Advisor Coffee Talks Now in Canvas

Starting Fall 2016, new Advisor Coffee Talks content will be posted in the Canvas for Advisors site.  OSU academic advisors can access this site by logging to Canvas with their ONID credentials.  If you are a new advisor or do not have access to the Canvas for Advisors site, please contact Jeff Malone, the Coordinator of Cross Campus Advisor Initiatives & Development.

New Student Programs and Family Outreach (NSPFO)

Leslie Meyers from New Student Programs and Family Outreach (NSPFO) came in to talk with the Advisor Coffee Talk group about START, Welcome Week and U-Engage.

She shared that START is the orientation program for new students. There are 9 First Year STARTs that happen throughout the summer, mostly on the Corvallis Campus with programs in California and Hawaii. FY On- Campus START consists of a 2 day program introducing them to OSU and to their intended College as well as registration for Fall term classes. There are also 4 Transfer STARTs that consist of much of the same programing but over just a single day.

Welcome Week is the first week of school including the first few days of classes. It usually consists of opportunities at the University, College and School/program level to get to know other classmates, faculty and staff and resources on campus.

U-Engage is a set of First Year Experience courses taught by OSU faculty and staff. While there is a specific topic and typically an interesting question that is being asked, students also learn about opportunities and resources for their first year of college. U-Engage courses are selected from a pool of submitted proposals. There is no preference given to instructors or faculty with experience and it is completed for a letter grade.

CAMP and SSS/TRiO

Amas Aduviri along with his staff form CAMP and TRiO/SSS treated the advisors to a lunchtime talk about the programs that he oversees. Amas provided some history about CAMP and TRiO/SSS, an overview of the programs/objectives and some updates on new initiatives.

CAMP:
Federally Funded program
2 programs in OR (OSU and Chemeketa)
Focus on migrant farm workers
First year program
Provides: tutors, mentors, social activities, connection to the OSU Community, provides some financial services
35 student in program
Objectives:
– 86% of students in CAMP finish their first year in Good Standing
– 85% of those that complete their first year enroll in second year

It is the only support program for migrant workers and is aimed at breaking the achievement gap.

TRiO/SSS:
Provides services to low income and first generation families
175-190 students in program
Preferred that students start at beginning of year, but anytime is ok
Students are part of TRiO throughout their OSU career
Access to Academic Counselors, summer bridge programs, first year success courses, tutoring, student success workshops, study rooms and electronic rentals, grant aid.
Must be First Gen or Low income or have a documented disability and have academic need
Objectives:
– 74 % persist year to year
– 76% in Good Standing
– 56% graduation rate in 5 years

Updates:
Bringing online SSS STEM Program. Currently recruiting for about 120 students in the STEM fields-including social sciences.

TRiO Brochure

External and Prestigious Scholarships

LeAnn Adams, Advisor for Prestigious Scholarships at OSU filled in the Advisor Coffee Talk attendees with the types of scholarships she oversees, how to help student find more scholarships and what LeAnn’s role is as the Advisor for Prestigious Scholarships.

LeAnn works with undergraduate students and alumni to help them find scholarship opportunities. She is not part of Financial Aid and is not a Financial Aid Officer. She advises students on competitive national and international scholarships and fellowships. She can also present to groups of students or faculty, work with students that are referred to her and is a faculty representative for many different awards. She asks that as Advisors, we send her any scholarships that we may know of or hear about.

Her presentation also went into detail about criteria for some scholarships and more resources to find outside scholarships. Presentation: Prestigious Scholarships Advisor Coffee Talk.

Academic Standing Committee (ASC)

Melanie Jones, the former chair of the Academic Standing Committee (ASC) joined us to talk about what the ASC does and how advisors can help the ASC.

ACS enforces regulations on academic standing and have the authority to grant exceptions to the regulations, mainly requests for reinstatement. ASC is made up of individuals from academic partners across campus.

In this talk, Melanie covered reinstatement options including exceptions, the petition process, some definitions and some tips for Advisors.

