Division of Student Affairs
2008-09 Annual Report
Department: Dean of Students Office
Person Completing Report: Beverly Wolford
Date: 08/18/2009
1. Major Accomplishments (accomplishments from your department associated
with the Strategic Plans. These should also be accomplishments we can use to
promote your department and Student Affairs.
General Statement:
Major Accomplishments:
(Tied to Department/Strategic Plan)

Financial support from the Dean of Students Office, Student Government
Association, Provost Office, Undergraduate Affairs and Residence Life allowed
the Club Programming Committee to be very successful in its first full year. We,
along with the Association of Black Students and the Student Government
Association, feel that CPC is a huge success. SGA and ABS highlighted CPC as one
of their major accomplishments this year. In spring of 2008, we received 56
applications for a total of $113,351. This year we received 180 applications
requesting over $283,000. Of those 180 applications, we were able to fund 124
events for a total of $84,000. CPC sent letters to all the Deans and VP’s soliciting
funds for next year in hopes of obtaining additional funds so we can fund even
more events

Filled Program Assistant Senior position. Kimberley Buckner started in the
position on August 4, 2008.

Forty-five parents were nominated for the first annual Parent of the Year Award.
The award ceremony went very well. Approximately 120 people attended the
event, including President James Ramsey and Provost Shirley Willinghanz.
Parents seemed to truly appreciate the recognition they received from the
University and from their son or daughter. Students were thankful to be given
the opportunity to express their love and appreciation to their parents in a more
public setting. The recipients of the reward, Peter and Dalia Anik, were
surprised and grateful for the recognition. They were nominated by their
daughter, Nicole Anik-Wells.

The most notable accomplishment of our office this year is the development of
relationships with students and other campus constituencies. Our office has
actively sought out ways to connect with others. We have maintained a high
level of visibility at student events and have actively served on numerous
campus committees. Direct interpersonal interaction with student leaders is an
important part of developing a vibrant campus life. The quality of these
interactions benefits the University as students trust that we work with the
objective of keeping them as the priority. We were able to positively impact the
lives of our students. This accomplishment is what we continually strive to
achieve and will always be at the core of what we hope to accomplish in the
Dean of Students Office.

The new Dean of Students website was implemented this year. From January 1,
2009 to May 13th 2009, we had approximately 81,286 visits.

The Dean of Students spent a great deal of time this year helping communicate
with students about the changes in the dining services contract. As the advisor
to SGA, he had weekly meetings with SGA leadership to discuss these changes
and to work with the student leadership to maintain open communication with
students. Food service outreach included information sessions with First Year
Guides, SGA Executive Officers, SGA Senate, Connect Peer Mentors and campus
ministers. Larry Owsley, VP for Business Affairs and Dr. Jackson, VPSA, asked
that the Dean of Students serve as the content expert with media when they
asked questions about the changes. Dr. Mardis was interviewed by several local
media outlets (all the local television stations, NPR, 84 WHAS, the CourierJournal and the Cardinal.

Worked with campus ministers to establish the University of Louisville Religious
Life Association (RLA).

Worked with the Student Care Team to communicate with the Faculty Senate
and other departments to ensure that all resources of the University are
available to students in crisis.

Restructured the Center for Civic Engagement, Leadership and Service (CELS) Last October, Pamela Curtis was hired as the new Director of CELS after the
departure of Michael Anthony to the University’s Cultural Center, and Gerome
Stevens assumed the CELS Coordinator position.

Worked with IT and other departments to develop a mechanism within
PeopleSoft to indicate whether or not a student lives on campus. This would
allow us to determine retention and graduation rates for our on-campus
students.

The 2009 ice storm gave the Dean of Students Office its first opportunity to test
a new plan to provide services to students when the University is officially closed
for inclement weather. The plan, called the Student Activities Bad Weather
Schedule, includes modified service hours, staff coverage and a communications
strategy to ensure students are kept informed. Thanks to help from the Vice
President for Business Affairs Office, Physical Plant, Communications and
Marketing, Contract Administration and the Department of Public Safety, the
University continued to provide a variety of services to our on -campus students
during the storm.

