9th College Access Summit Notes
Enhancing Pathways . . . "making choices that drive enduring performance step by step . . . understanding segments,
needs and capabilities." The Granularity of Growth by Patrick Viguerie, Sven Smit and Mehrdad Baghai
FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015 - UCF VALENCIA WEST – SPECIAL EVENTS CENTER
The 9th College Access Summit began with Dr. Jeff Jones, Vice Provost, UCF Regional Campuses and Continuing Education welcoming the
150 plus attendees.
Dr. Jones expressed great appreciation for the work everyone has done over the years to make College Access and DirectConnect to UCF
such a success. He welcomed Daytona State College as a new DirectConnect to UCF partner. He introduced two visiting consultants from
New York, Jessie Brown and Martin Kurzweil, from Ithaka S&R. Ithaka S&R is a non for profit company focused on building a knowledge base
about innovation in higher education that improves student outcomes and contains cost. They are currently doing a profile on UCF Online and
DirectConnect with the intention of us becoming a part of a case study series on educational transformation. Dr. Jones encouraged everyone
to welcome them as they later circulate within the working groups to observe what we work on together and gain further knowledge about
DirectConnect.
Dr. Jones introduced the President of Valencia College, Dr. Sandy Shugart, who provided the audience with some brief introductory remarks.
Dr. Shugart spoke about the old paradigm of higher education and the trouble and obstacles it faces today. The first part of the old paradigm
was Institutional self-absorption. The concept of the institution being a destination. He believes the real paradigm should be viewing the
institution as a bridge to take the student where they really want to go and make a difference in life. Once you accept the bridge paradigm
you have to give up on the self-absorption because each of us only represents a portion of the bridge. We have to build the bridge together,
from end to end design. People today want an integrated solution when you cross that bridge and that is what we are trying to engineer. The
second part of the old paradigm is that excellence also means exclusivity. That you measure your worth by the number of qualified people
you turn away rather than the talent you discover and develop. These are two important changes in the underlying paradigm of education.
There are only a few places in the country that are pioneering this. One of them is UCF, a lot of people are watching us to see if the new
paradigm can work and whether the changes can be fully integrated. The other pioneering institution is Arizona State University.
Dr. Shugart closed his remarks by speaking of the design principle that served us best over the years which is to remember the college is
what the students experience. It’s how they experience us that counts not how we experience them. He stated that this group is mostly
comprised of our higher education consortium but the bridge does not start at freshman year and very soon this same conversation is going
to have to reach back to some of the amazing school districts in our area so we can measure and change the experience students have
before they reach us as well.
Dr. Jones introduced Dr. Manoj Chopra who has been serving as the interim Dean of Undergraduate Studies and interim Vice Provost of
Teaching and Learning.
Dr. Chopra expressed his enthusiasm for being a part of the Summit and its goals He addressed some of the organizational changes that
have taken place recently within the University, most notably the interim roles he has been filling temporarily until permanent replacements
have been hired. He also wished to personally welcome Daytona State to this exciting new partnership. He spoke of the importance of
DirectConnect and how it serves as a role model to others He recently visited Arizona State for a conference and heard the university
President speak about partnerships and how access can lead to student success. It is the collective effort in meetings like this that lead to
positive outcomes within our partnerships.
In his closing remarks he mentioned that success of the FoE Initiative and how it ties in with faculty engagement, monitoring student
development as well as engagement throughout the transfer process.
Dr. Jones introduced Ange Peterson, Associate Vice President for UCF Regional Campuses, who provided the audience with a brief
biography of the keynote speaker, Dr. Maria Hesse.
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9th College Access Summit Notes
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Maria Hesse, Arizona State University
Dr. Maria Hesse serves as Vice Provost for Academic Partnerships for Arizona State University. She helped create and sustain
productive relationships with community colleges and other organizations. Prior to joining ASU in 2009, Dr. Hesse served as President
and CEO of Chandler-Gilbert Community College, one of the ten Maricopa Community Colleges in the Phoenix metropolitan area. She
served the Maricopa community college system for 25 years with short stints at two other colleges and a district office before spending 20
years at CGCC. She was founding administrator of CGCC and over the years served as faculty member, Chief Student Affairs Officer,
Chief Academic Officer, and President. During her years there the college grew from one campus to three campus locations and serving
over 20,000 students in the metropolitan area. Her current work at ASU focuses on improving the transfer process and transfer student
success towards completing their baccalaureate degree. It is very similar to what we are doing with the DirectConnect program and the
UCF mission. New annual student enrollment has nearly doubled in the past five years with more than 13,000 new transfer students at
ASU this year.
