Academic Advising Committee Year-End Report
2003-2004
The University of Hawai’i at Hilo Academic Advising Committee was created and
convened in the Fall semester 2002 at the request of Vice Chancellor for
Academic Affairs Christopher Lu and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Keith
Miser. The committee was charged with making recommendations to improve
the quality of academic advising on campus based on feedback from students
and faculty. In the Academic Year 2003-2004, the Academic Advising
Committee continued to fulfill its charge. The committee was led by cochairpersons Dr. Michael Bitter and Dianne Higgins, and members of the
committee were: Kainoa Ariola, Dr. Olga Cordero-Braña, Kamila Dudley, Karla
Hayashi, Timothy Kane, Jim Mellon, Justin “Buddy” Perry, Dr. Craig Severance,
and Karlen Suga. The following is the committee’s year-end report and
recommendations:
Accomplishments
1). Advising Statement on Syllabi
As part of the recommendations from the 2002-2003 Academic Year, a
statement on Academic Advising similar to the one on Disability Services
was distributed to the UH-Hilo Faculty. It has been estimated that 50% of
faculty members included this statement as part of their syllabi.
2). Cyber Advising
A sub-committee on Cyber Advising was formed in the Fall Semester
2003, and was convened by Jim Mellon. Cyber advising is a way to get
advised and register early for the Fall Semester without having to come to
campus. It will run as a pilot project in Summer 2004, with an evaluation
to follow. The Sub-Committee on Cyber Advising worked throughout the
academic year to create an online module, which is expected to go “live”
on July 1, 2004. First-time students who have declared Agriculture,
Hawaiian Studies, or have not declared a major (known as “General” or
“Undeclared/Undecided”) would be eligible to access the module online. If
it is successful, then the Committee may look at ways to expand the
project in the future. .
3). Outstanding Advisor/Mentor Award
A sub-committee for the Outstanding Advisor/Mentor Award met in late
April to select the 2003-2004 honoree. Dr. Jon-Pierre Michaud, Assistant
Professor of Chemistry was selected from a pool of 7 nominees. He was
presented with the award at the 2003-2004 Chancellor’s Convocation.
The Advising Center is purchasing a canoe paddle that will serve as the
“trophy” for the award.
4). Advising as part of Tenure and Promotion Decisions
A statement was created to be included in the UH-Hilo Faculty Tenure and
Promotion Documents. The committee finds this action significant, as it
moves toward developing a commitment to viewing advising as a part of
teaching, as opposed to service.
5). Development of the Advising Committee’s Website
Dr. Michael Bitter has taken a leadership role in putting together the
elements of the committee’s website. The website will include links to the
committee’s recommendations and charge, a list of the committee’s
members, and photos of the current and past recipients of the Outstanding
Advisor/Mentor award.
6). Access to Student Records
Faculty expressed a strong interest in having view access to student
records, even if the student was not in their class. With the Advising
Document this information is now available.
Follow-up on Recommendations from the Academic Year 2002-2003
Although time and effort have been spent on the following
recommendations from the previous academic year, the Academic
Advising Committee feels that the following issues still need improvement:
1). Math Competency
There is a lack of courses specifically designed to prepare students for
courses and degree programs requiring competency in math.
Recommendation:
1. A new math course should be created which meets UHHilo’s General Education Hallmarks and provides
students with the basic knowledge and skills to be
successful in natural science, social science and
business courses and in degree programs requiring
competency in math.
2). On-line Placement Testing
Even though our Committee discussed this topic briefly last year, there is
a mounting need to move in this direction.
Recommendation:
1. Explore the option of offering on-line Math and English
placement testing. This will become more important as UHHilo moves to cyber-advising.
3). Transfer Credit Evaluations
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The current way the credit evaluations are processed is not satisfactory for
students or advisors because of inaccuracies and changes.
Recommendation:
1. An evaluation should be completed at the time of
admission.
2. The evaluation should be done accurately the first time
so it does not have to be changed during a student’s
academic career. A standard protocol should be developed
and staff members should be trained so inaccuracies do not
occur.
3). Degree Audits
The absence of a Degree Audit program that is linked to our new student
information system (Banner) has caused significant hardship for students,
staff, and advisors alike. The Degree Audit needs to be a high priority so
it will be functioning as quickly as possible.
4). On-Line Notification of Advising
Currently, we do not have the ability to send “broadcast” messages to all
students. Students should be notified on-line with the dates of academic
advising week and other important information. This feature would be
very useful and increase the knowledge that students have about
advising.
5). Denied Graduation
Advisors, as well as department chairs should be notified when students
are denied graduation. A copy of the letter sent to the student should be
sent to their advisor.
4). Dissemination of Information
UH-Hilo lacks a central place to disseminate information to students and
faculty about registration, advising, and important university news in
general.
Recommendation:
1. UH-Hilo should create a clearly visible and readily available
Information Center or system where students and faculty can
access pertinent information about UH-Hilo such as events and
announcements.
5). Advising Statement on Syllabi
Although it was a major accomplishment, only about 50% of faculty
members included the advising statement on their syllabus.
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Recommendation
1. Recommend that the Director of the Advising Center
send the Advising Statement out to the UHH “Ohana listserv
once during the summer and once during the week before
classes to encourage more professors to include the
statement on their syllabi.
New Recommendations
The following are new recommendations the Academic Advising
Committee would like to present to the UH-Hilo Administration:
1). UH-Hilo Committee Chairpersons
Our committee recommends that committee chairpersons from UH-Hilo
committees that may have similar concerns meet regularly to keep lines of
communication open and discuss the progress of each committee.
2). Prerequisite Policy
Our Committee requested that a policy statement be composed by
explaining how faculty are to proceed when students enroll in classes
without first having completed the pre-requisite(s) as indicated in the UHHilo catalog and current course schedule. Our committee drafted a
statement which was presented to the Academic Policy Committee of the
UH Hilo Congress. The Academic Policy Committee will investigate this
matter.
Goals for the Next Academic Year
Comments from the various focus groups that were held in the Spring 2004
semester indicated that students had a poor perception of academic advising.
Either students didn’t know who their advisors were, or had difficultly coordinating
their time around the advisor’s office hours. Advisors currently seem to provide
broad ideas of what classes to take instead of understanding each student’s
priorities and needs.
With the above concerns in mind, the Committee will address the following
issues:
1). Advising Model
We need to determine if the current model serves the students and
the University well. Topics of discussion will involve the option of
hiring professional advisors and well as implementing release time
for faculty advisors.
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2). Mandatory Advising
The committee has started discussions about mandatory advising.
We need to consider the ramifications relative to time and cost
factors as well as Banner implications.
3). Assessment of Advising
Establish an assessment component to evaluate the effectiveness
of academic advising services on campus.
4). Cyber Advising
We plan to evaluate the cyber advising pilot project and determine
whether it is a service that should be continued and possibly
expanded.
5). Faculty Development
Plans are in place to bring in a consultant in the area of academic
advising. Dr. Nancy King from Kennesaw State University will be
here in August to work with the continuing and new faculty, relating
advising to teaching.
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