October 20, 2011 - UAAC Meeting Minutes

Present: Janet Muncey (Admissions); Laurie Bragg, Jason Barkemeyer, Kari Dockendorff, Anna Adams, Christine Daoust, Cole Holmes (Business); Jenny Jones (Chemical Engineering); Richard Ernst (Chemistry); Amanda May (Civil and Environmental Engineering); Merilee Anderson, Janet Goff (Continuing Education); Lori McDonald (Dean of Students); Tracey Farnsworth (Economics); Angie Midgley (Gender Studies); MaryAnn Golightly (Geography); Judy Martinez (Geology and Geophysics); Chelsea Ruesch (Health Promotion and Education); Jacqueline Fogel (International Center); Angie Gardiner (Mathematics); Dona Holm (Mechanical Engineering); Mary Ann Dresher (Music); Trisha Jensen (Orientation); Betsy Cook (Parks, Recreation, and Tourism); Samantha Brodey (Political Science); Emily Johnson (Registrar’s Office); Gina Seastrand (Social and Behavioral Science); Kelsey Nicholson, Sharon Beck (Student Recruitment); Maria Baldwin (Student Support Services); Becky Owen, Jill Hinckley (Teacher Education); Lyndi Duff, Liz Taylor, Dylan Mace (Undergraduate Studies); Jency Brown, David Eisen, Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski, Richelle Warr, Vickie Morgan, Becki Broadbent, Martina Stewart, Terese Pratt, Shelley Nicholson (Academic Advising Center); Libby Oberg (Academic Advising Center / Fine Arts). Total: 45

 

Admissions – Janet Muncey

• Clarification: once a student graduates, they are considered to be a nonmatriculated student if they register for further courses. Second bachelor’s status requires an application.
• Beginning November 2, the Admissions Office will close from 8am to 12noon on Wednesdays (through April 2012).
• Barbara Fortin has accepted a new position at Case Western Reserve University; her last day will be October 28. Tim Ebner will serve as interim director of admissions.

 

Registrar’s Office – Emily Johnson

• (Further to point in Admissions report, above) A student who has graduated, and wants to continue on, can also declare a second major (they will not be coded as a nonmatriculated student in that situation).
• Important dates:
• October 21 – last day to withdraw (from semester-length courses)
• November 1 – Spring 2012 graduation application deadline
• November 3 – Spring 2012 registration begins
• December 6 – Registrar’s summit meeting (in the morning); more information forthcoming

 

Financial Aid – no report

 

Curriculum Administration – Lyndi Duff

• A mockup of the unified calendar (previously discussed) will be shown next week. As a reminder, the calendar is primarily intended for use by advisors, faculty, and staff, and will include important dates relating to Admissions, Registrar’s Office, Curriculum, and others; it will be housed in the Registrar’s Office. The SharePoint application is being considered for use.

 

DARS/GPS – Richelle Warr, Libby Oberg

• DARS / GPS training on November 14 – information to come.
• DARS improvements related to course repeats and transfer credit processing will hopefully be in place before Fall 2012 registration begins.
• GPS: students are finding and using it; currently 3, 261 unique students are using them and have created a total of over 4,000 plans. There are ongoing efforts to improve the website for clarity and ease of use. E-mail Libby Oberg (loberg@uc.utah.edu) with any questions about what’s happening with your college or department.

 

Advisor Education and Development – Vickie Morgan

• Last week’s advisor roundtable, focusing on course repeats, was well-attended. The next roundtable, focusing on undocumented students, will be November 8; details forthcoming. The December roundtable (date to be determined) will focus on handling student complaints
• There will be no advising basics training in November, but PeopleSoft training will be held mid-month.

 

Orientation – Trisha Jensen

• Orientation leader applications are due by 12:00noon on October 24. Advisors are encouraged to refer students who they feel would be good candidates.
• The Learning to Lead Conference is moving toward a new format – a workshop series for students. The first one (in collaboration with Career Services) will take place November 3, and will focus on incorporating leadership experiences into résumés.   Further information will be sent over the UAAC listserv.
• Orientations for Spring 2012 will begin soon; the first one (which will not include advising) is November 10. Programs with advising will be November 15 and 16 (college coordinators have these dates).

 

Transfer Student Issues – Terese Pratt

• The Transfer Coordinating Council, inactive for the past year, is being revived. A meeting has tentatively been planned for December 12, from 12:00noon to 1:30pm (lunch included), and is open to anyone who works with transfer students. More information to come.