During the question and answer portion, the question: “if a reinstatement would be granted for a student that had already applied for graduation” was asked. At the time Melanie didn’t know that answered but was able to follow up with the following response;

The Registrar’s Office confirmed that there could be some flexibility on whether the student had a graduation application on file. The firm part of that portion of the guideline is that the student is a senior by credit: 135 earned credits, and can finish their degree within 3 terms. This would need to be clearly documented by the advisor. Again, advisors can call the Registrar’s Office on this if questions arise around a suspended student that fits the guideline:

8. Policy Guideline – Students with Senior Standing who meet all four of the following
criteria may be granted an exception to the Reinstatement Rules:

a) they are candidates for graduation, with an application on file in the Registrar’s office;
b) they expect to graduate within the next 3 terms;
c) they have strong support from their Head Advisor;
d) they have 1.95 – 1.99 GPA with one term to graduate; OR
1.90 – 1.99 GPA with two terms to graduate; OR
they have been absent from the University for one year.

ASC Presentation: ACT – Academic Standing Committee

Financial Aid: PACE and SAP

We had Regan Kaplan from Financial Aid talk with us about SAP and PACE. She started off with saying that they are “excellent at being confusing”. Most of what Regan talked about is included in the attached PowerPoint but there were some updates that are important.
– Link to SAP for Advisors to come
– Financial Aid is frozen at 100% refund deadline

PowerPoint: SAP and PACE for Academic Advisors 2015

All Sides of the Rainbow

By Tristen Shay and McKenzie Huber

Have you ever worked with a student who had a Non-Traditional gender identity? Were you left wondering how you can support that student more knowledgeably? The presentation covers working with Gender Variant and Transgender students. Take aways – You will leave with tools, information and a fresh perspective on the challenges faced by Gender Variant and Transgender students.

AllSidesOfTheRainbow-OSU

The Heart of Connection: Conversational Practices For Opening Up Reflection

By Michelle White and Sarah Kyllo

Advising professionals are always saying that the key component to academic advising is forming relationships. But how can these relationships begin when students appear uneasy or withdrawn? How can advisors (who are typically strong interpersonal communicators) create an environment where outward reflection is welcomed and encouraged? In the presentation, basics in advising and counseling theory were explored to address connective responses to some awkward/difficult conversations. We explored the use of verbal and non-verbal cues with various populations of students. Attached is the supporting materials to support the take aways of some bright and fresh practices for opening up conversation in advising setting.

Heartofconnection handout

ACT 2014-2015 Summer Break!

Dear professional advisors, faculty, and instructors:

The Advisor Coffee Talks Committee uses the summer months as preparation for the upcoming year. This survey below allows a wide array of input from advisors, faculty, and staff of the wider university community to have a voice in the development process.

The ACT committee is dedicated to representation from all schools, colleges and departments. Please take the survey and share it with other faculty and staff. As we move into the summer months, the committee will commence conversations around beneficial professional developmental opportunities and conversations that can be had in our university community.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7S3WM32

If you are interested in becoming involved in the coordination of Advisor Coffee Talks please e-mail katrina.machorro@oregonstate.edu.

Thank you and see you all in the fall!

Best,

The Advisor Coffee Talk Committee

Katrina Machorro – Academic Advisor, New Media Communications

McKenzie Huber – Academic Advisor, Sociology

Kameron Kadooka – Academic Advisor, College of Engineering

Alex Aljets – Pre-Health Advisor, College of Science

Transfer Credit Concerns and FAQs

Judy Dahlem, assisted by Mickey Reynolds came in to share a little about the world of Transfer Credit and how Advisors and Admissions can work together to provide students with the best transfer credit articulations possible.

Currently, Admissions does all of the transfer credit articulation by hand (may be changing soon) with International Admissions and the Bend Camps doing their own. The entire database of all articulated courses is housed in the Banner Page: SHATATR. They are also open to the public via our Single Course Search Tool, the Oregon Equivalency Page, and the Bacc Core @ Oregon CC and Hawaii DPP page.

Courses will not be evaluated to Writing Intensive or DPD courses – there is a transfer petition for that.

The rest of the time was spent answering questions from advisors – Judy wanted to follow up on one question specifically. IGETC  does clear the lower division bacc core requirements just as the AAOT does.

Questions and for any clarification around transfer credits, advisors can contact Judy Dahlem at Judy.Dahlem@oregonstate.edu