Good morning, In an attempt to increase the communication flow among the UTSA Advising Community, some of you suggested to post a summary of the Advising Directors Meetings on our Advising mailing list. So, here you go :) : Advising Directors Meeting August 24, 2015 Present: James Adair April Lawver Dainon Deviney Raquel Linares (in place of Sylvia Mansour) Lona George Jackie Loden Monica Glover Roxanna Nelson Patricia Gonzalez Cynthia Rodriguez Diana Howard Olga San Miguel Sabina Kapoor Absent: Colin Howlett Sylvia Mansour ? Introductions o Introduction of Catarina Rodriguez, Administrative Manager, USSTS to Advising Directors ? Budget FY 15-16 o Update: as of this meeting, budget will remain the same as last year. Each Director will be notified of their M&O and wages. ? Monthly meeting with Administrative Support Staff o Catarina addressed the Advising Directors regarding the new initiative that Patti Ramirez and herself will be developing and implementing with the Advising Center Admin staff. This new initiative will focus on budgets and reconciliation and will be implemented in phases. ? Orientation Feedback o Comments and Concerns: ? FR/FT * Advisors were exhausted with the schedule of two sessions per week. o Suggestion: somehow spread orientations evenly throughout the summer. o Suggestion: Student Placement - June 1 on 1 advisement, July group advising * Orientation continuing so late especially the online orientation and late registration is extremely challenging. * Students - complete online orientation - are not as prepared because they do not have the pre-advisement session, as the in-person students receive, therefore it is not setting the student for success. Advisors have to allow for the session to run longer because students have no understanding of building a schedule. o Suggestion: Develop an online pre-advisement module for the online orientation participants to review and develop a draft so they are better prepared for their advising appointment. * Challenge this year online advising opening prior to all slots filled for face to face advising, despite being told it would not happen, it did. * UC location problems: area smelled, making it very uncomfortable and affected the students and staff - sessions. Presenters prepping for their presentations, no Tech staff to assist with AV/tech issues, having to arrive earlier to troubleshoot. o Suggestion: development accommodations for emergencies situations. * OL's issues: not actively involved, had to prompt them to assist and in some cases not wanting to take students to their advisement centers. Reported issue to Lisa * Communication with other departments, i.e. Testing - making it more available or an understanding of assistance needed especially when they are not present, i.e. Downtown * TSI issues and official/nonofficial - admitting students & attending orientation before receiving them. Resulting in several advisement sessions for the same student. ? TR * Students choosing online or phone advising because they do not want to come to campus. Stretches the advisors further: freshmen orientation, online, phone, degree audit cycle. * Results: complaints that advisors not available ? International * International orientation - very unorganized. Do not have the same assistance when leading the students to their perspective rooms - no signage o Suggestion: Need Ambassadors or student helpers * Confusion on who to call: students caseload list or attended orientation not registered list o Answer: Orientation not registered list ? Other Concerns: * Architect: admitting students after deadline * Computer Science: choosing who they drop, i.e. a student in progress or 'A' student. * Waitlist: departments not willing to open new sections * Students who were deferred for summer, waiting for summer grades, are dropped before receiving letter o Suggestion: no summer appeals o Announcements: ? Deadline for Admissions is moving up ? CAP: eliminating program, will see a decrease overtime ? Advising Technology o Degree Works ? Catalog complete, not including planner ? Issues: not pulling in recently added majors o Global ? Issues: certain centers are having issues tracking ? Update: buttons are working o EAB ? Pilot campaign program, targeting certain students. Specific centers have been requested to attend on Sept 15 ? Skeleton Crew-Volunteers o Not yet finalized ? Suggestions * not be here all day, shorten the day to midday or 10am-2pm * Centralized - not every center to be open * Online chat instead of being present on campus * Full day at the beginning and end * Staff working received time for time ? Discussion: * Not calling it advisement - rename, i.e. Messaging Center * Most students are coming for dismissal, grades o Who in the colleges will be there to assist? ? Reporting Change o Barbara Smith will now be reporting to Dr. Wyatt effective Sept 1st ? Pros: faculty side, have more of an understanding of what the advisor goes through and a different perspective ? Protocol will not change as far as what does go to Dr. Williams End of Meeting Next Meeting scheduled for Monday, August 31 Sylvia Mansour Director - Interdisciplinary Education Advising The University of Texas at San Antonio One UTSA Circle Main Building 3.214 San Antonio, TX 78249 210-458-4424 [cid:image001.png@01CE05E2.373597D0]