October 23, 2014 - UAAC Meeting Notes University Of Utah - Academic Advising Center - University Academic Advising Committee

UAAC MEETING NOTES

October 23, 2014

Present: Tony Shirley (American Indian Resource Center); Joy Velarde (Anthropology); Nevon Bruschke (Art and Art History); Valerie Fredrickson (ASUU); Lauren Storer, Colby Vranes, Taryn Horner (Athletics); Jess Taverna, Rachel Osterman, Amanda Miller, Latu Kinikini (Business); Kathy Leslie (Career Services); Tracey Farnsworth (Chemical Engineering); Rick Ernst (Chemistry); Alexi Crabb (Civil and Environmental Engineering); Laneta Fitisemanu (Communication); Vicki Jackson (Computing); Janet Goff, Candace Krukiel (Continuing Education); Jill Wilson (Economics); Arlene Arenaz (Electrical and Computer Engineering); Shawn Adrian (English); Jenny Stout (Family and Consumer Studies); Liz Leckie (Fine Arts); Shari Lindsey (Health); Erica Rojas, Michelle Taliaferro, Holly Pokorny (Honors); Taunya Dressler, Copeland Johnston (Humanities); Caitlin McDonald (International and Area Studies); Lisa Hutton (Languages and Literature); Leslie Giles-Smith (Learning Enhancement Program); Beth Henke (Master of Public Policy); Mark Mun (Mechanical Engineering); Mary Ann Dresher (Music); Kelly Brown (Occupational Therapy); Betsy Cook (Parks, Recreation and Tourism); Shawna Webster (Pharmacy); Ana Nelson (Political Science); Mike Santarosa, Zach Klc (Registrar’s Office); Carol Bergstrom (Scholarships); Bobbi Davis (Social and Behavioral Science); Paul Humbert-Fisk (Student Equity and Diversity); Christine Contestable, Stephanie Santarosa, Jen Molloy (Student Success and Empowerment Initiative); Kristen Lindsay, Sara Hatch (Teacher Education); Maria Baldwin (TRIO); Lyndi Duff (Undergraduate Studies); Leslie Park, David Eisen, Kelsey Nicholson, John Nilsson, Martina Stewart, Richelle Warr, Steve Hadley, Julia Popp, Heather Crum, Tammy Nguyen, Sarah Rollo, Marilyn Hoffman, Jency Brown (Academic Advising Center); Lena May-Fraser, Kira Jones, Brett Runnion (Academic Advising Center / Fine Arts); Tamara Young (Academic Advising Center / Physics and Astronomy). Total: 69

Leslie Park is today’s co-chair (in lieu of Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski).

Many of those present today report having a name button (these were distributed at the recent appreciative advising presentation by Jenny Bloom). For others who would like one, a list is being passed around today.

A welcome is extended to UAAC members from ASUU: Valerie Fredrickson (present today) and Caleb Johnson.

Admissions – no report

Registrar’s Office – Mike Santarosa, Zach Klc

Applications for Spring 2015 graduation are due by November 3. The petition process for Fall 2014 graduation applications begins on October 27.
Registration dates for Spring 2015 are currently published (they begin on November 6); open enrollment for nonmatriculated students begins on November 24.
The next Registrar’s Office summit (“Elevating Success with U”) is slated for December 2, 8am – 12noon at the Officers’ Club.
Last month’s campuswide inservice (done by Emily Johnson) contained much valuable information; she will be repeating it in the future (information to come on the UAAC listserv).

Financial Aid – no report

Scholarships – Carol Bergstrom

Approximately $10 million in scholarship dollars were reported for Fall 2014. $8.4 million has been disbursed through the system; the remainder was disbursed through travel awards, book awards, etc.
The Office has now trained 404 people on using the new scholarship system; 350 individuals throughout campus now have access. A survey was recently sent out, which had a 20% response rate. Findings:
95% of those trained understood why they were doing the changes
83% thought that they were prepared for the new system
87% were satisfied with it

Those who still have questions should feel free to contact the Scholarship Office (1-6211).