Dr. Hesse introduced a short student produced video presentation showcasing the life of transfer students and their individual journeys
through the Transfer Pathways Program. She then spoke about creating a culture of transfer between the Maricopa community colleges
and ASU and the evolution of the Transfer Pathways Program. She stated that certain foundations were already in place within Arizona
at the time of the program’s implementation that greatly assisted the development of partnerships between ASU and the community
colleges. AZ Transfer is a state wide coordination of discipline specific articulation task forces, shared course numbering system (SUN),
and ASSIST database, which is a shared database between the community colleges and ASU. There is an Arizona General Education
Curriculum (AGEC) that satisfies all the required lower division general education courses for all of the community colleges. There are
also a defined set of transfer degrees that are structured for those that are agreed upon statewide, which include the Associate of Arts,
Associate of Science, Associate of Business, Associate of Arts Elementary Education.
Dr. Hesse explained the developmental process of the memorandum of understanding that was signed in 2005 between the Maricopa
community colleges and ASU. In December 2008 the agreement was revised to focus specifically on creating a culture of transfer
between their institutions. The creation of The Maricopa to ASU Pathways Program (MAPP) was then implemented into the agreement
which not only guarantees admission into the University but into specific programs. Each pathway includes lower division general
education requirements and the major preparation courses for the specific major. When students enter the University they are entering
as “true juniors”. Courses are identified in the “language” of the community college as well as the course numbers and titles so students
do not have to reference course catalogs and other documents. Special requirements are identified on each pathway document. Tangible
incentives encourage students to complete their pathways. These incentives include guaranteed admission to their major at the
University, support from both community college and university advisors and staff, and a pathway that is cost effective and time efficient.
After signing up with the community college advisor, a weekly data file is sent to ASU and the University initiates a communication flow.
Students are encouraged to follow the pathway coursework and must meet any other special requirements. They have three years to
complete the pathway requirements and have guaranteed admission. Students have access to a variety of technological tools to help
guide and personalize the transfer experience such as ongoing short messages and video tutorials.
An open forum Q&A session was available to participants before breaking out into perspective Working Teams.
Susan Ledlow, Vice President for Academics, Valencia College, asked the attendees to divide into academic area round tables based on
the top UCF transfer areas. The first half was discussion on the data provided to each working round table group and the second half
was to answer questions using the data, to develop action items for the future.
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9th College Access Summit Notes
Working Teams Planning
During the late morning and early afternoon timeframe, seven Working Teams were formed, and asked to address specific issues related
to their assigned area. The Working Teams included:
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Health Sciences/Nursing
Sciences
Business and Engineering
Education
Psychology
Math
Miscellaneous
The following are the results from each of the Teams:
Advising Alignment
Health Sciences/Nursing Team
Action and Intended Outcomes of Action (Why do we need
to do this?)
Resources Needed (Budget, time, personnel, data?)
Transfer equivalencies readily available to students for all stage
colleges to UCF
SUS & FCS curriculum agreements. Budget and personnel needed at each
institution to establish/provide equivalencies. Online system to list
equivalencies. Online system to list equivalencies for students to access
results.
Lists already exist. Need to put on website to make the info
accessible.
Transfer equivalencies from VC to SSC to UCF Nursing prereqs
Approvals Needed (presidents, deans?)
Persons Responsible (who’s doing what to make it
happen?)
Approvals needed from upper administration. College of
Nursing at UCF.
Jessica Simmons-Add equivalency lists to concurrent BSN
websites
General Timeline
Next week
Sciences Team
Action and Intended Outcomes of Action (why do we need
to do this?
Consistent advising, collaborating with faculty, Curriculum Alignmentwrite a proposal on how to implement including a common exit exam
already done by some like SCC that can be taken forward
Agreement on how we can actually implement alignment (budget
constraints). Buy in from administration on implementation for
curriculum alignment.
Approvals Needed (presidents, deans?)
Persons Responsible (who’s doing what to make it happen?)
Resources Needed (budget, time, personnel, data?)
General Timeline
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9th College Access Summit Notes
Business and Engineering Team
Action and Intended Outcomes of Action (Why do we need
to do this?)
Resources Needed (Budget, time, personnel, data?)
ACTION: Pre & Post survey of Direct Connect (DC) students.
OUTCOME: Learn about their transition experience and areas of
strength and improvement. ACTION: Establish joint advising
positions between DC institution and UCF. OUTCOME: Joint
advocacy to improve seamless transition, inclusiveness at DC
institutions and UCF to allow for more accurate advising.
ACTION: increased communication between institutions about
changes that impact DC students from Academic Affairs and
Student Affairs. OUTCOME: less “points of pain” and more
informed students, advisors, staff and personnel
Collaboration between DC partnerships and UCF to design, implement,
and review data (time, budget, and data). Salary to be paid equally
between DC institutions and UCF. Space to be provided by DC
institutions. Attend DC Open House and a lecture capture. Duel
Enrollment. Time and personnel to analyze data and make
recommendations.
Exposing students earlier to teaching methodology, culture,
expectations before they transfer (ex. Reverse Transient). Sharing
data (Ex. Pathways cohort at Valencia). Advising collaboration,
joint training, info sessions for students (ex. Open House)
Approvals Needed (presidents, deans?)
