Advising Coordinating Committee


Thursday, February 12, 2004

11:00 a.m. – Merrill Library 204

MINUTES

Attending: John Mortensen (conducting), Lisa Allen, Dorrie Barnes, Kathy Bayn, Heidi Beck, Karen Bindrup, Peggy Buttars, Myra Cook, Amanda Cram, Krystin Deschamps, Penny Findlay, Terri Gass, Fawn Groves, Tressa Haderlie, Stephanie Hamblin, Lisa Hancock, Ruth Harrison, Harry Heap, Joslyn Heiniger, Jamie Herd, Jill Hoffmann, Janalee Johnson, Melanie Jones, Peter Kolesar, Marilyn Kruse, Vince Lafferty, Mary Leavitt, Rachel Lewis, Christine Lord, Jan Lyons, Susie Maughan, Cindy Moulton, Betty Murri, Cathy Myers-Roche, Sheri Noble, Wade Oliver, Alene Alder Rangel, Deborah Reece, Mary Lou Reynolds, Marianne Rich, Isobel Roskelley, Carol Sainsbury, Lynne Slade, Jeff Sorensen, Tami Spackman, Maureen Wagner, Dennis Welker, Eric Worthen.

The following people were logged on from extension sites: Josh Hunter, Dave Woolstenhulme, Bob Peterson, Dennis Farrol, Amanda Holyoak, and Sam Sturman

Excused: Dan Adams

Informational Items

1. Career Fair

Melissa Scheaffer asked advisors to remind their students about the Career Fair to be held Wednesday, March 3, 2004 in the Taggart Student Center. Student host opportunities are still available.

2. Transfer Credit Recommendation Form

Rachel Lewis discussed the Request for Transfer Credit Recommendation form, noting that this is used for evaluating credits from non-traditional institutions, such as Southern Virginia University, University of Phoenix, Stevens Henager, etc.

3. Letter of Completion

Rachel Lewis noted that the General Education Completion Form is completed by an advisor. A copy of the form is available on the ATS website. The purpose of the form is to assist students who are transferring from USU to another institution. The form is completed by the advisor and sent to Lillian Tripp in Registrar’s Office. A General Education Letter of Completion is sent to the address provided on the form.

4. Fridays – Transfer Day

Rachel mentioned that Jenn Putnam has set up Fridays as Transfer Days. Potential transfer students may be calling advisors in advance to set up an appointment for a Friday visit to campus.

5. Request for GPA Information

Jeff Sorensen is the new Associate Director of Admissions. Jeff asked advisors to provide him with GPA requirements for admission into various majors. Jeff will e-mail advisors a packet of materials. He’s looking for ideas for improving transcript review, and also wants input regarding how Admissions and advisors can work better together. E-mail Jeff at jeff.sorensen@usu.edu.

6. Robins Awards – Professional Advisor of the Year

Information about nominating an individual for the Professional Advisor of the Year award were included in the packet of materials. Nominations are due February 23, 2004. Individuals nominated must turn in their portfolios by March 8, 2004.

7. Major Requirement Sheets Deadline – March 1

The deadline to return the first draft of major requirement sheets is March 1, 2004.

Discussion Items
8. University Studies Questions and Answers

Norm Jones discussed General Education items. If an advisor thinks a student does not need both USU courses, requests for exceptions need to go through Norm. In the case where a student is from a non-articulated school, the advisor has authority to determine general education equivalents for the individual student, but articulation decisions may only be made by the department offering the course to be articulated. Advisors may not use a course taken at USU as a substitution.

Q. If a student needs one more USU course, but that breadth area will be covered by a course required for the major, does the student have to take the USU course?

A. Norm recommends that John Mortensen and Mary Leavitt take this scenario to the General Education Subcommittee.

Q. How does one bring items to the General Education Subcommittee.

A. John Mortensen and Mary Leavitt sit as nonvoting ex-officio members on this committee. Advisors should route policy questions through them. If the question is a waiver issue (such as a crisis with a senior needing to graduate), visit with Norm Jones. He determines whether he can resolve the issue. Norm suggested that if a department finds that it has a great need to grant waivers, the department should consider developing a course that would help to resolve waiver problems within the individual departments.

Q. How does a course get approved for General Education?

A. The course must go through an approval process through the Curriculum Subcommittee, the General Education Subcommittee, and the Educational Policies Committee. Departments should allow plenty of time for a course to go through the entire process.

