April 16, 2001 Meeting Minutes

3:30 pm      Serna Conference Room

Present:  Sharon Zuniga, June Decker, Roland Shook, Curtis Hayes, Chris Farren, Faye Vowell

Curtis and Chris who are members of the AQIP Steering Committee charged with writing the “vital few” goal associated with Advising presented a draft of their ideas to be submitted as an AQIP Goals Commitment Declaration, 2001-2004.  Curtis gave background on this vital goal discussing how it grew out of the on campus process which involved faculty and staff meeting together.  The Task Force members made suggestions for change.  A copy of the draft of what we discussed is attached below.

Faye invited any Task Force Member interested in attending the NACADA Advising Institute in Vancouver this summer to contact her. 

Academic Quality Improvement Project

Goals Commitment Declaration, 2001‑2004

Institution: __________________________________________________ Date Submitted: ____________________

Person AQIP should contact concerning this document: __________________________________________________

Email: ____________________________________ Telephone: _________________________________________

A.    Give a short identifying title (under 10 words) to one goal (or group of closely related goals).

Improve the advising process

B.    Describe (in 100 words or fewer) the intent of this goal.

To create and assess an advising system which clearly delineates who is responsible and accountable for advising any given student. To insure that all advisors receive training and that an advising handbook will be available as a resource for accurate advising information.  To assist advisors in helping students to clarifying personal and career goals, developing consistent educational goals, and evaluating progress towards established goals.  To have advisors who help students prepare course schedules and accurate degree plans which facilitate students’ graduating in a timely fashion.  To insure that advisors utilize the resources of the university and refer students to appropriate academic support services.

C.    Please identify the single AQIP Criterion to which this goal primarily belongs (check one box in the Primary column), and no more than four other Criteria to which it is strongly related (check boxes in the Related column):

AQIP Quality Criteria	Primary	Related
1 ‑ Helping Students Learn	X
2 ‑ Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives
3 ‑ Understanding Students' and Other Stakeholders' Needs		X
4 ‑ Valuing People
5 – Leading and Communicating
6 ‑ Supporting Institutional Operations		X
7 ‑ Measuring Effectiveness
8 ‑ Planning Continuous Improvement
9 ‑ Building Collaborative Relationships

D. List the organizational areas most affected.

-Academic Support Center

-Academic Affairs (faculty)

 -Enrollment Management Services (Admissions, Registrar, Financial Aid, Career Services)

E. List and briefly describe the critical processes most affected.

-process for assigning advisors to undeclared majors

-process for assigning advisors to declared majors

-process for training advisors

-process for disseminating information concerning advising processes

-process for diagnostic placement

-Early Alert process for identifying students with academic problems

-process of advising students

-process for referring students to student support services

-process for establishing students’ career and academic goals

-process for upkeep of advising files

-process for evaluating advisors

-process  for evaluating advising system

F. List the process measures you plan to track.

-% of students with an assigned advisor*

-number of advisors trained*

-survey evaluation to trainees concerning advisor training/dissemination of information concerning advising/Early Alert Process*

-number of appointments scheduled with advisors based upon Early Alert notices*

--student evaluations of academic advisors*

-Noel Levitz survey questions regarding advising

-MBO (Management By Objective) evaluations of faculty advising activities by dept. chairs

-course withdrawal rates*

-number of referrals to student support services*

* denotes a measure not currently tracked.

G. List the outcomes measures you plan to track.

-graduation rates

-retention rates from year to year

-passing rates in developmental and General Education courses

-alumni surveys concerning job placement in field of study and satisfaction with advising processes*

-number of exceptions to graduation requirements requested of and granted by the VPAA*

-number of course substitution forms processed by the Registrar*

* denotes a measure not currently tracked.

H. Describe your annual stretch targets for this goal (in both quantitative and qualitative terms):

Year	Quantitative Stretch Target	Qualitative Stretch Target
One	All advisees of entering students be trained	5% increase in student satisfaction with advising as measured by Noel-Levitz
Two	Half of faculty who advise students be trained	10% increase in student satisfaction with advising
Three	All of faculty who advise students be trained	15% increase in student satisfaction with advising

I.                     Briefly describe how you plan to keep your institution's attention and energies focused on this goal.

An Advising Task Force was created this year.

J.   Indicate the degree of openness and sharing with which you are comfortable concerning this goal.

       AQIP may post information about this goal openly on the AQIP website.

           AQIP may share information about the organizational areas and critical processes this goal addresses.

           AQIP may share information about the measures we intend to use to monitor our progress on this goal.

       AQIP may share information about our specific targets and timetable for this goal.

           AQIP may share this goal only with other institutions participating in AQIP, via newsletters or by posting it to   a section of the AQIP website to which only institutions participating in AQlP have access.

           AQIP may share, among AQIP Participating Institutions only, information about the organizational areas and critical processes this goal addresses.

           AQIP may share, among AQIP Participating Institutions only, information about the measures we intend to use to monitor our progress on this goal.

           AQIP may share, among AQIP Participating Institutions only, information about our specific targets and timetable for this goal.

       AQIP should keep this goal confidential, and not share any information about it with other educators or institutions.

K.     Please explain your reasoning for whichever level of publicity you chose.

L.      Please describe your institution's rationale for addressing this criterion (the one you checked as Primary) at this time. Why is this goal one of your "vital few"?

The criterion of "helping students learn" is obviously at the core function of a regional institution such as Western.  The first four of WNMU’s vital few goals emerged from forums conducted with faculty, staff, and students.  As to this particular goal, advising is one of the most important factors within the university’s control affecting student success. There is much anecdotal evidence that students often receive inaccurate advising resulting in students not graduating in a timely fashion.  There is also considerable anecdotal evidence that underprepared students are not advised into appropriate courses and that they are not referred to appropriate support services. 

This form is available as an electronic file template on the AQ1P website at http://www.AQIP.orglStrategvforum.htmI

@ Academic Quality Improvement Project, 2001