Minutes of the University Advisors Network
November 13, 2013
9:30 – 11:00 a.m.
101 Flinn Hall
Members present: Steve Barth, Ed Black (ex officio), Steve Bondurant, Meghan Fields (ex
officio), Rushondra James, Loren Knapp (Faculty CoChair), Jed Lyons (for Susan Jarvie), Jack
Turner, Gail Vereen, Donna Watson, Diane Wise.
Members absent: Jennifer Bloom (ex officio), Helen Doerpinghaus, Art Farlowe, Reenea
Harrison, Nikki Knutson, Mike Perkins, Christian Price, Claire Robinson, Brian Shelton, Jammie
Turner.
Guests: Aaron Marterer, Alfred Moore
Loren Knapp began by announcing the recent death of Bob Pruzin and asked for a moment of
remembrance of Bob’s contributions, as well as for Harriet Hurt. Loren also announced the date
for the USC Advisors Symposium to be Friday, February 28. It will be held in Lumpkin
Auditorium and more details will be made available in December. Minutes for the October
meeting were not sent out to the group and so approval of those minutes was tabled for the
next meeting.
Steve Barth provided a brief update on the SARS software implementation project. Steve began
by referencing the Provost’s recent email that featured a statement from Diane Wise about the
Pre-Pharmacy program’s involvement with the SARS pilot group which was very positive and
specifically mentioned the value of the NotePad feature of the SARS software. Diane reiterated
home much time the software has saved her with this feature. She also said their program has
seen a drop in no-shows since adopting the system. Steve explained that benefit should extend
once the additional software of SARS Messages is implemented as that additionally provides
students with a day-of reminder of their appointment. As for future implementation, Steve
announced that HRSM, Education and Nursing have all agreed to implement the SARS software
for the Spring 2014 term. The goal remains for all academic advising offices to adopt the
software by the Fall 2014 term. Steve is also working with UTS to further develop the feed from
Banner that provides student information to the SARS software. Loren asked if notes taken in
one location could be attached to the student and forwarded with a student if a student
changes his or her program of study. Steve replied that he would have to look further into that
capacity of the program.
Aaron Marterer then provided an update on the Banner system implementation, similar to the
university forum provided the previous week. Right now the Registrar’s Office is in the process
of fixing about 5,000 records that did not directly convert from IMS to Banner. The goal is to be
done with this process with by the end of December. Further discrepancies seen in student
transcripts should be reported to Aaron or Jennifer Burr in the Registrar’s Office. Jed Lyons
asked about students who have stopped out of school for a couple years, are readmitted, and
are not part of this record transition process. The act of readmitting the student triggers a
conversion of the student’s past work. Suspension history did come over in the transition so it is
not currently possible to see if a student has past suspensions. As for Registration, there was a
change in how “tickets” were assigned to spread out registration availability to groups of 500
students at a time. The priority of these tickets was assigned based on the number of credit
hours earned. The biggest reported issue with registration dealt with term selection by the
students (Banner is not very intuitive in that manner). Also, students who have a transcript or
suspension hold cannot currently see their academic record in Banner. It was requested from
several people that more notice of the early registration dates be provided to advising offices
and to look into moving the early registration dates closer to regular registration time. Aaron
asked Steve Barth to help in communicating this information. Additionally, DegreeWorks will
have four catalogs worth of requirements loaded into it by the end of the term. At first, only
advisors will have the ability to view and provide feedback but the goal is for students to use
DegreeWorks in January. It was suggested that the UAN provide feedback on DegreeWorks at
the January meeting. Lastly, Aaron reported that the Registrar and Admission are working
together on the transfer articulation process. Unlike in the past when articulation was done at
the college/advisor level, transfer equivalencies will now be done at the university level with
subject-matter experts determining the equivalencies, department by department. Transcripts
will be sent to the Registrar first where they are evaluated and then forwarded to Admissions.
Alfred Moore asked for a means for students to search for Carolina Core-eligible courses more
closely linked to Self-Service. Options suggested included providing a link to the Provost’s
searchable index and offering Carolina Core Learning Outcomes as an attribute in the Advanced
Course Search of Self-Service. Further discussion centered on transfer courses that differ in
number of credit hours and applicability towards the overlay requirements. Aaron said that he
would check into this issue and report back to the group.
Lastly, Loren recommended that we hold our January meeting on 1/22. In closing, Jack Turner
reminded the group about registering transfer students for LIBR 101.
The meeting adjourned at 10:42am
Next meeting on Wednesday, December 11 at 9:30-11:00am