UHDS will work with UA advisors, Counseling, and Career Services on programming geared toward helping students declare a major. This was based on a model out of the University of Missouri and is a way to do targeted programming. A second community in Olson Hall (Global Language and Intercultural Community [Global LINC]), targets upperclassmen. This is available for any international or domestic student who has an interest in foreign language. Contact Michelle Oakes and AJ Lutz if you have an idea for a living learning community. IV. Enrollment Deposit – Andy Borst Admissions is trying to create a better indicator of how many freshmen will be attending Western in the fall and to help with the no‐show rate. Students will be required to pay an enrollment deposit ($100 enrollment deposit, which goes toward tuition) plus a $50 housing application fee, which makes their cost $150.00 (which was previously $300). All new fall Macomb freshmen will be required to pay this in order to register. Transfer students, Quad Cities campus students, and students matriculating in the spring aren’t required to pay the deposit. When Admissions accepts a student, a hold goes on their account. The $100 enrollment fee is refundable until May 1 (the $50 housing fee is not refundable). There will be a committee created to hear refund appeals. After August 1, students will not be required to pay the deposit; however, this should not be publically advertised. A student can pick a SOAR date and come to SOAR without paying the deposit; however, they will not be able to register until it is paid. Students who have not paid the $100 deposit at the time of registration should attend the major meeting, conduct a course search, be given a tentative schedule, and their advisor hold should be removed. The only step the student will not be able to complete is the actual registration of classes. It was suggested that a Tentative Class Schedule form be created which includes verbiage that the tentative schedule is not guaranteed. Follow‐up calls will be done by admissions. The Admission Office will make multiple contacts with non‐paying student before they come to SOAR. Western is one of the last schools in the state to implement this deposit. The enrollment deposit is not tied to picking a SOAR date because they don’t want to deter students from coming to SOAR. V. Summer School Course Offerings Summer classes advisors would like added to the summer schedule was discussed at the Director’s Meeting last week. There is an increased need to offer different courses for students, both freshmen and upperclassmen. Suggested changes are listed below: Classes offered at different times 5:00‐7:30 evening classes for students with a family and/or a job FCS 300 Comm 130 Geography 110 More upper division Math classes, i.e., Math 129, 133 Higher division electives The ability to register for summer courses at the same time as Spring registration Basic gen ed classes, fine arts classes, or music Global issues classes Mix of online and campus classes VI. Standing Committee Reports Professional Development and Networking … Monica Eskridge November 7 … 12:00‐1:00, brown bag luncheon, 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. This article will deal with retention and will be sent out prior to the meeting December 11 Webinar Off‐campus invitations to community colleges in the area will be going out this week, which was something agreed upon in order to get the webinar free of charge. February The committee is working on a suicide prevention program. They need to submit a date and get it approved. March 27, 12:00‐1:00, brown bag lunch, place TBA Another luncheon with article May 12 A retreat is being planned on the Monday following finals Campus Affairs and Public Relations Another interview/professional clothing drive will be done this year. Claire will develop flyers. Clothing will be distributed by February 4 to be available to students prior to the Career Fair. Clothing can be dropped off November 18‐25 at different locations around campus (Career Services has agreed to distribute the clothing). Professional flyer were be distributed this week Assessment The committee has split and a separate ad‐hoc committee will responsible for the review. Ad Hoc Committee Julie and Michelle will head this committee and it will not be part of the Assessment Committee. Ron has been in contact with the director of advising on the Fort Hayes State (KS) campus. She sent a list of the different items that can be reviewed; fees are contingent on how many of those items are to be reviewed. The committee will have more information on this soon, but in the meantime is moving forward. Two reps from each college, one rep from Centennial Honors, and one from Athletics are needed to sit on the Ad‐
Hoc Committee. Please send Michelle the names of the reps so that monthly meeting times can be scheduled. Advisors will work on assignments outside the committee time, to be discussed and pulled together at each monthly meeting. Assessment Committee Jennifer Sandrick‐Rubio will be Chair of the Assessment Committee. This committee will work closely with the Ad‐
Hoc Committee and will focus mostly on the surveys Awards and Recognition Andrea Riebling was given a certificate as the September Advisor of the Month. The committee is still trying to determine how to fund plaques. Donations may be solicited. Past award winners have offered to pay for one award each. The committee is accepting applications for October. Michelle will talk to Julie DeWeese about a parking space for the Advisor of the Month, similar to what they do for Civil Service Employees for the Month. The Provost’s banquet for honorees will be held today in the Capital Room, where Cheryl Hutchins will get her award for being last year’s Advisor of the Year. VIII. CAGAS Report The incomplete form passed through CAGAS. It will be suggested that faculty use it, not mandatory. Next it goes to Faculty Senate for an official approval, but since it came from there it is anticipated it will be passed at that level. It has not been determined where the students will get the form … whether it will be accessible online or from the faculty member. IX. News from the Registrar’s Office News from the Registrar’s Office – Sue Dagit 1. 2013FL Early Warning Grades a. EWG submission by course section: i.
ii.
iii.
