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November 15, 2012 - UAAC Meeting Notes

UAAC MEETING NOTES

November 15, 2012

 

Present: Janet Muncey (Admissions); Sandra McCarthy (Anthropology / Health, Society and Policy); Nevon Bruschke (Art / Art History); Dave Gard (Biology); Christine Daoust, Jason Barkemeyer, Kari Dockendorff, Anna Adams, Jess Taverna (Business); Tracey Farnsworth (Chemical Engineering); Rick Ernst (Chemistry); Amanda May (Civil and Environmental Engineering); Hilda Bravo (Communication); Kelly Olson (Computing); Candace Krukiel (Continuing Education); Jill Wilson (Economics); Arlene Arenaz (Electrical and Computer Engineering); Erica Orians (English Language Program – student representative); Amy Capps (Financial Aid and Scholarships); Liz Leckie (Fine Arts); Shari Lindsey (Health); Andrew Kahrs (Housing and Residential Education); Taunya Dressler (Humanities); Brandon Patterson (International Center); Alison Vásquez (International Studies); Lisa Hutton (Languages and Literature); Angie Gardiner (Mathematics); Bonnie Ogden, Mark Mun (Mechanical Engineering); Trisha Jensen (Orientation); Betsy Cook (Parks, Recreation, and Tourism); Samantha Brodey (Political Science); Dallin Cowles, Carol Uresti, Michael Santarosa (Registrar’s Office); Kristen Lindsay (Teacher Education); Faye Barron (Theatre); Lyndi Duff (Undergraduate Studies); Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski, Jency Brown, David Eisen, Terese Pratt, Richelle Warr, Becki Broadbent, Vickie Morgan, Shelley Nicholson, Martina Stewart, John Nilsson, Marilyn Hoffman, Natalie Brown, Steve Hadley (Academic Advising Center); Lena May-Fraser, Kira Jones (Academic Advising Center / Fine Arts). Total: 53

 Welcome New Members: ASUU has provided four students to participate in UAAC activities (one is present today).

 Admissions – Janet Muncey

  • Deadlines:
  • November 15 (today) – Spring 2013 application completion deadline (all transcripts, etc. must be in); nonmatriculated or reactivating students will continue to be admitted (ongoing)
  • December 1 – Fall 2013 priority deadline for freshmen (applicants will be notified on January 7)

Registrar’s Office – Dallin Cowles

  • Spring 2013 registration began on November 1; current total enrollment is approximately 18,000. Open enrollment begins on November 26.
  • Spring 2013 graduation: over 4,000 applicants thus far; students may still apply for graduation with late fee.
  • Deadlines / dates:
  • November 30 -- last day to reverse Credit / No Credit (semester-length and second half)
  • December 7 -- classes end
  • December 10 – 14 – finals
  • December 26 – Fall 2012 grades due
    • Registrar’s Summit, December 4, 8am – 12noon, Officers’ Club – will include valuable and helpful information including discussion of course prerequisites. RSVP by November 16 (tomorrow) to registrar@sa.utah.edu.
    • Mike Santarosa is the new assistant registrar (introduced).

Financial Aid – Amy Capps

  • Maximum time frame holds were placed about two weeks ago.

Curriculum Administration – Lyndi Duff

  • Servicing courses audit (discussed at previous meeting) – allows instructors to see the majors of the students in their course (as of the time it was taken) – available through www.curriculum.utah.edu.
  • January 25 – deadline for Summer and Fall (includes DARS 2013-14 changes, course adds / inactivations, prerequisite designations, and 2013-14 catalogue page changes; departments who use prerequisite checking for certain courses should work with Roz Jensen in Registrar’s Office).
    Purchased catalogue product (discussed at previous meeting): funding is currently being sought; hopefully to be in place by Fall 2013.
  • Question: how does a department go about putting prerequisite checking in place? Answer: through Registrar’s Office (aroner@sa.utah.edu). Deadline is November 30 for Summer and Fall 2013 courses.

DARS/GPS – Richelle Warr

  • DARS enhancement: heretofore, when a student was repeating a course, the course showed up twice in the Completed Hours area (once with the initial grade, and once with IP). As of November 29, a new code (“D”) will appear next to the initially earned grade. The credit hours for the course will also no longer be included in the total of Earned hours. (Transfer courses are not affected by the change.) (Distributed: examples of how this would display currently and under the new change.)
  • Upper-division transfer courses (that aren’t appearing as upper-division): these should be brought to the attention of Admissions, who then notifies Richelle.
  • GPS: currently, 6,031 unique students are using it; 6,686 total plans have been created. An e-mail will be sent to students on November 21, reminding them about the program and its advantages.

 

Advisor Education and Development – Vickie Morgan and Marilyn Hoffman

  • Advisor Basics and PeopleSoft training were offered in October / November, and an advisor roundtable (with topic of scholastic standards) was also held.
  • The next PeopleSoft training will be held in January; however, departments with urgent needs should contact Vickie (vmorgan@uc.utah.edu).
  • December 5: Academic Advising Center and the International Center will co-sponsor a breakfast meeting, focusing on advising international students from the Middle East. Location to be divulged when RSVP is received.

