March 17, 2011 UAAC Meeting Minutes

Stephanie Ritrievi sends thanks to UAAC for the cake (at least month's meeting) and everyone's good wishes.  Today is Jason Barkemeyer's first meeting as AAC co-chair.

  

Registrar's Office - Michael Bard

• Enrollment Summer 2011 = 2,096 at this point
• Summer 2011 registration started on March 13 (along with the multiple enrollment function).  Fall 2011 registration by appointment begins on April 11 (along with open enrollment for Summer 2011).

 

Admissions - Janet Muncey

• Reminder:  for students applying for Summer 2011, application file must be complete by April 15.
• Articulation packets may go out to college coordinators next week; deadline to return is April 19.

 

Financial Aid - Amy Capps

• Summer applications are now available; they are taking a little over a month to process so students should submit them as soon as possible (will be taken though Summer 2011's tuition deadline).
• Aid processing for 2011-12 has begun; April 1 is the file completion deadline to be considered for the bulk of the available money. Next year's situation is unclear as of now; some monies have already been lost.  All awards for next year will still go out in mid-April, but will include alerts that awards may change.
• The majority of freshman scholarship offers have been made (transfer scholarship deadline is April 1).
• The Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policy has changed (handout distributed), effective end of Spring Semester and for students who are trying to appeal aid for Summer Term.  Reminder:  Financial Aid is required to review all students at the University for adherence to these criteria (not just those who have applied for, or who currently have, financial aid).  Students not meeting the provisions of SAP have holds that appear in PeopleSoft (these holds only hold up financial aid, not enrollment, transcripts, or diplomas).  Highlights:
• The maximum timeframe provision remains the same, as does the 2.0 minimum GPA requirement (for juniors or those who have been at the University at least four terms).
• The completion rate percentage didn't change but now includes transfer credit, which will help some students.
• New:   implementing a warning period.  The first time a student fails to meet SAP provisions, they'll get a Warning for one semester (will show as a Negative Service Indicator in PeopleSoft).  They can still get aid for that semester, but if they remain out of compliance at the end of it, they will lose aid.  There is only one warning given per SAP criterion.
• Based on new federal regulations, the appeal process is now much stricter; a student must have extenuating or unusual circumstances.  There is a new appeal form, with new deadlines.  Some students will need to submit an Academic Plan with their appeal.  (While this plan document doesn't require an advisor's signature, advisors may see students who are seeking help in putting a plan together.)  Students appealing the maximum time frame provision must still get a letter from an advisor.
• Course repeats, while they may help a student's grade-point average, do pull the completion rate down.
• An e-mail message will be sent to students in April, regarding the changes.  Also, Financial Aid is working on a CIS link that will allow students to see "where they're at" with SAP.

 

Curriculum Administration - Ed Barbanell

• Reminder:  Students paying resident tuition, who repeat a University of Utah course for the second time (i.e., their third attempt), are assessed a $100-per-credit-hour tuition surcharge (and are notified of it by e-mail early in the semester).
• At the next UAAC meeting, the two students who are working on the unified calendar project will present.  On April 8, there will be a brown bag lunch in the Sill Center Large Conference Room; all who have ideas and input for the calendar are invited.
• Lyndi Duff is working on revising curriculum web pages, processes, and forms; more information at next month's UAAC meeting.  The plan is to do training with the various colleges this summer.
• A new "hybrid" course attribute is currently under consideration.

 

DARS/GPS - Richelle Warr 

• GPS training (for advisors) on building roadmaps, April 6, 9am - 12noon; more information coming.
• Thanks to Libby Oberg for all of her efforts in marketing GPS.  Over the past few weeks there has been a significant uptick in students using GPS.

 

Advisor Education and Development - Vickie Morgan

• Tomorrow is the last day to send RSVP for the March 22 and 23 graduation change trainings (information was sent out on the UAAC listserv).

 

Orientation - Trisha Jensen

• Reservations for summer and fall programs are now open.  First summer orientation is March 29 (transfer, including advising).  The March 30 program is the only freshman program that includes advising.
• Invitations for first-year programs will go out in mid-April; those for transfer programs should be going out next week (these are for Fall Semester).
• Effective Fall 2011, the matriculation fee will change to $125 (the first increase since 1999).  Part of the fee goes to orientation.
• Regents Scholarship Program (more information at next month's UAAC meeting):  students in the Program must show proof of enrollment and be registered by July 1 (earlier than last year).  They must therefore do an overnight program (with an extra cost) or participate in a specific program (which is by invitation only) on May 20 and 21; advisors are asked to mark their calendars for May 21.  At this point, about 150 students are expected.

 

Transfer Student Issues - no report

 

Housing and Residential Education - Shaun Simon

• The upperclass housing areas are now full; waitlists are being maintained.  First-year beds are still available.

