Advising Coordinating Committee


Thursday, September 15, 2005

11:00 AM - Merrill Library Room 204

In Attendance: John Mortensen (conducting), Lisa Allen, Sophie Bassett, Kathy Bayn, Heidi Beck, Dawn Black, Becki Broadbent, Peggy Buttars, Geri Child, Myra Cook, Sam Curley, Krystin Deschamps, Brian Evans, Kathryn Fitzgerald, Reid Furniss, Margaret Garr, Fawn Groves, Susan Haddock, Tressa Haderlie, Stephanie Hamblin, Lisa Hancock, Ruth Harrison, Liz Heffernan, Joslyn Heiniger, Kristy Hodson, Emily Hoffman, Juanita Hunting, Janalee Johnson, Melanie Jones, Tracy Jones, Shukria King, Peter Kolesar, Marilyn Kruse, Christine Lord, Jana Kay Lunstad, Betty Murri, Cathy Myers-Roche, Wade Oliver, Susan Parkinson, Megen Ralphs, Karalee Ransom, Karen Ranson, Deborah Reece, Mary Lou Reynolds, Sylvia Robinson, Carol Sainsbury, Tami Spackman, Roland Squire, Denise Taylor, Dennis Welker, Sue Young

Extension Sites Participating: Blanding, Brigham City, Ephraim, Moab, Price, Roosevelt, Salt Lake

Excused: Ronnie Green, Darcie Peterson, Maureen Wagner, Eric Worthen

AGENDA:

1. Introductions

Welcome to a new school year! We especially welcome all new advisors to our committee.

2. Banner: A-Numbers – Evertt Byington

Evertt Byington, Internal Audit Services, addressed the concern that A-numbers should not print on documents for security reasons. The viewpoint of the Banner team is that Social Security numbers were replaced with A-numbers because, without the pin, information cannot be easily accessed. He suggested taking extra measures to keep pin numbers secure. Evertt also pointed out that usernames in Internet Native Banner can be figured out by anyone, since the username is in the format: firstname_lastname. It is truly the PIN that needs to be secure.

3. Banner: 15-Minute Timeout – Evertt Byington

The Internal Audit committee determined that the 15-minute timeout was necessary for security. If users do not log off when they are finished, information remains accessible to others. Presently, Banner’s capability allows for one time frame only. Hopefully, Banner #7 will allow different lengths of time so advisors will have a longer timeout. If you believe 20 minutes, rather than 15, would be advantageous, please email Evertt (evertt.byington@usu.edu) stating your viewpoint.

4. Proposed Provisional Admission Policy – John Mortensen

The draft was attached to the agenda regarding a proposed Provisional Admission Policy. This policy was submitted to the Academic Standards Committee on Friday, 9/16/05. It is proposed that students who are admitted provisionally must sign an institutional agreement with UATS. One provision might be that a student admitted provisionally register for and complete at least 12 graded semester hours with a GPA or 2.0 or higher the first term. Taking into consideration their need to work, transfer students may be required to complete 6 graded semester hours each semester. Transfer students admitted provisionally would be listed as Undeclared and would need to be admitted into a major by the end of the first semester.

5. Credit Limit Policy – John Mortensen

Students registering for more than 18 credits prior to the fee payment deadline, must present their dean’s signed authorization to the Registrar’s Office. After the fee payment deadline, students need to go directly to the Registrar’s Office. They will manually remove the restriction.

6. Transfer Students who take ENGL 2010 without first taking ENGL 1010 – John Mortensen

An ACT score of 29 qualifies a student for ENGL 2010 at USU. Other institutions have similar policies. Norm Jones, Chair of the General Education Subcommittee, and Brock Dethier, who oversees ENGL 2010, feel that if a transfer student comes to USU with ENGL 2010, that ENGL 1010 is unnecessary. Students who come to USU with an associate degree have met the general education requirements. John will present this to the General Education Subcommittee in an attempt to make this into policy.

7. Proposed Revision to Bachelor of Arts Requirements – Susan Parkinson

The Academic Standards Committee will review the proposed modification to the requirements. The changes would allow a student to receive a Bachelor of Arts based on language competencies at a specific course level, rather than by completion of a specified number of language credits.

8. Banner: HASS Help Website – Susan Parkinson

Susie Parkinson discussed the website she has established for training HASS advisors. Refer to www.hass.usu.edu/~gradasc/hassbannerhelp .

9. Update from Air Force ROTC – postponed until a future meeting

10. Banner: SGASADD (Posting of associate degrees) – John Mortensen

Below is an explanation of who an associate degree will be coded for students who transfer to USU. There is also an explanation of how the degree will be evaluated in CAPP (degree audit).

AS00 – The associate degree covers ALL general education requirements. (The majority of institutions will be coded this way.)

ASLP – The associate degree covers all general education requirements except life sciences and physical sciences.

(e.g., at BYU Idaho, it is possible for a student to receive an Associate of Arts degree and be missing a life science or physical science course. CAPP will specifically look to make sure these requirements are met.)

ASQL – The associate degree covers all general education requirements except quantitative literacy. (e.g., a few courses that satisfy quantitative literacy at BYU Hawaii are not at a high enough level to satisfy the USU requirement. Therefore, CAPP will look at quantitative literacy separately.)