2011FL – 65.3% of course sections reported EWGs 2012FL – 68.5% of course sections reported EWGs 2013FL ‐‐ 64.7% of course sections reported EWGs 2. Course Type Return Rates a. FYE Classes = i. FL12 =84.7% ii. FL13 = 83.7% b. Online Classes i. FL12 = 67.3% ii. FL13 = 74.8% c. 100/200 Level Classes i. FL12 = 74.9% ii. FL13 = 71.7% d. All classes in which freshmen were enrolled i. FL12 = 74.4% ii. FL13 = 71.2% 3. Friday, October 18 a. Graduation Applications due in Registrar’s Office for name to be in Commencement Program. b. Incompletes are due in the Registrar’s Office. 4. Tuesday, October 22 a. Download will be run to determine who will receive invitations to the Honors Convocation. The Sunday drop date is set by CAGAS in order to give students more time to withdraw. If a student has trouble withdrawing on Sunday, they can send a note to the Registrar’s Office before Monday letting them know they attempted to drop a class but were unsuccessful. Registering for spring and summer at the same time could be done but approval must be granted beyond the Registrar’s level. This would mean that departments need to get their summer schedules done earlier. X College/Area News UAASC Julie has updated the tutoring website with specific locations in the library. For the exception of about 6‐7 areas that have second pages, all pages are now printer‐friendly and will not display navigation or sidebars. Arts and Sciences A new math modeling course (bio math, bio statistics) has been approved for math minors. It is presently listed as Math 497 but will eventually become Math 483. BA/BGS A lot of the instructors don’t have a greeting when students register for online classes, so students don’t know if they are actually registered for the class. Instructors should be able to do a greeting through Western Online. Many online students don’t their questions answered from class discussion, which will be an ongoing problem as more and more students take online classes. There was concern that we are not giving the same services to our off‐
campus and online students are we are giving to our on‐campus students. Tutoring for online students, not just the 100‐level but upper division courses, too, need to be explored. Suggestions were to see if an upper division student or grad assistant can have evening hours, an e‐mail, or instant chatting where students could ask a question and get an answer back. Unfortunately, at this time there is no extra money to expand tutoring services. Michelle went to a presentation on whiteboard where sessions can be archived so students can retrieve previous tutoring sessions anytime. Communication classes offer online tutoring questions but haven’t had students take advantage of that; foreign languages also offers virtual office hours available by SKYPE or online messaging. Advisors would like know that these services are available. Faculty need to be engaged and interactive with online students. XI. New Business Andy distributed a copy of the New Student Registration Reservation sheet, which lists the 2014 SOAR dates. It is basically the same schedule as last year, with the exception that Program 10 (Tuesday, July 15‐16) is being held in reserve. The NSR date in the spring has been moved to Friday, April 25, because the large rooms in the Union used in the past are not available that day. Computer labs may be a challenge. The November 22 NSR will probably look the same as last year. There will be significant program changes at the 2014 SOAR. Sarah Jewel has met with all departments involved with SOAR prior to writing learning outcomes. One goal is to give advisors more time with students. The timeframe is undetermined at this time, but the planning committee made up of Sarah Jewel, Andy Borst, Ron Williams and Michelle Yager will start meeting the end of October. They will probably know more details around Thanksgiving. The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 AM. REMINDERS ~ Advising Brown Bag Discussion Lunch on November 7th, Union‐Board Room. We will discuss professional articles. ~ Developing Intercultural Communication Skills for Academic Advising, Wednesday, December 11, 2013 from 1:00 – 3:00. The NACADA webinar will be followed by an open forum discussion. Advisors from area colleges and universities have been invited to join us. Location: Horrabin Hall, Room 1. More information will be coming soon. ~ Next COAA meeting on October 30th at 8:30 am in the Multicultural Center’s Board Room Respectfully submitted, Debbie Carithers