 

Housing and Residential Education – no report

 

Mandatory Advising Program – Jency Brown, Martina Stewart

• A total of 3,370 freshmen received notification about the requirement to meet with an advisor. Over half of new freshmen have been advised at this point (a larger number than at the same time last year). It’s thought that the website has helped the process to go more smoothly this year.
• The registration period is greatly condensed this year; it begins on November 7, with a new group of appointments every fifteen minutes. Freshmen should therefore try to register early on that morning to take full advantage of their priority. Academic Advising Center is communicating with the Registrar’s Office about spreading out the timeframe for next year.
• This year Academic Advising Center sent out postcards to student’s homes, with the idea of getting the information to parents; hopefully this has made a difference. Martina earlier sent out the total figure of hits for the MAP website; it appears to have been successful.
• Reminder e-mails will be sent to students will be sent beginning October 24 and approximately every two weeks thereafter until December.
• Second-year advising: approximately 2,000 students will receive the reminder on or about November 9. Advisors are reminded to check the student’s record in PeopleSoft, as students don’t always indicate that their appointment is for second-year advising.
• In November, an e-mail will be sent to students (there are usually about 400) who could potentially receive an undeclared major hold in February.
• Students should be reminded that it is considered a duplication of credit if they took a case through concurrent enrollment at Salt Lake Community College, and then take the same course here. (The Admissions determines whether any transfer work duplicates a course taken at the University.)

 

Major Expo – Jency Brown (for Steve Hadley)

• This year’s event saw a great turnout; thanks to everyone for helping to make it a success. This year there was no food provided for students (which seems to have worked out well, with positive feedback). However, any feedback about that particular issue can be sent to Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski at saiken@uc.utah.edu.

 

Technology – Becki Broadbent

• In PeopleSoft, the Course Catalog panel can be very useful to advisors. (The path is Curriculum Management / Course Catalog / Course Catalog.) Those with “advisor view” authorization should now be able to access it. More information about how to use it, and how it can benefit users, will be coming shortly. Lyndi Duff is very knowledgeable in its use.

 

New and Continuing Business

Student Academic Misconduct:  Lori McDonald, Associate Dean of Students, spoke about the process that the University employs for handling cases of student academic misconduct. (A distinction is made among behavioral, professional, and academic misconduct; the latter is generally handled through individual departments.) She distributed a memo to deans and department chairs (dated October 14, 2011) which was sent as a reminder to departments and faculty, on how to handle student academic misconduct. Plagiarism and cheating are the two most common allegations that fall under the “academic” category. A key underlying principle is maintaining students’ right to due process, including appeal rights. Lori’s office can advise students on how to navigate the policy.

 

Health, Society, and Policy: Jency Brown reported, on behalf of Sandra McCarthy, that the Behavioral Science and Health program has changed its name to Health, Society, and Policy (official as of January 1, 2012).

 

International Student Spring 2012 Orientation and Advising: Jacqueline Fogel, of the International Center, noted that information on applying to be a student ambassador has been sent out over the UAAC listserv. The application deadline is November 4.

 

As of November 1, online orientation will go “live” again, as will the signup for the on-campus welcome week (which begins with a social event on January 3). The core of the program will take place January 4 through January 6; advisors are asked to please send their availability for those days to Jacqueline’s office. (Jacqueline will be leaving her position as of October 28; after that, communications should be sent to Robin Cole at r.cole@ic.utah.edu.)

 

Data Moment: Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski distributed information (produced by the Office of Budget & Institutional Analysis) on the University enrollment / credit summary, and additional headcount, for Fall 2011 (as compared to Fall 2010). The information is broken down in various ways (undergraduate vs. graduate, matriculated vs. nonmatriculated, resident vs. nonresident, etc.). The information is also available at www.obia.utah.edu.

 

Sharon reported that she was asked to thank everyone who participated in the recent General Education town hall meetings. She also distributed a handout on “Initiatives to Watch in 2011-12”, which includes (among others) activities of the Re-imagining General Education Task Force and the Harvesting Best Practices Working Group.          The handout includes the “word cloud” which came out of the “Campaign to Transform the Student Experience / Imagine the Possibilities” process wherein students, faculty, and staff came together to talk about the undergraduate experience; advisors will be invited to participate in a similar process in February 2012.

 

It was also noted that the University is using a new admissions index (the Honors College is using this index as they select students for the coming year). Writing placement will be undergoing a change as well; specific information will be coming soon.

 

Advising Tip of the Month: As advisors, put yourselves in the shoes of your students. There are students who haven’t graduated when they anticipated being able to, because they had a duplicate course that wasn’t caught. Everyone involved should now be more conscious of the issue.

 

Think: if you were the student, what would you like your advisor to do for you? Try to “go the extra mile” when advising.

 

 

NEXT UAAC MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2:00PM; ROOM TO BE ANNOUNCED.