The Student Activities Center stayed open for meals and recreation throughout
the week in which the University was closed. Students could get a break from
their residence hall room by working out in the gym, hanging out in the game
room or just socializing around televisions or cafeteria tables. Staff from
Intramurals, Student Activities, the Disability Resource Center and the Housing
Office helped make sure things were running smoothly. The Housing Office even
made apartments available to staff who were working on campus and had no
power at home. Latter in the week the success of being able to keep the SAC
open prompted the University to welcome other members of the community to
partake of a warm shower, an opportunity to recharge vital communication
devices and a chance to just relax and get something to eat in a warm area.

During the week, Intramurals logged more than 2,600 visitors to their
recreational areas and over 6,000 customers were served by Dining Services. A
review of the plan at week’s end indicated that most parts of the plan worked
well and needed only some minor modifications in the future. As the residential
population of the campus continues to grow, our ability to offer those students
basic services like food and recreational opportunities, especially in times of
trouble, must grow as well. In the future, the Student Activities Center will
continue to operate, even when the University is closed, as long as staff can
safely get to campus. Click here to view the Student Activities Bad Weather
Schedule. http://louisville.edu/studentactivities/student-activities
center/sacweatherschedule.html

Worked with Susie Cucura and others to design the Faculty/Staff Students in
Distress folders. These folders will be distributed to faculty across campus.

Improved working relationship with Marketing/Communications. Examples
include Parent of the Year Award, Service Learning, International Service
Learning and the Student Awards
2. Staffing summary: (Changes, Updates, Challenges, Issues related to staffing in
your department )
General Statement: The 2008-2009 academic year was the second year of operation for
the newly formed Dean of Students Office, created as part of the effort to restructure
the Campus Life, Student Activities and SAC Administration offices. The following staff
changes were noted:
Specific Changes and Issues:

Kimberley Buckner was hired to fill our vacant Program Assistant Senior position.

Pamela Curtis assumed the duties of Director of the Center for Civic
Engagement, Leadership & Service (CELS)

Kara Morrell served as our VISTA Coordinator
3. Activities and initiatives that support Academic Units (Collaborative efforts
with academic units or programs and services that support students classroom
experience)
General Statement: Although most noted for assisting academic units in student
conduct matters, we also provide them support in various other ways.
Specific Activities, Programs or Initiatives:

The Assistant Dean of Students and Dean of Students are available to consult
with all University academic and administrative units to address and resolve
student conduct related issues. With the implementation of the Student Care
Team and growing knowledge of the services the DOS office provides, the ADOS
continues to see an increase in the number of calls and consultations with
faculty and staff on conduct issues

The DOS supports graduate student assistants and interns as they pursue their
graduate studies. These students are critically important to our success as a unit
and we believe strongly in supporting our paraprofessional staff through
experiential learning opportunities. During the reporting period, our office
hosted one graduate assistant, one masters intern, and one doctoral intern. The
Dean and Assistant Dean also make themselves readily available for student class
interviews and class presentations when requested.

Last year, more than 492 non-academic misconduct records checks were
performed by the staff in the Dean of Students office. This service was provided
to numerous academic and non-academic University units in preparation for
employment and leadership positions, as well as University sponsored travel.
Entities external to the University, such as the United States Office of Personnel
Management, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and others also utilize this
service.

As a service to the University community, our office provides absence
notifications to the faculty of students unable to attend classes for extended
periods of time. Last year we processed 37 notification requests from students,
which involved researching the student’s enrolled classes and notifying each of
the student’s faculty members.

The Assistant Dean’s Service on this advisory board not only supports the CEHD,
but every academic and support unit on campus through ensuring that the
Center’s operations are based upon the tenants of best practices originally
designed for it to be a model program UofL’s student, faculty & staff children.

The University of Louisville 2020 strategic plan mandates an increase in the
undergraduate graduation rate from 44% to 53% by 2014 and to 60% by 2020.
With this objective in mind we have begun collecting data to better understand
how student affairs programs impact the retention and graduation rates. Dr.
Mardis worked with Bob Goldstein, director of institutional research to form a
team to develop systems that will categorize the students that live on campus.
This system will be in place in the summer of 2009 and will allow data analysis of
the on-campus student population that was previously not available.

