Student Advising Implementation Team
2004-2005 Meetings

• Sandra talked with the Chair of the Graduate Council and discussed the concerns voiced in the 1/18 SAIT meeting with graduate advisors. He didn't have any additional concerns.
• Sandra, Janine & Cathleen will be presenting at the 2/17 CADS-EXCOM meeting. They will present the survey results along with the student comments. SAIT will also forward the student comments directly to the dept chairs.
• Sandra talked to Chris Cress about the report on retention she did for the Provost. Chris indicated that the report is very preliminary so she doesn't want it distributed at this stage.
• IASC will offer faculty the opportunity of having an advising workshop in May. They will be sending out an email on the advising listserv in the next few days asking them for suggestions on the topics and the format.

• It appeared that some of the comments were actually from undergrads.
• The comments on successful advising included:
  • EOP provided the best advising (but they serve undergrads so those were probably comments from them)
  • SBA received great comments
  • There were good comments about individuals including Frosti McClurken-Talley and Robert Mercer in CLAS
• The comments on the problems with advising at PSU included:
  • They indicated that there was a need to see multiple advisors in order to get all the info.
  • Post-bacs - they have no advisor because they are floating
• Reoccurring comments included:
  • The right hand doesn't know what the left is doing
  • Older students are not respected by the younger advisors
  • It takes a long time to get an appt with a good advisor
  • It would be nice to have advising handbooks from depts.
  • It would be nice to accommodate working students who can only attend appts at night

• Current SAIT funded projects that could/should be institutionalized:
  • .50 DARS position
  • Advising survey development and GA - maybe it could be institutionalized in OIRP or the Assessment Initiative
  • The $140,000 that goes to each unit for advising
• One time projects that should be funded
  • Advising booklets for two years - maybe they could be provided to new faculty only (by OAA) and/or a one page summary for students at Orientation. Mary Ann will look into the most cost effective quantity to print at one time
  • Refreshments for advising workshops
• Future projects
  • PORTALS - a communication tool that doesn't require every individual dept to mail info to students (Mary Ann will get more info from OIT)
  • Graduate Advising - get DARS to work for Graduate Studies, a graduate advising handbook & a graduate student orientation
  • Post-bac advising
• There also needs to be a systematic successor group of SAIT - maybe a presidential committee that reports to a high level administrator (President or Provost)
• We may also need to assess whether the Advising Model is being implemented across campus. We'll need data from the second student survey and faculty survey along with determining whether the $140,000 is being used in an effective way.
• Other issues that may need to be considered include university-wide advising responsibility such as pre-law.
• Robert & Dan will continue to work on the recommendations and will consult with Janine.
  

SAIT Mtg - April 4, 2005

1. Update on the PORTALS project - Mary Ann Barham

• The PORTALS project is not currently a priority for OIT. It probably won't become a priority until sometime next year.

2. Overview of advising assessment project (for members unable to attend SAIT meetings last term)

• Large-scale assessment project on PSU's academic advising conducted by Janine Allen (EPFA) and Cathleen Smith (PSY).
• An electronic survey was administered to students during registration for spring quarter in 2003 and the quantitative and qualitative results were sent to department heads.
• The survey was repeated in February 2005 during registration for spring term. It generated a low response rate of 600 because if students clicked out of the survey once, they could not re-access it. Follow-up emails are being sent to students who did not respond.
• Which costs should PSU subsidize and which should be incurred by Allen and Smith? There is a charge for programming from OIRP or OIT. Wil Garrick suggested that PSU charge other institutions who wish to use the survey. Perhaps the decision on this can wait until Allen and Smith decide that they want to use the survey with other institutions.

3. Update on proposed increase in undergraduate matriculation fees

• A proposal to increase undergraduate matriculation fees from $150 to $175 to enhance summer student orientation was received by OAA after the deadline for fee requests. Mike Driscoll has asked SAIT to review the request and make recommendations.
• It seems that the main issue for summer orientation was inadequate faculty participation in summer advising. The question is, "what should be done to ensure more satisfactory input?"
  • Faculty - especially those from small departments - have found participation in summer orientation to be burdensome. Bill has given faculty the choice of when and where to attend orientation, although some departments still are not attending even after committing to do so.
  • Providing faculty with stipends to participate is the best solution. Perhaps stipends should be given to faculty who must attend between 6 and 10 summer orientation sessions. Others ideas - pay for parking and develop a travel fund for participating faculty.
• Bill Ryder has the most detail on how the increase in the matriculation fee would be used; this should be discussed at the next SAIT meeting.

4. Review of draft of SAIT recommendations to Interim Provost Reardon

• SAIT members reviewed the draft of recommendations to the Provost and made numerous comments/suggestions.

5. Action items

• Sandra to clean up the SAIT recommendations draft.
• Bill to provide details on how an increase in matriculation fees would be used for advising.

SAIT Mtg - April 18, 2005

1. Annual report to the Faculty Senate - Sandra Rosengrant

• SAIT members reviewed and approved the SAIT report that Sandra will provide to the Faculty Senate on May 2.
• A bullet on 2004-2005 activities has been added. The SAAC Model section utilizes the same figures that were used in February at the CADS meeting. The spring workshop on advising transfer students is also mentioned.

2. Recommendations to Interim Provost Reardon

• SAIT members reviewed and provided feedback on the latest draft of the recommendations document.
• The document will be sent to Provost Reardon once all SAIT members have approved it (by June at the latest).