 

Mandatory Advising Program - Victoria Trujillo

• Holds for freshman and second-year students have been placed.  Reminder:  after the mandatory freshman advising appointment, advisors should be sure to give students early registration capability; remove the advising hold; and make a note on the Advisor Meeting panel.  (The last two apply as well to second-year advising appointments.)
• Undeclared holds:  Academic Advising Center has seen a significant number of students who received the hold (and e-mail) and have subsequently declared their major, but the hold is still there.  Advisors, please remember to remove holds for these students (and enter relevant advisor notes).

 

New and Continuing Business 

• Major Expo:  Jency Brown reported for Steve Hadley on the recent event.  Attendance was down this year; possible factors were the weather and holding the event on a Tuesday rather than a Wednesday.  It was felt by some that due to the event's spring scheduling, students who did come may have been better prepared (asked more focused questions, etc.).  The Expo evaluations were almost 50/50 as far as holding the event in fall vs. spring.
  
  There are pros and cons to all the scheduling options for next year.  For example, February may be too soon for some advisors, while March 7 may see some students leaving early for Spring Break; scheduling after Spring Break may not be optimal because students are busy with end-of-semester coursework, and other events are going on.  For Fall 2011, it may be difficult to schedule the event at this point.
  
  Any feedback from advisors on this year's and/or future event scheduling is welcomed; contact Steve atshadley@uc.utah.edu .

 

• Math Prerequisites and Accuplacer Updates:  Kelly MacArthur distributed updated information on the enforcement of mathematics course prerequisites.  Highlights:
  • Accuplacer will be required at orientation.  (With online orientations, students will be able to go to the Testing Center and take Accuplacer at no charge.)  Most students will be coming to orientation before their AP scores are posted; it will be recommended that they do Accuplacer.  (However, the AP score will override the Accuplacer score.)
  • Effective Fall 2011, ACT and SAT scores will not work as entrance to a math course; course placement will be based on Accuplacer, Advance Placement (AP), or courses taken.
  • Accuplacer has three "states":  every student is started in the Elementary Algebra Test; based on the student's responses, Accuplacer may move them to the College Level Math Test or the Arithmetic Test.
  • Students who repeat Accuplacer will see different questions.
  • Accuplacer scores, not percentiles, are what are considered; all scores expire after two years.
  • No exceptions are made to course prerequisites.
  • The math "boot camps", offered immediately prior to Fall and Spring Semester, will continue.
    
    Kelly also distributed information on a new course, MATH 1000 (Understanding Mathemaphobia), a one-credit-hour graded course that she will instruct.
• Tech and Advising Updates:  Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski noted the following:
  
  Midterm grades (understanding who is performing below a "C" level at mid-term to suggest resources and strategies that will assist with success) 
   - Students and staff have indicated an interest in midterm grades for first-term students.
   - Products:  StarFish, GradesFirst, PeopleSoft, and Canvas have all been considered.
   - Athletics has purchased GradesFirst and is in the implementation stage.  Lucas and his staff have been very helpful and welcome the campus community to look at this once it is rolled out.
  
  Advising Center (a function in PeopleSoft that allows advisors to keep track of advisees and pull certain pieces of information from one central point instead of hitting individual pages)  University IT would like for a formal request to be made through the PPO process before this project moves forward.  Becky Broadbent and Martina Stewart are involved in learning the process of submission and what this means for the tool.
  
  Campus Course Management & Learning Software The University has used Blackboard (formally WebCT) through a statewide contract, which will expire in 2012.  To prepare for this event, institutions in Utah worked together to identify a number of vendors, received proposals, and select the next product.  The outcome was Canvas (from Instructure, a Utah-based company.
  
   - University courses will be moving to this product over the next few semesters.  The Academic Success Workshop (sponsored by Academic Advising Center), used by students on academic warning, will move in Summer 2011, and other entities such as Orientation are considering this venue for online learning.
   - It is written from the student perspective.
   - Would advisors like to have a presentation on Canvas at a future meeting?
   - More information at:  http://www.tacc.utah.edu/
  
  The National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) will hold its annual conference in Denver, October 1-4, 2011. As departments and colleges begin to consider budgets, it might be an opportunity to request funds for this professional development since it is so close to Salt Lake City. More information can be found at: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/annualconf/2011/index.htm.  
  
  Ambassador Scholarships:  Jacqueline Fogel noted that the applications were sent out a few weeks ago; student ambassadors are being sought for summer.  Advisors are encouraged to pass these applications along to students who they feel are good candidates.

 

Spring UAAC meetings:   The April meeting will be held on April 21; the May meeting is May 19.  It was suggested to move the June meeting from the 16th to the 23rd; this will be confirmed later.