Discussion ensued regarding students questioning the need for specific General Education classes. Some courses are extremely narrow, while others are very broad, but they meet the specific expectations of the course. Sometimes departments cannot make courses available to fulfill General Education requirements because of overwhelming demand by students that they cannot meet. Departments with limited resources need to make sure that students within their own majors are able to take their classes.

Q. Suppose a student has minor in Art, but has taken no Depth Humanities and Arts (DHA) courses. Do we still make the student take a DHA course?

A. Norm would assume that the student has met the expectation of the requirement. However, exceptions such as these should be forwarded to Norm. If an exception is granted, it should be documented.

Permission must be documented and it needs to be decided where to put waiver in SIS+ screen for degree audit.

Departments need better data to determine how many sections of General Education courses are needed. There is no central scheduling for USU courses at the present time. It is hoped that this problem will be resolved this year. Money would fix a lot of the problems.

Concerns were raised about the availability of some University Studies courses. Norm indicated that the Registrar’s Office is collecting data to assist the General Education Subcommittee in identifying bottleneck courses.

If problems can’t be resolved, the General Education Subcommittee may need to adjust some policies.

Q. Has there been any discussion about offering more depth science courses that do not have prerequisites?

A. The problem is usually that a depth science course has a math course and a BLS course as a prerequisite. We need to do a better job at getting our students not to postpone taking these courses.

Q. What if USU changed its policy to only require one USU course?

A. That’s an issue that would need to be discussed by the General Education Subcommittee.

It was noted that some DHA courses require senior status. However, most problems deal with a shortage of course offerings. Students tend to take whatever course is available, rather than choosing a course from among several options.

Q. Does the General Education Subcommittee have a philosophy about the delivery system of courses?

A. No, as long as it is a recognized course. However, the delivery method should not be used as a cure. That is a different issue. Some students are put in online courses as overflow. Students would be happier if there are choices in delivery, rather than using online courses as an overflow solution.

For further assistance, contact Norm Jones. Advisors should forward policy issues to John Mortensen or Mary Leavitt.

9. University Deposit/SOAR/Course Clusters

John noted that the new SOAR brochures would be sent out February 17th to new students. The $100 University Deposit was discussed – it is not required of transfer students; they get a different brochure. The 408 screen will show the University Deposit. Students send their deposit to the Cashier’s Office, who will forward the SOAR and cluster information to the SOAR Office. The SOAR Office will register the students in their clusters, and then reapply the SOAR holds.

It was suggested that the time for advising during SOAR be changed to 1:30 p.m., so that the students could be given more information prior to their meetings with their advisors. Advisors agreed to this change. Students will now be taught how to use the QUAD system during SOAR, just before coming to visit with their advisors. A question was asked regarding who will be placing the students in their clusters. John responded that it will be the SOAR office, and he has blocked off the first week of April for this purpose.

10. International Student Orientation

Lisa and John have been working with the International Student Office’s orientation. They have new students coming in the summer, and are anticipating 30 students for Friday, May 7th. They are hoping that advisors will be available that day to meet with students. They are also trying to encourage international students contacting their advisors by e-mail. Advisors will set aside an hour at 1:00 p.m. to meet with international students on May 7.

11. Academic Advising Task Force Recommendations

John Mortensen discussed the handout information. Richard Mueller chaired the task force, and their final meeting was held in December. On January 26, the recommendations were presented to the Deans Council. The Deans Council reconvened on Monday, February 9 and endorsed most of the recommendations (exceptions were discussed). The task force recommendations are available for download here.

12. Assessment of Academic Advising Committee

John recently returned from a conference regarding the assessment of academic advising. It was mentioned that if advisors do not take a proactive role in the assessment of advising, included what should be assessed, that someone else would likely impose an assessment on the advisors. John is putting together a committee to begin putting together an assessment plan. Those interested in volunteering to be on this committee need to e-mail John (john.mortensen@usu.edu).

CALENDAR

Thursday, February 19 11:00 – 12:15 Advising Workshop Series MLIB 204

“Advising Students with Disabilities”

Wednesday, March 3 USU Career Fair TSC

Wed-Fri, March 3-5 NACADA Regional Conference St. George, UT

Thursday, March 11 11:00 – 12:15 Advising Coordinating Committee MLIB 204

Thursday, March 25 11:00 – 12:15 Advising WorkshopSeries MLIB 204

“Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA)”

Tuesday, March 30 SOAR for students beginning Summer 2004


Back to Top