May 1, 2017

Meeting was called to order at 2:31

The minutes were approved by acclimation

Chair update (3 minutes):

• An updated committee list has been distributed
• Updated charges have been distributed to committee chairs
• A call for updates was issued

Data Analysis Committee, Alberto Marquez (7 minutes):

• Met with Dale (IT systems), Kayla, Ted to identify the profile of the person to do the work
  • Skills needed are SQL knowledge, ability to do analysis, ability to use new system parameters
  • Individual will report to Dale
  • Verification will be needed for consistency
• We expect that this report will indicate the need to reduce the number of students on campus
• Future work – implement/map processes to find needs/opportunities
• Marquart wants to pull together a group in Institutional Research to pull analysis – this might be Couch, Chiou, and Bailey (all in math) doing the analysis this summer
• Question of whether this should be housed in academics or IT? We need to get this data and then organize it

Messaging, Amy Smith (6 minutes):

• Integrate retention themes into kick-off, which happens the week before classes start
  • Kick-off is a full-day (24 August 2017) with 50 minute sessions and 90 minute workshops
  • Will expand its mission to support all aspects of faculty life
  • Additional information will be provided about SSC On-Campus, LU Care Team, etc.
  • Marketing is being planned for this event
  • A new track of sessions for department chairs is planned
• New faculty orientation
  • Provide retention data to help them realize the challenge facing us – this will be done by Marquart at new faculty orientation
  • Share stories of success
• Similarly share data with continuing faculty
• Summer task – work on evaluative testing for students in STEM fields
• Medium-term goals will wait until the fall semester
  • Update the website with better views of active students
  • Place photos of successful students in departments

Scheduling, Jim Sanderson (11 minutes):

• Current work is to figure out what can and can’t be done with Ad Astra and to streamline that process. The current requested changes seem to be happening
• Melinda Finkle will talk to chairs at faculty kick-off to see how to address problems/effectively use Ad Astra
• Natasha Walker in records is the contact for Ad Astra
• Specific details can be coordinated between the departments and the UAC

SSC, Kayla Halloway (10 minutes):

• There is a portal for the list of resources for students (currently under the student page). This effort is being coordinated with Stacy, and will be coordinated with messaging about where people should look for information
• We need a person in charge of this portal
• Terry Mena is looking to develop a mobile app – is this an improvement? Should it be instead of the online resources? In addition?
• Tim Rhoden is an app developer – could this be pushed on to a student project? This would be separate from BB, but an app would allow for push notifications for registration holds, announcements, etc.
• SSC is expected to be implemented 12 December 2017, with data delivery (10 years) happening early this June so that data mining can occur
  • For each degree plan, what benchmarks do successful students need to meet? Information will be needed from each department
  • Use this information for early advising for future success

Cardinal Bridge Program, Judith Mann (12 minutes):

• Two bridge programs will run this summer
  • CBA with Ashey Boone
    • This program is well developed, designed for students with high potential who were not admitted to the honors program, but want to be
    • Ready to recruit, but not actively recruiting
    • Will be taught by PJ Couch and Melissa Hudler
    • This program has a good balance between academic expectations and student engagement
    • Only concern about this program is that they have not started recruiting
  • Program for engineering students working on entrance into calculus, coordinated with Dean Polanki, involving Kumer Das and Valentin Andreev
    • Attempting to address entire 300 incoming freshmen
    • Recruitment has not started for this program
    • Intend to bring students to campus to address their preparation for calculus at the student’s current level
    • Program runs 14 August – 25 August, but is not an on-campus program (however, the organizers are trying to find room on campus for out-of-town students
    • This program currently lacks a student engagement component
    • Kayla expressed concern that there will not be seats for these students if they increase their placement into calculus
    • The question was raised about whether the program was coordinating with the mathematics department to reserve or add seats for the students who complete this course

MRFA, Deirdre (6 minutes):

• Implementing an application deadline to stop late applications who are individual approval students for Fall 18 and beyond
• Changing the terminology from “individual approval” to “conditional admittance” to match our sister institutions
• Future work involves addressing probation, suspension, and readmission rates
• By Fall 2019, admission standards will be updated and we will raise the bottom floor

Committee chair, Ted Mahavier:  What have we missed?

• Alberto – ways to improve the students we are attracting, including outreach for dual enrollment, and involvement in teacher training
• Liv – More faculty engagement in the early years and more access to advising students early in their careers. Kayla indicates that this can be accomplished by more contact between UAC and individual departments

Adjournment at approximately 3:34, with the expectation of a subcommittee chairs meeting in June and a full committee meeting in early fall.

Respectfully submitted by Jacqueline Jensen-Vallin