Advising Coordinating Committee


Thursday, January 20, 2005

11:00 a.m. - Merrill Library 204

In Attendance: John Mortensen (conducting), Lisa Allen, Sophie Bassett, Kathy Bayn, Heidi Beck, Becki Broadbent, Peggy Buttars, Trisha Butterfield, Geri Child, Myra Cook, Krystin Deschamps, Susan Ericksen, Kathryn Fitzgerald, Margaret Garr, Susan Haddock, Tressa Haderlie, Lisa Hamblin, Stephanie Hamblin, Ruth Harrison, Harry Heap, Kristy Hodson, Emily Hoffman, Juanita Hunting, Janalee Johnson, Mercedes Kelsey, Peter Kolesar, Marilyn Kruse, Christine Lord, Susie Maughan, Erin McDonough, Betty Murri, Cathy Myers-Roche, Susan Parkinson, Darcie Peterson, Sally Peterson, Tom Peterson, Jan Pichette, Megen Ralphs, Karalee Ransom, Deborah Reece, Mary Lou Reynolds, Isobel Roskelley, Carol Sainsbury, Judy Schalow, Tami Spackman, Susie Stones, Maureen Wagner, Dennis Welker

Extension: Brigham City, Ephraim, Roosevelt, Vernal

Excused: Fawn Groves, Lisa Hancock, Rachel Lewis, Jana Kay Lunstad, Wade Oliver, Eric Worthen

AGENDA

1. Curriculum, Advising and Program Planning (CAPP)

John Ellis is on campus to program the major requirements into CAPP. From his perspective, CAPP should be able to handle all of our requirements except the policy that a student cannot have more than 10 total repeats. It appears that CAPP can do almost everything else. John indicated that CAPP has to be programmed accurately first using the current catalog, after which USU must decide if it will program previous years or only program forward.

2. Programming of CAPP Exceptions

It is John Ellis’ recommendation that all program exceptions in CAPP be sent to the Registrar’s Office to be entered into CAPP. Many advisors see this as a problem unless there can be some guarantee of a quick turnaround and the exceptions are programmed without an advisor having to spend time justifying every exception that is made. The Associate Deans’ Council has also discussed this issue with mixed feelings about what would be the best option for USU. Heidi indicated that there is no hurry, but that a decision would need to be made within the next few months. Advisors would like to have more input in this decision.

3. Keeping Track of Premajors in Banner

Heidi Beck indicated that we speak in terms of “Programs” in Banner, as opposed to “Degrees” and “Majors.” Below is an example of how Elementary Education and PreElementary Education majors are listed in SIS Plus and how they will be referred to in Banner. Basically, the program field will include the degree information, so there is no longer a need to use a premajor code. The PPRU indicates that a student is in a premajor.

SIS Plus Banner

Degree Major Program

BS ELED BS_ELED

PPRU PELE PPRU_ELED

4. Banner Conversion and Training Needs

Heidi Beck indicated that Bill Jensen will be responsible for the upcoming Mock Registrations in Banner. The first one is scheduled for February 14 and is only for the Registration staff. Another mock registration is scheduled for March 14 and will include more of the campus. There will be articles in The Statesman that will provide University staff with more information regarding this transition.

John Mortensen has been collecting information from other schools. He and Stephanie Hamblin will be putting together additional training materials for advisors to supplement whatever materials are provided by the Registrar’s Office. These materials will be made available to advisors as handouts, and will be included in the 2005-2006 Advisor Handbook.

5. Introduction of New Professional Advisors

Janalee Johnson, formerly of the Registrar’s Office, is a new advisor in the College of Science, replacing Karen Bindrup. Emily Hoffman is the new advisor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, replacing Marianne Rich. In addition, Tricia Butterfield will be advising in Special Education and Mercedes will be advising in the Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation.

6. Recognition of Advising Award Winners

Stephanie Hamblin received the award for the 2004 Outstanding New Professional Advisor. Dennis Welker received the award for the 2004 Outstanding New Faculty Advisor. Student Support Services received the award for the 2004 Outstanding Advising Program. All of these winners will be nominated for a national award in a similar category.

7. Request for Volunteers to serve on the 2005 USU Advising Conference Planning Committee

Wade Oliver will be chairing the 2005 USU Advising Conference. It is hoped that the format of this event will more and more resemble a state or regional advising conference. Volunteers for the planning committee were solicited and the following have volunteered to assist in the planning: Cathy Myers-Roche, Sally Peterson, Chris Lord, Sophie Bassett, Becki Broadbent, and Dan Adams.

8. Update on the General Catalog and Major Requirement Sheets

The Department sections of the 2005-2006 General Catalog have been modified to include some of the four-year plans found in the major requirement sheets. However, because of time limitations, the major requirement sheets will not be completely revamped this year. As a result, the major requirement sheets will continue for this upcoming year in the same format as in the past. Academic departments will be responsible for all costs associated with printing the major requirement sheets. As in the past, an order form will be sent to each department, asking how many requirement sheets they wish to have printed. Sheri Peterson will continue to update and maintain the information.