Orientation – Trisha Jensen

  • Orientations for students starting in Spring 2013 will commence on November 26 (that day’s program will be for transfer students). Other orientation dates are on the back of today’s meeting agenda.
  • The last orientation for Spring 2013 will take place on January 4; no students will be admitted after that date
  • Some students (and parents) have expressed disappointment that their orientation didn’t include a one-on-one meeting with an advisor. It was noted that colleges could have an internal conversation about this; however, the orientation format (for Fall 2013 students) will provide more time for college meetings or programming.
  • Online orientation no longer exists, as such.

Transfer Student Issues – Terese Pratt

  • December 11 – Transfer Coordinating Council meeting (includes lunch); an e-mail was sent out recently. RSVP by November 30.

Mandatory Advising Program – Martina Stewart

  • First-year students are no longer receiving priority registration (their regularly assigned registration date has already passed).
  • About 85% of first-year students have been seen; those who have yet to meet with an advisor are being periodically reminded of that requirement.
  • Efforts are currently underway to raise consciousness about the University’s Leave of Absence policy (a piece on the policy is being added to the 2nd-year advising information).
  • Second-year advising: advisors, please remember to mark the 2nd-year meeting type so that students won’t continue to receive e-mails or a registration hold (in PeopleSoft, look for the positive service indicator). These students don’t always indicate to the advisor that they are there for this reason.
  • December 26 – an e-mail will be sent to undeclared students, informing them that once they reach 60 credit hours (and are still undeclared), a hold will be placed on their registration. Declaring a premajor does prevent a hold; however, premajors who are at or over a certain number of credit hours will continue to see a message on Campus Information Systems.

New and Continuing Business

Subcommittees: As discussed last month, formation of three subcommittees will proceed (Advisor Awards; Marketing and Public Relations; and The Advisor Position). For those who would like to serve, application forms are being distributed at today’s meeting (membership will be announced next month).

A question was asked regarding time commitment. Typically, the subcommittee will have an initial meeting at which strategy and plans will be discussed; at the end of the academic year a review of activities and accomplishments will take place, and it will be decided where to go from there.

Task Forces: a UAAC Graduation Application Process Task Force is being formed (see back of today’s agenda for goals, structure, and timeline). The Registrar’s Office is supportive of this. A form will be sent out on the listserv to determine those interesting in serving, and the task force will commence its work in January.

Advising Tip of the Month: Leaves of Absence (a handout with the current process was distributed). Advisors play a key role with students who will be taking these leaves, including:

  • Reminding them of the requirement to submit the Leave of Absence request – along with official documentation – to the Registrar’s Office
  • Encouraging them to carefully note the information and suggestions included on the “Advice for Students…” form, and how doing so will greatly facilitate things for them
  • Discussing, with the student, plans for courses to be taken when they return from leave, as well as plans for reviewing earlier material (in the case of sequential courses)
  • Emphasizing the necessity of following the University’s official procedure for authorizing a third party (e.g., parents or spouse) to receive information regarding the student’s academic record (if the student anticipates that need)

Advisors should also take care to enter notes on their conversation with the student (this can be particularly helpful should there be a change in advising personnel before the student’s return).

Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski and Liz Leckie are serving on a committee which is discussing enrollment deferments, as well as Leaves of Absence. Both of these are seen as potentially impacting students in several areas (e.g., financial aid and scholarships, international student visas, status within the major). Deferment will be offered to newly accepted freshmen, transfer, or readmitted students who wish to defer to a later semester due to reasons that include but are not limited to illness, military service, humanitarian or religious service. Requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, apply only to University admissions, and require the student to pay the institutional deposit. More information will be shared as it moves from policy to process development.   Also, there will be an updated Leave of Absence policy, with a website; advisors are seen as increasing their involvement with the process. The new policy will address leaves necessitated by illness as well as other military service, humanitarian or religious service.

The need for some analytics in this area has been noted as policy and process are finalized (for students who are “stopping out,” what are their reasons and for how long are they “on leave”).

Enrollment Opportunities: Information (received from course faculty) was distributed on two Spring 2013 courses: PSY 1010-1 and ED PS 5960 / 6960. The Peace and Conflict Studies program will also sponsor a study abroad program in Israel.

Important Dates and Events are included on the back of today’s agenda handout.

Special Presentation: Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski presented summary data on the March 2012 campus advising survey (to which over 1,200 responded), as well as other recent surveys dealing with advising experiences. This information – along with a recap of developments and innovations in the advising realm at the University – was recently presented to the Council of Academic Deans.

Slides from today’s presentation will be sent out over the UAAC listserv.

NEXT REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING WILL BE ON

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, IN THE SILL CENTER LARGE CONFERENCE ROOM

Last Updated: 8/21/23