11. Banner: SGAADVR – Advisor Assignments – John Mortensen

If the advisor section in Banner was blank, a student’s advisor should have been brought across from SIS to Banner. An advisor cannot be changed in Banner just by inserting the new advisor name and saving; you must delete the original assignment and then add the new one, or add an additional advisor. Third-week reports will be run for cleanup; we’ll be able to see what information is available at that time. The process for a default advisor list is being worked on. However, Heidi Beck indicated that when the new advisor’s name is put on the Change of Matriculation form, Registration will make the change.

12. Banner: SHATRNS - Separate attendance periods, effective term – John Mortensen

Admissions will begin posting transfer work by individual term, rather than grouping the transfer work into one attendance period.

13. Possible Authorizations in SSB – Heidi Beck

Associate Deans will discuss in their meeting if SSB should be opened for instructors to do electronic admits. This is an “all or none” decision. It is suggested that advisors talk to their deans to express any concerns.

14. Banner: Advising Needs to Pass Along to Board of Regents – John Mortensen

Any suggestions which would enhance Banner for advisors should have been emailed to John Mortensen last week. Teddi Safman has asked advisors statewide to submit their input. A meeting will be held with the Chief Information Officers to look into the feasibility and costs associated with our recommended modifications.

15. Institutional Agreements – Students with 45+ or 60+ credits – Stephanie Hamblin

Stephanie Hamblin reiterated that undeclared students who have 45 or more credits are encouraged to visit Career Services to explore majors. They are also encouraged to meet with two different advisors on campus to define their interests. Students with 60+ credits must establish a planned schedule. When UATS sees such a plan, even in draft form, a hold will not be placed on the student’s record.

16. Role of UATS Advisors – Stephanie Hamblin

We were reminded that UATS is not the Banner office nor is it Career Services. Our role is to advise students in these classifications: Undeclared, Undeclared Business, Undeclared Science, General Studies, and some Interdisciplinary Studies. We try to suggest classes which will help students explore a major of interest. For students who have 45 or more credits and are interested in Interdisciplinary Studies, we do the initial transcript evaluation, explain the major and assist in putting a proposal together.

17. Change of Majors from Undeclared – Stephanie Hamblin

The General Education Audit and Letter of Completion can and should be done by the academic department where a student’s major is declared, or by UATS if the student is Undeclared. When an undeclared student declares a major, the Change of Matriculation Form must have a signature from the receiving department before UATS can sign a student out of undeclared. Any students with a minor in Business should be referred to Megan Ralphs. If you notice problems in the conversion of majors from SIS to Banner, please contact either Shane Livingston or Carl Ellsworth in the Registrar’s Office.

To assist students in finding a major, there has been discussion about holding a Sophomore Day. This event would have a format similar to the Majors Fair. Please give us your comments and suggestions by return email to Stephanie.Hamblin@usu.edu.

18. Major Fair & Preview Day – October 28 – Becki Broadbent

The Major Fair will be structured much the same as last year and will run from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm. Seniors in high school will attend the event from 12:00 noon until 2:00 pm. A confirmation/reminder letter will be sent this week. Remember, this is a good time to give information about minors.

19. Outstanding New Advisor Awards and Outstanding Advising Program Award – John Mortensen

Nomination information for the above awards was sent with the ACC Meeting agenda and in an e-mail to students. Nominations are due by Friday, October 28, 2005; forms should be returned to John Mortensen, TSC, Room 304, UMC 0114. If you have any questions, please contact John at 797-9303.

20. Common Course Numbering Update – John Mortensen

A summary sheet of course numbering changes was briefly reviewed. All remaining changes need to go through the Curriculum Subcommittee as soon as possible. All changes will become effective during the summer of 2006. The state has mandated new prefixes for Geology (GEO) and Physics (PHYS). All changes will appear in the Advisor Handbook, the on-line major requirement sheets, and the General Catalog.

21. Course Cluster Website – John Mortensen

Please review the Cluster Decision Tree handout, paying particular attention to math courses. The options a student sees on the website will be based on the major indicated. Please review the document to make sure we are leading students down the right paths.

22. Assessment of Advising – John Mortensen

A new committee is being formed to look at the assessment of advising. The committee’s first meeting will be held Tuesday, September 27, from 2:30 to 3:30 PM in TSC 336.

23. Other

UATS is seeking feedback on the timing of the USU Advising Conference. Traditionally, we have held the conference two weeks prior to the first day of classes. Is this the best time for the conference, or is there another time that would be better?

CALENDAR

September

22 (Thu) 11:00 AM Advising Workshop Series: Honors Program MLIB 204

29 (Thu) 7:00 PM Preston, Idaho Open House Preston, Idaho

October

4 (Tue) 7:00 PM Idaho Falls, Idaho Open House Idaho Falls, Idaho

5 (Wed) 7:00 PM Pocatello, Idaho Open House Pocatello, Idaho

5-8 (Wed-Sat) NACADA National Conference Las Vegas, Nevada

6 (Thu) 7:00 PM Malad, Idaho Open House Malad, Idaho

12 (Wed) Graduate Student Fair (sponsored by Career Services)TSC

13 (Thu) 11:00 AM Advising Coordinating Committee MLIB 204

20 (Thu) 11:00 AM Advising Workshop Series MLIB 204

“College Students’ Identity Development and Decision Making”

28 (Fri) Major Fair / Preview Day TSC

November

3 (Thu) Tech Expo (sponsored by Career Services) TSC

7 (Mon) 1:30 PM SOAR Advising

8 (Tue) 1:30 PM SOAR Advising

10 (Thu) 11:00 AM Advising Workshop Series MLIB 204

“Legal Issues of Giving References and Being a Reference”

17 (Thu) 11:00 AM Advising Coordinating Committee MLIB 204


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