Advising Coordinating Committee


April 8, 2004

MINUTES

In Attendance: John Mortensen (conducting), Lisa Allen, Kathy Bayn, Peggy Buttars, Geri Child, Myra Cook, Amanda Cram, Krystin Deschamps, Brian Evans, Penny Findlay, Terri Gass, Ronnie Green, Fawn Groves, Susan Haddock, Lisa Hancock, Ruth Harrison, Joslyn Heiniger, Derri Dee Leonard, Marilyn Kruse, Christine Lord, Jana Kay Lunstad, Jan Lyons, Erin McDonough, Cindy Moulton, Betty Murri, Cathy Myers-Roche, Sheri Noble, Wade Oliver, Darcie Peterson, Tom Peterson, Gary Poppleton, Megen Ralphs, Karen Ranson, Sylvia Robinson, Terry Robinson, Isobel Roskelley, Tami Spackman, Inga Trepel, Maureen Wagner, Dennis Welker, Eric Worthen

Sites Participating: Roosevelt

Excused: Heidi Beck, Rachel Lewis

1. International Student Orientation Brochure – Lisa Hancock & Jamie Herd

A brochure was handed out, showing the schedule for the Friday, May 7, International Student Orientation. A small group is expected. Advisors should set aside 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. to meet with International students. Lists of students will be faxed to the colleges a few days before the orientation.

2. Evening School Changes – John Mortensen

Beginning Fall 2004, Evening School will no longer be part of Extension, but will be integrated with daytime registration. Regular resident or nonresident tuition will be charged for evening classes.

3. Prerequisites – Brian Evans

Student-Athlete Services has been receiving many early registration forms for which individual classes have been signed by advisors. Brian wants advisors to make sure they let students know when classes have prerequisites. Students must have a signature in order to register for a class.

4. CIL Changes – Stacie Gomm

Stacie handed out fliers that go over the changes in CIL for Fall 2004. The major changes are (1) the E-mail and Information Resources tests will be combined, (2) the Operating Systems test will be concept based (multiple choice, true false, etc.), and (3) there will be a new Presentation and Graphics test. More information is available at http://cil.usu.edu/.

If a current student passes all of the CIL tests and has the information posted to his or her transcript before August 2004, the current tests will be valid. After August 2004, the tests that students have already passed will be accepted, but they will also have to pass the Presentation and Graphics test. Beginning in August, all tests will be given using the updated competencies and skills.

Summer hours for the CIL Lab are Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The CIL Lab will not be open during the final workshop week. There will be no short courses offered during the summer. USU 1000 will be offered online during the summer.

5. Pass/Fail and Summer Credit Workshops – Cindy Moulton

Cindy expressed concern about being able to get signatures during the summer. Advisors should contact Cindy (797-1140) when they are not going to be around during the summer, and let Cindy know who has authority to sign for them in their absence.

6. University Advising and Transfer Services – John Mortensen

As a result of recommendations from the Academic Advising Task Force, a new advising center is being created. The advising center will be responsible for incoming Undeclared majors, General Studies (formerly General Registration), Undeclared Business, and Undeclared Science majors. The center will also serve students who are in a transition between majors. Up to six new advisors will be hired and the job description is currently posted on the USU Human Resources website. It is hoped that the new advisors will be hired, trained, and ready to advise new students at SOAR in June.

There are several office moves that will be taking place in the Student Center over the summer. The Bull Pen (pool tables) will be relocated to the Fieldhouse. The Statesman will move to the first floor of the Student Center to the space currently occupied by the Bull Pen. The Women’s Center/Reentry Student Center will move across the hall on the 3rd Floor of the Student Center to the space currently occupied by The Statesman. The Academic Resource Center’s Tutor Room will relocated to the space currently occupied by The Statesman business office. The SOAR Office and Sheri Peterson (the ATS editor) will relocate to some of the space currently occupied by the Women’s Center/Reentry Student Center. The Office of University Advising and Transfer Services will expand into the space currently occupied by the Tutor Room.

7. Course Cluster Registration Progress – John Mortensen

We have received an overwhelming response to the course clusters. As of Friday, April 9, there were 917 freshmen signed up for SOAR, as compared to 368 a year earlier. The registration process has gone amazingly smooth so far. The clusters were based on the Fall 2003 schedule, and there are very few deviations from that schedule that affect the clusters. The three biggest changes effecting cluster times are a change in time for one of the USU 1320 courses, changes in lab times for one of the PSY 1010 classes, and a time change for one of the FCHD 1500 classes.

Before a student is registered for a cluster, John checks their ACT English, Math, and Composite scores. Students are only enrolled in English 1010 if they haven’t already met the requirement and either the course is part of their chosen cluster, or they have indicated that they would like to enroll in English 1010. Students who select a cluster that includes a mathematics course are signed up for all of the other courses in the cluster, but are placed in a mathematics class based on their ACT and AP Calculus scores. He is also considering the mathematics requirement for the intended major. Finally, a student’s ACT Composite score and high school GPA are used to determine Honors eligibility. Students with an Admissions Index of 124 or higher are automatically registered for Honors 2000. In most cases, students are also registered for an honors breadth course.

8. SOAR – handling walk-ins or those who have already changed majors – Lisa Hancock

In an effort to lessen the number of students who unexpectedly choose to go to an advisor who is not expecting them at SOAR, Lisa has modified the SOAR confirmation letter. The letter specifically indicates what the student’s major is as recorded on SIS Plus. The letter requests that students contact the SOAR Office if they intend to change their major or visit with a different advisor at SOAR. It is hoped that these measures will improve the accuracy of the advising lists that Lisa provides prior to each SOAR date.

9. Advisor Handbook and Articulation Guide – John Mortensen

Now that the General Catalog will be published every year, John asked advisors if there was anything that could or should be eliminated from the Advisor Handbook. For example, there is Admission information in both publications. Advisors felt that all of the information should continue to be included in the Advisor Handbook. It was suggested that the section on General Education Articulation be modified to show which USU courses were equivalent to general education courses taught at other institutions.

10. General Catalog and Major Requirement Sheets – John Mortensen

It has been suggested that ATS look into the possibility of combining the major requirement sheets with the General Catalog. Advisors strongly disagree with this idea. John mentioned that the main reason for this suggestion was so that some of the operating budget might be reallocated to other projects. The committee recommended the following: (1) that, after this year, ATS no longer provide 200 complimentary copies of each requirement sheet to the sponsoring department, but that departments and colleges pay for all of their own copies; and (2) that the Admissions Office pay for all copies that are used for the Counselor Guides. Another suggestion was that the SOAR packet include a flier that has the website for the major requirement sheets and that students be encouraged to print their own requirement sheets.

11 Other

Ruth Harrison mentioned that only students with a major within the College of Business will be able to register for 3000-level courses offered by the college. The only exception is Economics courses.

CALENDAR

Friday, April 23 Annual Course-by-Course Articulation Deadline

Thursday, May 6 Advising Coordinating Committee/SOAR Meeting, 11:00 a.m., MLIB 204

Friday, May 7 International Student Orientation Advising Sessions, 1:00 p.m.

SOAR DATES (Advising Sessions begin at 1:30 p.m.)

Friday, June 18 Transfer Students

Friday, June 18 Outdoor SOAR (only 30 student total)

Monday, June 21

Tuesday, June 22

Wednesday, June 23

Thursday, June 24 (first day of Two-Day SOAR)

Wednesday, July 7

Thursday, July 8

Friday, July 9

Thursday, July 15

Friday, July 16


Back to Top