3. PORTALS - Mary Ann Barham

• PORTALS is a project that would enable PSU students to personalize the PSU Web site according to their interests. It would be used in part as a communication tool for advising.
• In the effort to encourage that the project move forward, Mary Ann Barham and Dean Atkinson will draft a memo during the next month in support of the PORTALS project.
• In its report to the Interim Provost, SAIT will recommend that the PORTALS project be funded by student technology fees.

4. Proposed increase in undergraduate matriculation fees - Bill Ryder

• The increase in matriculation fees (which was turned down this year) would have funded 90 summer orientation advising positions, each with a stipend of $1200. High-demand departments might have received funding for two positions while low-demand departments might have received half of a stipend.
• Possible challenges to this request:
  • Faculty do not like to increase student fees.
  • Chairs are already paid for summer advising.
• Ways to demonstrate the value of providing stipends to faculty for summer advising:
  • Reference the benefits accrued in the past from offering stipends to faculty for summer advising. Stipends were provided in 2001-2002 when unused SAIT operating budget was discovered. Sandra will review the history of this summer experience to see how it can be used in a supporting argument.
  • Argue that increasing student fees for stipends will benefit all faculty advisers in the long run. If students receive good advice at orientation, it will be easier to advise them later on.
  • Perform a cost analysis to show what students would get from this increase; show that there will be a significant impact for a minor increase in fees.
• Sandra will draft a memo detailing the reasons that matriculation fees should be increased and how the fees would be used to enhance summer orientation. She will send it to Bill and the rest of the committee for review.

5. Summer orientation - Bill Ryder

• The fall orientation sessions taking place over the summer will occur in July, August and September.
• The overall number of sessions will be reduced and the abbreviated August/September sessions will not take place this year.
• Transfer Days will change from two sessions a day to one session a day, enabling advisers to schedule individual 15 minute appointments with students over a period of several hours if they wish.
• Faculty advisors will again be able to select how many and which sessions they will attend. They can also choose whether students will meet with them in SMU or in their departments.
• The final summer orientation session will take place during New Student Week on Wednesday, September 21. This session will accommodate international and out-of-state students. This is a boon for IASC, whose advisers in previous years ended up with the responsibility of advising an influx of these students during New Student Week.
• Recommendations for increasing faculty attendance at summer orientation sessions this year:
  • Send a memo from President Bernstine to all departments to encourage PSU community preparation for orientation. The memo would emphasize the significance of welcoming students to the campus and of determining in advance how to respond to new student inquiries.
  • Send letters to the individual faculty members who have committed to attending summer orientation and request that they contact the Orientation office if they are unable to attend a session due to an emergency. Copy the department chairs on the letters.

   

SAIT Mtg - May 2, 2005

1. Announcements

• SAIT report to Faculty Senate: Sandra will provide the SAIT report this afternoon and will mention the upcoming May 17 Advising Workshop.
• Faculty advising survey: According to Janine Allen, the survey will be administered by the end of spring term.
• PORTALS: Mary Ann will draft a memo expressing SAIT's support for the PORTALS project and will email it to SAIT members or bring it to the next SAIT meeting (May 16).

2. Recommendations to Interim Provost Reardon

• SAIT members reviewed and provided feedback on the latest draft of the recommendations document.
• Sandra will revise the document once more and email it to SAIT members for a final review. She will present the recommendations to Interim Provost Reardon in her meeting with him on Tuesday, May 10.

3. Advising Workshop for Faculty

• The Advising Workshop will focus on transfer student advising and will take place on May 17, from 1-3 in SMU 298.
• President Bernstine will likely email the workshop invitation to faculty.

4. Next Meeting

• Sandra will report on Interim Provost Reardon's response to the SAIT recommendations.
• Discussion of the PORTALS memo drafted by Mary Ann.
  

1. Discussion about providing early registration to majors

• Could be particularly beneficial in popular departments such as chemistry and Spanish (where majors have trouble getting into some classes).
• Would also encourage students to declare a major sooner than later (although the downside would be students declaring a major simply to get into classes).

2. Report to Interim Provost Michael Reardon

• Sandra provided the SAIT recommendations document to Interim Provost Reardon last week. He will respond to SAIT's recommendations before the end of the term.
• Sandra emphasized the importance of the recommendations in relation to the university's ability to benefit from the work that SAIT has done to date.

3. Meeting with representatives from the Pell Lumina Foundation

• Sandra recently met with representatives of the Pell Lumina Foundation, which is concerned about retention of low-income students. According to studies, declaration of a major correlates with retention. The earlier the major is declared, the more likely the student is to persist.
• This is a good reason to require students to declare a major at 90 credits instead of at 120 credits.

4. PORTALS proposal

• Mary Ann Barham distributed a memo endorsing the PSU PORTALS project on behalf of SAIT and recommending that it be a priority in 2005-2006.
• SAIT members approved the memo.

5. Spring Advising Workshop

• The workshop is on May 17 in SMU 298 and will focus on advising transfer students.
• Demographics on transfer students and information on the PSU community college relations and coadmissions programs will be provided.
• The workshop will also include a segment on how to read a DARS report.

6. Concluding thoughts

• The work that SAIT has done over the years has been very valuable.
• Advising is no longer an initiative, but hopefully the work SAIT has started will continue in a different form.
• Thanks to all SAIT members for their hard work and dedication.