Spring 2015: those who have new item types to put into the system should do so by December 15.
The first disbursement for Spring 2015 will take place on January 7 (five days before classes begin).

Curriculum Administration – Lyndi Duff

The 2015-16 General Catalog is now available to be edited (it won’t be displayed anywhere during the editing period). Those who are catalog editors (or who otherwise receive those notifications) recently received information about upcoming training dates (November 5 and 14).

DARS/GPS – Richelle Warr

Welcome to Tammy Nguyen, who will be working with Richelle on DARS. Tammy will serve as the main contact while Richelle is out on leave (approximately the months of January through March).
Regarding the changes that Emily Johnson reviewed in last month’s campuswide inservice: although they went into production this morning, there were problems with the declared majors report; so the changes have been reversed for now.

Advisor Education and Development – Leslie Park

The next Advising Basics training will be on November 12, with a technology training (DARS, etc.) to follow on November 18. New advisors, and/or those departments and programs with new advising staff, should be sure to RSVP and/or contact Leslie (Lpark@uc.utah.edu).

Orientation – Shari Lindsey for Garrett Kachellek

Interviews for the assistant director position are currently underway.
Registration / reservations for Spring 2015 orientation sessions are now available online. The system is new, so if students have questions or encounter problems, please refer them to Garrett’s office (1-7069).

Transfer Student Issues – no report

(Liz Taylor, from Undergraduate Studies, announced and distributed information about Transfer LEAP. The course fulfills the IR requirement. Transfer students who entered in fall may still take this course. The first twenty transfer students who enroll for Spring 2015 [LEAP 3050] are eligible for a $2,000 scholarship, to be disbursed over two semesters.)

Committee Reports

Leslie Park distributed a roster of 2014-15 UAAC subcommittee members. Everyone received their first or second choice of subcommittees; members will be contacted soon by the chairpersons.

Mandatory Advising Program – Martina Stewart

Half of the MAP population has already been advised at this point. It’s hoped that advisors have been able to reflect on, and use, ideas and techniques that were covered at the recent MAP kickoff event (with Jennifer Bloom).
MAP students (who met with an advisor and were given priority registration) will be able to register starting at 7:00am on November 10. Students who still have a hold were e-mailed this past Monday; these e-mails will go out again on the next two Mondays. Reminder: advisors who meet with students should be sure to mark the advisor meeting panel.
Selection for second-year advising will take place on November 20; these students will receive an e-mail informing them how to connect with an advisor in order to avoid a registration hold in March.
Jency Brown reminded the group: for this year’s MAP, premajors are being directed to the relevant academic department as much as possible; but for purposes of late withdrawal petitions, premajors should still be directed to Academic Advising Center.

Advisor Awards – no report

Marketing and PR for Advising – Taunya Dressler

The Advisor Position – Jess Taverna

Both subcommittees are enthusiastic about meeting and planning their work for the coming year.

Assessment of Advising – Steve Hadley

Steve presented (via PowerPoint) information gleaned from the 2014 campuswide advising survey. The survey was administered over a two-week period, with 9,999 invitations being sent out (targeted more heavily toward seniors). There was a 9.2% response rate, which was down a bit from the survey conducted two years ago. (This may be due in part to a technical issue that occurred on the first day that the survey was open for responses.)

(The presentation was also sent to the listserv after the meeting.)

Appreciative Advising – Liz Leckie

Advisors are encouraged to go to www.appreciativeadvising.net for information on an upcoming conference, as well as an eight-week online course to learn about the Appreciative Advising framework and its applications.

Continuing and New Business

UExplore Open Houses: Sarah Rollo announced that the first UExplore session of Fall 2014 took place this past Monday. It focused on Anthropology, Geography (in particular the GIS program), and Sociology (including the Criminology certificate). This particular session saw a record number of attendees. Next week’s session will focus on Psychology (including the Human Factors certificate), Biology, and the multidisciplinary Design major.