Dr. Mardis spoke at both the Graduate Student Orientation and nine out of
eleven Parent Orientation sessions. He promoted the benefits of being involved
on campus and the availability and accessibility of Student Affairs resources.
4. Activities and services that support diversity
General Statement: Our office is committed to promting and supporting diversity
efforts on the University of Louisville campus.
Specific Activities, Programs or Initiatives:

The Club Programming Committee (CPC) provided funding for a number of
events in 08-09 that contributed to diversity efforts on campus. These efforts
included events such as: A Taste of Africa, Senegal Talk Back, Minority Business
Expo, International Fashion Show, Diwali, Iranian-Persian Culture Event, NAACP
Health Fair and Documentary and Forum, Porter Ball, SAAB Brotherhood
Breakfast, African Night, Mr. Black UofL Pageant, International Banquet, PINK,
C.O.N.E.C.T. African American Recognition Reception, 4th Annual Black Men’s
Appreciation Dinner, and Minority Business Expo.

The Dean of Students Office hosted an International Tea in October. There were
approximately 100 international students in attendance along with staff from
the Dean of Students Office, Disability Resource Center, Intramurals and Student
Activities. The staff interacted with the students and informed them about our
services and answered questions about our various areas. Dr. Mardis spoke
briefly about the importance of being involved.

The Dean of Students facilitated five Student Outreach Luncheons for 2008-09,
to bring together diverse University constituencies in an informal setting and
provide a platform for open discussion and direct access to the VPSA , DOS and
SGA President. Participants in this year’s luncheons included a group of
international students, including representatives from the Chinese, Korean,
Iranian and Indian Student Associations, as well as the American International
Relations Committee (AIRC). Other luncheons were held for the Intra-fraternity
Council members and chapter presidents, the Panhellenic Council and chapter
presidents, the National Pan-hellenic Council, and the NSSE group

This year the Dean of Students continued outreach to the campus ministers and
had several meetings with this group to share information. Dr. Mardis also had
individual meetings with many of the campus ministers. Part of the information
sharing included the desire on the part of the campus ministers to develop a
campus religious advisors association that would have an official liaison
relationship with the University. In the spring semester the campus ministers
officially approved their association by approving their articles of association and
electing a convener. Steve Boutell, Wesley Foundation Director was elected as
the first convener. The official name of the association is The University of
Louisville Religious Life Association (RLA). The Dean of Students will serve as
the official university liaison to RLA. The articles of association provide
additional detail about RLA nature, purpose, relationship with the University,
membership, and officers
5. Activities and services that support community service and/or civic
engagement:
General Statement: The tenents of community service and civic engagement are vital
components of a vibrant campus life, and we support them in various ways.
Specific Activities, Programs or Initiatives:

Dr. Mardis presented the opening session for parents during new student
orientation. His presentation entitled “Connecting You and Your Student to the
University of Louisville” was presented first thing in the morning at all ten
orientation sessions. Dr. Mardis also joined Dr. Billingsley in providing the
opening orientation welcome at seven of the session on behalf of the President
and the Provost. The office increased its presence at the parent reception and
was a visible part of the lunches, where staff made themselves available to talk
with new students and answer questions.

This year the Schmiedeler family created “Bridge builder Scholarship” fund to
encourage and reward the development of student leaders that demonstrate a
commitment to "caring more about others than they care about themselves".
The scholarship is awarded to students who have demonstrated servantleadership by giving their lives to serving others. To be eligible the student is
required to: 1) live on campus, 2) maintain at least a 2.5 cumulative grade point
average, 3) be enrolled as a full-time student, 4) complete the Freshman LEAD
during the first year of enrollment, 5) be involved in a volunteer or service
activity on campus, 6) have a positive influence on the UofL campus, 7) submit
an annual renewal form, and 8) complete the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA) and all other required financial aid applications.

The Assistant Dean of Students’ service on the Early Learning Center Advisory
Board supports the University’s Signature Partnership between the CEHD and
Project Women.

Dr. Mardis, Michelle Clemons and Kim Buckner attended the Question Persuade,
Refer (QPR) Suicide Training class. As a result of this training, they now have the
ability to go back into their units and train other staff members, students and
student organizations on suicide prevention. They are also able to provide the
community with a better ability to help those students that have expressed
suicidal thoughts.

Representatives from UL including the DOS office were invited by the Governor
to attend a statewide summit on alcohol prevention and education on college
campuses. IIAA was a huge presence at the summit offering access to pilot
training, technical assistance, and access to model prevention and intervention
programs. UL secured a $50,000 grant from Beam Global for the 09-10 budget
to hire a staff person to move our Coalition to Reduce High Risk Drinking
forward, and to assess interventions and initiatives. The grant from Beam is
linked to the BeWise initiative facilitation tool which will help our campus
respond to alcohol violations and issues.