9. Updated Articulation of DANTES Examinations

The DANTES examinations are similar to a CLEP test for those in the military. The current advisor handbook has a very incomplete listing of how the DANTES exams have been articulated at USU. Rachel Lewis has been collecting information from academic departments and has compiled more information. The attached spreadsheet is an update to the information in the Advisor Handbook.

10. Update from the Curriculum Subcommittee

There are inactive courses that are still officially on the books as approved courses, but for one reason or another, a department has requested that these courses not be listed in the General Catalog. In some instances, this is because a program has been discontinued, such as Apparel and Textiles, and only students who are finishing out the major can take the courses in question. No new students may be admitted to the program. In other instances, a faculty member who taught the subject matter may have left and a department may be waiting to hire a new person to teach the course. For whatever the reason, the practice has been that a department could request that a course not be listed in the General Catalog.

The general feeling of the Curriculum Subcommittee is that all approved courses should be listed in the General Catalog, whether or not the courses are actually offered. The General Catalog Coordinating Committee feels that students are the intended audience of the catalog and that the catalog should not mislead students by listing courses that are truly not available.

In order to clear things up as much as possible, departments have been asked to fill out the appropriate Course Approval Forms to officially discontinue any courses that departments have no intention of offering in the future.

11. Update from the Academic Standards Subcommittee

The Academic Standards Subcommittee revisited the issue of dual majors and second bachelor’s degrees. It was recommended that separate diplomas be awarded for each degree earned. As a result, the policy for a second bachelor’s degree was changed back to the way it is currently listed in the catalog. A student must have already received a first bachelor’s degree before being awarded a second bachelor’s degree. Otherwise, it is considered a dual major.

12. Update from the General Education Subcommittee

At its December meeting, the General Education Subcommittee discussed the confusion many transfer students have regarding the depth requirements, not understanding that they are truly separate from general education and are essentially requirements for a bachelor’s degree. As a result, it was recommended that the presentation of the University Studies information in various publications be modified to more clearly separate the General Education Requirements from the Depth Education Requirements. John Mortensen took that recommendation and has now created two separate sections for future publications. The first lists only the General Education Requirements and does not use the heading of University Studies. The second section is titled University Studies Depth Education Requirements. Hopefully, this will make it more clear that depth requirements are separate from general education.

13. Update on Statewide Common Course Numbering Initiative

Other institutions within the state are attempting to meet the intent of the common course numbering initiative by this fall. At USU, our target date is to implement all course numbering changes in the Summer of 2006. In order to facilitate this process, John Mortensen is working with academic departments to assist them in preparing the course approval paperwork. Although many of the course will go through the approval process soon, all of the courses will have the same effective term of Summer 2006.

At this point, paperwork has been prepared and forwarded to departments for the following course prefixes: ANTH, ART, BIOL, BIS, CHEM, CS, ECON, ELED, ENGL, GEOG, GEOL, HIST, MHR, PHIL, POLS, SOC, SW, and THEA. Course approval paperwork still needs to be prepared for: CEE, ECE, ENGR, FCHD, JCOM, MAE, MATH, MUSC, PE, PHYX, PSY, SPCH, and STAT.

14. Academic Warning and Probation E-mails from Joyce Kinkead

In addition to the academic warning and probation letters sent from academic departments or colleges, Joyce Kinkead intends to send a supplemental letter or e-mail to these students. In some instances, students are falling through the cracks and do not realize that they are not in good standing.

Some departments are in the process of cleaning up their academic action lists by looking for repeated courses that may affect a student’s standing. Once these lists are cleaned up, a new report will be run and Joyce will send correspondence to ALL students who are on academic warning or probation.

15. Advisor Training Modules

John Mortensen indicated that the Office of University Advising & Transfer Services plans to setup a core of advisor training modules for all advisors. John asked the group for topics, and the group came up with the following:

* Policies and Procedures

* Student Resources and Referral

* Career Services

* FERPA

* Banner

* How to diffuse an upset student

* Managing Student Data

* Student-Athlete Paperwork

* ROTC

* Student Development Theory

Please contact John if you think of any topics that should be added to this list.

16. Majors Fair (Tuesday, February 22, 2005)

Everyone is encouraged to participate in the Majors Fair to be held Tuesday, February 22. Jana Kay Lunstad is the main contact person for this event. In order to adequately prepare for this event, departments and colleges are encouraged to register in advance.

17. Advising Workshop Series – January 27

The time of the workshop scheduled for January 27 has been changed to 12:00 noon and the workshop will be held in TSC 336 (Senate Chambers). Donna Gordon will present a workshop on Stress Management.

UPCOMING CALENDAR

Thursday, Jan. 27 12:00 p.m. Advising Workshop Series TSC 336

Thursday, Feb. 10 11:00 a.m. Advising Coordinating Committee MLIB 204

Tuesday, Feb. 22 9:00 – 3:00 Majors Fair TSC Sunburst/International Lounge

Thursday, Feb. 24 11:00 a.m. Advising Workshop Series MLIB 204

Scholar’s Day

Mon-Tue, March 7-8, 2005

SOAR - Summer 2005

Tuesday, March 29, 2005


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