The UExplore sessions are held from 12:00noon to 1:30pm in the Union building, and include pizza.

Career Services: Kathy Leslie announced that UCareerLink is being replaced by a new database, UCareerPath, which will debut in November. Advisors are invited to a series of demonstrations (including lunch) on November 7, 13, and 14 (handout distributed); each of these sessions will include career counselors assigned to specified colleges on campus. Also upcoming are two Career Pathways events on November 4: one for Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, and one for Nonprofit and Public Service (handouts distributed).

AP Updates / Prerequisites (Chemistry): Rick Ernst announced that Advanced Placement evaluations have been changed, as follows:

AP score of 3 will now count as the equivalent of CHEM 1110

AP score of 4 “ “ “ “ CHEM 1210 (but not the accompanying lab course)

AP score of 5 “ “ “ “ CHEM 1220

Other departments can decide whether the above will best apply to their situation.

Students who have had AP lab work in high school can submit their transcripts for evaluation; Chemistry will decide whether that work will count for the lab course (but, professional schools probably wouldn’t recognize this).

The New AP guidelines are slated to take effect in Spring 2015.

Chemistry has now initiated prerequisite enforcement for the 1200 series and the organic chemistry lecture courses (this is being coordinated by Whitney Hills, whills@chem.utah.edu). Students should be advised that in any case, it’s best for them to take the lecture and corresponding lab courses together.

Advisors should note: in the case of foreign students, Rick wants to see final exams from the courses taken, in order to make an equivalency decision. (He asks the students to contact their instructors to obtain those; or, he can make contact with the instructors.)

Continuing Education offerings: Janet Goff reminded the group (and distributed information) about the three courses that are available during the week of January 5 – 9, 2015 (the week before Spring Semester begins):

POLS 1100-60, LING 3600-60, and MUSC 3600-60. These are taught at the Murray site, and they do require both prework and postwork. The classes that were taught during Fall Break (this semester) were very successful; many engineering students enrolled. Advisors are also reminded of the Spring 2015 math “boot camp” courses, MATH 10 and 15 (which again are taught during the week of January 5 – 9). There were over 50 students enrolled in the Fall 2014 boot camp courses.

No courses are currently planned to be taught during spring break (2015).

Law Fair / RTU Program: Marilyn Hoffman announced that the annual Law School Fair will take place on October 28 (handout distributed; information has also been sent via the UAAC listserv).

A reminder (also handout distributed): the Returning to the University (RTU) program, housed in Academic Advising Center, was created several years ago with the aim of helping students who formerly attended the University but left close to graduation, and now wish to return to finish up their studies. (The program is specifically geared to those who have previously completed at least 70% of their required credits.) A number of scholarships for these students are available every year, and students can also sometimes qualify for a waiver of the readmission fee. Tutoring is also available. Academic Advising Center may refer these students out to the academic departments in order to determine where they stand with requirements for their chosen major; however a student who qualifies for the RTU program may contact the department first, in which case advisors are asked to please refer them to Academic Advising Center.

Other Items:

On December 3 (8am to 10am), there will be an international student advising workshop. A panel of international students will present on the topic, “Top 10 things international students want advisors to know.” There will also be updates from International Student and Scholar Services. (More information to come.)

The Women’s Resource Center currently has funds for adult learners and other populations, for Spring 2015. Information can be found at womenscenter.utah.edu. There is also a laptop loan program.

There has been some restructuring of advising in the International Studies areas (for information, see http://humanities.utah.edu/international-area-studies/_undergraduate/advising.php).

The Utah Pledge brochures are available today for advisors to take; more are available from Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski (saiken@uc.utah.edu). The Plan to Finish website is now up and running (plantofinish.utah.edu).

Tip of the Month: Information on prerequisite enforcement can be accessed at www.registrar.utah.edu/handbook/prereqstudent.php.

THE Next UAAC meeting IS SCHEDULED FOR

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20 at 2:00pm IN AEB, ROOM 320