Persons Responsible (who’s doing what to make it happen?)
Senior Administrators. VP Student Affairs, Dean, SDES,
President and Dean. Collaborative institution approvals
IR-at all institutions. Student Affairs-at all institutions. Academic and
Student Affairs. Advisors and Career coaches, student
ambassadors, Tech Group, IKM, partner institutions enroll students
General Timeline
2-3 years. Pre-after graduation at DC institutions and after 1st
semester at UCF. Post-appropriate checkpoints determined by
IR during time at UCF. ASAP and ongoing. Regional
Campuses, business liaison and Pathways Grant Program
Director. UCF advising and partner institutions to meet prior to
2016 starting.
Education Team
Action and Intended Outcomes of Action (Why do we need
to do this?)
Resources Needed (Budget, time, personnel, data?)
Colleges and universities offer more exploratory workshops, etc. on
careers in education, engineering, etc. Cut off admission date at UCF to
earlier before the add/drop period. Do this by aligning calendars with
UCF and state colleges and perhaps even high schools. Summer grads
are real issue as well.
Admissions/RegistrarDiscipline specific faculty and career
centers/recruiting/UCF Regional Campuses Administration. Registrar and
college calendar committees from all institutions that feed into UCF, meet
annually for alignment. Admissions at UCF and state colleges, grant to
support.
Approvals Needed (presidents, deans?)
Persons Responsible (who’s doing what to make it happen?)
Vice President of Recruitment and Retention. President,
administrators, BOT.
Recruiting; UCF Registrar, UCF Admissions
General Timeline
Fall 2016 2017-1018 academic year.
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9th College Access Summit Notes
Psychology Team
Action and Intended Outcomes of Action (Why do we need
to do this?)
Resources Needed (Budget, time, personnel, data?)
Faculty to Faculty session, module embedded into PSY 2012 that
includes part of PSY 2023 content (UCF capstone course)
Data-recommended by faculty, professional development points or other
incentives, 2-3 hour meeting, curriculum development, time, curriculum
guideline
Approvals Needed (presidents, deans?)
Persons Responsible (who’s doing what to make it happen?)
Academic deans, psychology faculty, Curriculum Committee, Faculty
Valencia social science, deans and department, chair/assistant, department
chair of psychology at UCF, faculty-UCF and Valencia, Advisors
General Timeline
Fall 2015-2016
Math Team
Action and Intended Outcomes of Action (Why do we need
to do this?)
Resources Needed (Budget, time, personnel, data?)
Collect more detailed data; separate CS/IT from engineering; market
engineering; better agreements across all high schools and counselors;
make sure calculus I is taught without calculators
Graphic designer
Approvals Needed (presidents, deans?)
Persons Responsible (who’s doing what to make it happen?)
General Timeline
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9th College Access Summit Notes
Miscellaneous Team – Pending Status & Lower Level Courses
Action and Intended Outcomes of Action (Why do we need
to do this?)
Resources Needed (Budget, time, personnel, data?)
Ensure all students are prepared to take 3000/4000 level courses. Help
students connect the dots for Bachelor success. Integrated partnershipsidentify how many are AA/AS. Points of Pain-Faculty and Staff:
collaboration, share information; Students: Navigating separate systems
(degree program vs. MyEd plan, different course titles/numbers); required
to declare major early, leading to change later; make difficult to plan and
impacts course enrollment; misinterpretation of information;
developmental course impacting credit hours; dual enrollment students
often come in with excess hours due to taking college courses to meet HS
reqs without having a definitive idea of which major they wish to pursue
later.
Cross institutions working groups with all advisors, shared data (program
specific students changing major or declared major after admission to
program, generalist to bring to fruition; STRUGGLES: math/science
course sequences EXCELLING: depends on students, very individual
Approvals Needed (presidents, deans?)
Persons Responsible (who’s doing what to make it happen?)
Curriculum student services/advising administrators, student services and Karen Borglum, Assistant VP Curriculum and Articulation, Valencia College;
advising, administrators
Pam Cavanaugh, New Student Services Advising Director, UCF, Waheeda
Ilasarie, Associate Director, Academic Initiative, UCF
General Timeline
September 2015, Once on board – TBD, Collect
information-courses required for UCF no offered at state
colleges
Summit Wrap-up
Susan Ledlow asked a representative from each of the Working Teams to report the results of their work during the breakout session.
Each group was to report on three action items to address before the 2016 College Access Summit.
Following the reports, Susan and Ange Peterson acknowledged the participants and stated the 9th College Summit was a success, and
thanked everyone for their time, commitment and participation in DirectConnect to UCF. They added that Central Florida’s commitment
to college access for all eligible students is a model for the nation, and that everyone involved should be proud of what has been
accomplished. Everyone was asked to commit to completing the objectives that were identified today by the 2015 College Access
Summit.
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