Larry Owsley, VP for Business Affairs and Dr. Jackson, VPSA asked that the Dean
of Students serve as the content expert with media when they asked questions
about the dining services changes. Dr. Mardis was interviewed by several local
media outlets (all the local TV stations, NPR, 84 WHAS, the Courier Journal and
the Cardinal).

Dr. Mardis spoke at the Women's Choice Resource Centre annual banquet. The
event was attended by other 600 community members and was held at the Papa
John’s Cardinal Stadium Brown and Williamson Club.
6. Staff professional development activities and programs including: individual or
department recognition awards, conference presentations, publications and
involvement in university wide committees and /or professional activities
General Statement: In support of Dr. Jackson's strong commitment to professional
development, our staff participated in many different professional activities and
University-wide committees.
Specific Activities, Programs, Initiatives or Professional Involvement:

Dr. Mardis co-presented two topics in the NASPA Webinar: "It’s OK to Leave at 5
O' Clock: What Every New (Or Soon-to-Be New) Professional Should Consider"

Dr. Mardis and Ms. Clemons were NASPA Conference Program Reviewers for the
2009 NASPA National Conference

Dr. Mardis attended the NASPA Summer Symposium and the NASPA Retion III
Board Meeting. At the Symposium, Dr. Mardis was asked by the NASPA Region
III Vice President, Tom Shandley (VPSA Davidson College) to serve as the NASPA
Kentucky State Director. Dr. Mardis will serve as the NASPA State Director for
the 2009-20010 academic year.

Dr. Mardis participated in the College Personnel Association of Kentucky's 2009
Annual Conference and co-presented the following sessions: "Teaching Our
Potential through International Service Learning" with Ms. Cheryl Utz, Business
Manager, University of Louisville; and Dr. Tom Jackson, Jr., Vice President for
Student Affairs, University of Louisville; and "Discovering Best Practices for
Threat Assessment Programs: What is a Reasonable Response" with Ms.
Christian Gamm, Admissions Counselor, University of Louisville.

Ms. Clemons was a case study judge at the 2009 College Professionals
Association of Kentucky (CPAK) in Lexington.

Dr. Mardis, Ms. Clemons and Ms. Buckner attended the Question, Persuade,
Refer (QPR) Suicide Training class. As a result of this training, they now have the
bility to go back into their units and train other staff members, students and
student organizations on suicide prevention. Theyare also able to provide the
community with a better ability to help those students that have expressed
suicidal thoughts.

Ms. Clemons and Ms. Wolford worked together to provide Laura Byrd
(Counseling Center) with the alcohol conduct statistics necessary to complete
the alcohol grant.

Mr. Annala presented "Empowering Disabled Student Success" at the 2008 CPAK
Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
7. Assessment initiatives - (participant surveys, program reviews, student
learning outcomes, focus groups, feedback etc.)
General Statement:
Specific Activities, Programs, or Initiatives:

An assessment of the Student Care Team, conducted by a select group of
Student Care Team members, is currently underway. Items to be examined are
team size, recordkeeping, and a 20-point behavioral intervention review.

The Dean of Students was asked to assist the NSSE marketing committee so that
more students would respond to the survey. Dr. Mardis reached out to student
leaders and asked them to assist with marketing the importance of completing
the NSSE. He hosted the selected students for a lunch and he along with
members of the NSSEE marketing committee provided the students with
information about this initiative. The students helped inform other students and
were the central focus for the marketing campaign. The committee came up
with creative ideas to help increase the response rate and the student poster
campaign help make NSSE more visible on campus. The letters asking the
students to participate came from Dr. Mardis along with all the follow-up
reminders. The work of the marketing committee and the students was
successful as the target response rate of 30% was surpassed.

The I2A Pilot Project in the area of Student Conduct is using the elements of
thought to move students toward higher order thinking. The project is an effort
to develop a standard set of questions or discussion guide that will require
students to apply the intellectual standards (clarity, relevance, depth, breadth,
logic fairness) in the informal student conduct meeting. An assessment
component will also be developed which will be infused with the six core
standards and will assess the change in quality of thinking.

