Academic Advising Council

Attendees: Heather Arbuckle, William Elfering, Nick Fleury, Tiffany Fritz, Kate Halischak, Erin Heim, Brett Jeter, Rebekah Lancelin, Carol Leder, Rebecca Mathern, Leslee Mayers, Dianna McGinnis, Drew Morgan, Michelle Onaka, Timothy Reidy, Karla Rockhold, Doug Severs, Bethany Ulman

Approval of Minutes

Action: Motion to approve Minutes from June 14, 2017 received unanimous approval.

Registrar’s Corner – Rebecca Mathern

• Term Orientation Timing: Concern over non-Fall term transfer students not getting PINs early enough to register for classes, especially in impacted programs, as mentioned by Brett. Brett also asked, “How many students does this affect by college?” Discussion about changing START dates for Winter and Spring terms, but issues with receiving transcripts from other institutions and transfer application deadlines makes this difficult (especially Spring term), addressed by Leslee.
  • Some colleges have requested to have PINs released early due to the nature of their programs, but Rebecca wants a body like AAC to make an overarching determination so all colleges get PINs at the same time. Changes to PIN releases can be made without ECS support. Registration begins Week 7 for the following term, so PINs won’t be given out earlier than that. 
  • Nick suggested that it makes sense for DPP students to get PINs when general campus population gets theirs. This will make DPP more attractive to students. Brett confirmed that it makes sense for DPP students to get PINs before other transfer students, and it will be an easier process. 
  • Heather expressed a concern over teaching/advising faculty being available toward the end of the term to meet with DPP transfer students preparing to register. 
    • Rebecca said that this discussion will continue in the next Council of Head Advisor’s (CHA) meeting.
• Sample Four-Year Plans in Catalog: There was a discussion in the last CHA meeting that major maps/plans for some programs are in the course catalog as “Sample Four-Year Plan”, see example from Forestry: and, although they were required to be submitted as part of the Category I process (which is fine by advisors), these plans are not accurate and can be confusing to students. Nicole Kent expressed concern for College of Forestry’s plans. Advisors are requesting that the plans not be located in the course catalog, but a link to the college’s sample plan be included instead. Rebecca Mathern said that she would check with the Curriculum Council to determine the need for these plans to be located in the course catalog, as they are currently included. Brett Jeter wants clarifying language in the catalog about the intended use of the sample plans.
• New FERPA Forms: Doug Severs with Financial Aid attended the meeting to discuss how his office is affected by the use of the new forms. The new Oregon State University Consent to Release Information Form will be jointly used by the Office of the Registrar, Business Affairs, Financial Aid and Advising Offices, and these forms will be uploaded in NOLIJ so that they can be seen by all offices. There is some concern about the handling of student information in regard to financial aid with organizations outside of the university (e.g., Ford Family Foundation). Western Governors University recently was fined due to improper handling of student financial aid information. Doug’s office is working to insure that student data and identity is protected in relation to PELL grants with Privacy Technical Assistance overseeing use of data in higher education and developing a manner to release student information to outside entities providing financial assistance to students.

• The Perkins Loan was not re-authorized, so no additional loans will be available through this source. Therefore, OSU is using the remainder of the funds this academic year. The normal annual usage is $5 million but $6 million is being utilized this year.
• Advisors can know if a student has a Provost Scholarship, but cannot be told if a student is PELL eligible. If this information is needed for the awarding of college scholarships, there will be a student self-service certificate that students can access, print out, and provide for scholarship applications, both internally and externally. 
• Discussion over the Consent form’s usage among the various university departments. Information should only be shared after the form has been signed within the employee’s purview as defined by one’s job description. Rebecca Mathern will look into whether an advisor can give out a student’s schedule to a third party based on the Consent form. TRIOS expressed concern about what they can share due to their role of academic counselor. Rebecca Mathern also stated that there are additional consent forms found on the Registrar’s website for other areas, like letters of recommendation and internships, since the law requires employees to know who the information is being released to. See: http://registrar.oregonstate.edu/privacy-records

• Institutional Awarding: The Registrar’s Office is working closely with the Faculty Senate to make institutional awarding of degrees a more transparent process. As students get close to meeting graduation requirements, they will be tracked so that students will be awarded their degrees without having to apply to graduate. This may become problematic if a student doesn’t wish to graduate when they are eligible because they may be working on a second degree or minor that isn’t indicated in My Degrees. Once a student is awarded a degree, they are no longer eligible for PELL grants. Therefore, it is important for advisors to help tighten up the process and make sure that students’ plans are monitored and noted as they come close to completing major requirements and becoming eligible to graduate. Graduation Audits will still need to be completed, but advisors can make sure that a student holds off taking a necessary course until other academic goals are attained (repeating a course for a higher grade, completing a minor, etc.). Institutional Awarding requires a robust reporting tool in order to not be so messy, but My Degrees makes this process challenging. Communication between advisors and students will be critical to make sure that this process runs smoothly.

Academic Performance of Student Athletes Report – Kate Halischak

• Proctoring of exams while student athletes are on the road has been costly since an academic counselor has had to travel with teams. Ecampus and a commercial product called Proctor U are going to be utilized in the future to proctor student athlete exams while away from campus. This will not affect most faculty. 
• Kate Halischak provided the data handout for student athletes from spring 2017. It was noted that the term had the best cumulative average GPA. Women’s gymnastics topped the GPA performance Spring term with a 3.6890 and 3.6360 overall OSU GPA; the honor roll rose to 27%. There was some discussion about how the recent football coaching staff changes might affect the enrollment of players. 

AAC Representative for Curriculum Council

Heather Arbuckle volunteered to serve as the liaison to the Curriculum Council for the 2017-18 academic year. Thanks, Heather!

Suspended Student Readmissions – Brett Jeter

Discussion about a recent situation Brett encountered with a post-baccalaureate applicant who had previously been suspended from OSU and went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from another institution. The student applied to OSU, but needs to be reinstated as an undergraduate to be eligible to be admitted. Rebecca Mathern explained that, if Admissions gets an application from a student who left on bad standing as undergraduate, the student must meet reinstatement requirements and be admitted on probation. Then the student can be admitted to an OSU post-baccalaureate or graduate level program. There is a $25 reinstatement fee, too. 

Post-Baccalaureate Applications – Brett Jeter

Topic dropped.

Other Business

• Transfer students from semester institutions need to work with major advisors to complete exceptions for series coursework that was completed over two semesters rather than three terms. 
• Dave Wing from the College of Science Mathematics Department would like feedback regarding students’ ability to register for math and chemistry classes for Wall term during START sessions. According to data collected, 60% of students completed ALEKS math placement before attending START and 30% on the first day of START. There was discussion about requiring students to take ALEKS before being allowed to register for START, but Leslee Mayers said that the test costs OSU $25 per student, so the university would be paying for exams for those students who don’t end up matriculating, too. Additionally, data shows that students who spend 3-5 hours using the ALEKS modules to prepare to re-take the exam see a significant increase in their test scores. 
• Engineering Pro-School Acceptance: Due to the rolling of grades between Winter and Spring terms, some veterans aren’t getting their subsidies because they are unable to register for classes. Often these students have to sit in on classes the first weeks before being able to officially register for courses. It takes Engineering advisors 24 hours to clear students and 24-36 hours for the Registrar’s Office to process the major code changes. By Summer 2018 code changes are set to switch automatically. Brett Jeter discussed the option to certify students early for the pro-level. 

Minutes by Karla Rockhold, College of Education Head Academic Advisor and Academic Advising Council Chair-Elect