Two studies were conducted with the help of institutional research to better
understand two signature student affairs programs. A study was completed
measuring the retention and persistence of students who were in a fraternity or
sorority. The results indicated that students who were a member in a Greek
organization had a six year graduation rate of 62%, 16% higher than the
graduation rate for all students entering freshman (sample 2002 freshman
cohort). A year-to-year student retention rate was completed for 2005 Freshman
LEAD participants. As of the fall of 2008, 95.5% of the Freshman LEAD students
had retained at the University compared to 61.3% for the entire 2005 freshman
class. The result of this analysis was not surprising and is consistent with similar
studies on a national level. We must continue to gather data so we can better
understand how these programs impact retention. This is a starting point and
additional study and data collection is needed

In an effort to solicit feedback and measure the effectiveness of the CPC process,
a survey was sent to each RSO that received funding from the Club Programming
Committee. The survey contained questions such as: Did the program enhance
the quality of Campus Life; engage the student body; provide an opportunity for
students to building relationships with other students, etc. Over 50% of the
groups responded that their program allowed students to network with faculty
and over 80% said there was opportunity for networking with the community.
There was a unanimous response that the program should be continued and, if
possible, increased.
8. Top Goals for the Department/Program – Include specific goals your
department will be working on during 2009-2010. Goals should be in response
to items in the University and Student Affairs Strategic planning documents.
General Statement:
Specific Goals for 2009-2010:

Revise the Code of Student Conduct, implementing significant changes to
improve the conduct process, update language to meet current professional
standards, and allow for a more comprehensive response when adjudicating
cases in a crisis situation.

Serve as a liaison between the newly established Religious Life Association (RLA)
and the University. Assist RLA in establishing an active presence on campus and
help increase student awareness of RLA services, thus providing relationshipbuilding opportunities for students.

Assess how extracurricular involvement and student relationships with other
students impact retention. Work with others to determine the best approach to
improve student graduation rates to meet the University 2020 graduation rate
objective.

Work with the VPSA, Student Affairs staff, SGA, and others to evaluate capital
project initiatives that would benefit students.

Expand Civic Engagement Leadership and Service (CELS) programs and seek out
ways to increase resources to assist with student retention efforts in this area.

Continue working with SGA and others to strengthen CPC and increase the
opportunity for RSOs to receive funding.

Provide quality advising for SGA leaders and keep them informed so they can
represent students to the best of their ability.

Create a display board to recognize student award winners.
9. Issues and Challenges for the Department During 2008-2009
General Statement:
Specific Issues and Challenges 2008-2009:

The state budget crisis continues to have a negative impace on the entire
University community. The University has had to deal with ongoing concerns
regarding the possibilityfor additional budget cuts. Staff remain concerned and
student are concerned about tuition increases and the economy

It will be important for the University to continue to evaluate the best practices
as it relates to threat assessment and behavior intervention teams. We have the
Student Care Team (SCT) in place, but it is not designed to serve as a threat
assessment team such as some other institutions are establishing. This concept
was discussed with University legal counsel and Dr. Lowery (consultant), and at
this time they are in agreement that the SCT will need to continue to evaluate
national trends, legal standards, reasonable professional actions, and campus
climate to determine if modifications in the purpose of SCT are appropriate. If
SCT is to one day serve as a larger clearing house for all potential student threat
concerns that students, faculty, or staff members have, then additional
resources will be necessary
10. Report on metrics for programs and services during the year (usage and/or
customer numbers, occupancy data, number of programs provided,
participant demographics, retention statistics, revenue numbers, budget
savings, new funding sources and amounts, benchmark comparisons,
professional development/involvement data, web hits, student employee
numbers, etc)
General Statement:
Specific Metrics from 2008-2009:

19 Persona Non Grata (PNG) incidents processed

180 CPC applications received requesting over $283,000; 124 events funded for a
total of $84,000

Six Persona Non Grata (PNG) appeals received and processed

96 student conduct incident reports received and processed; Assistant Dean met
with 53 students via informal disciplinary conferences

Processed Speech/Distribution of Literature requests for 105 different dates

35 student grievances were processed

130 students participated in the NCAA Final Four Student Trip

45 parents were nominated for the first annual Parent of the Year Award and
approximate 120 people attended the event

As of the fall of 2008, 95.5% of Freshman LEAD students had retained at the
University compared to 61.3% for the entire 2005 freshman class

Five student outreach luncheons were held and included participants from the
Chinese, Indian and Iranian student associations and the American International
Relations Committee, as well as officers of the National Panhellenic Council,
Panhellenic Council officers and chapter presidents, Inter-fraternity Council
officers and chapter president and NSEE study students