October News and Notes
How's everyone doing?
It's mid terms, and Fall Break is right around the corner! Hope you have plans to relax and rejuvenate during that time. My sister in law Maria (she's a marketing professor at Miami (OH) University) is visiting us that weekend, so I'm actually taking that Friday off!
REMINDER: Faculty meeting, October 17 at 3:00 in Craig 337. Next Colloquium is Monday, October 8.
Post Consultant Visit
Thanks to each of your for participating so actively in Jim Applegate's site visit last week. As those of you who attended his exit feedback session experienced, Jim's initial feedback and recommendations were all very positive. He cast our department as having a clear "culture of commitment," and I think that aptly describes us and our work. We should have a formal set of recommendations from Jim within the month. In fact, he told me we would have it before NCA in Chicago. Further, the Provost was so impressed with how we handled the entire process (self study and external consultant visit) that she's going to use us as an exemplar department for others to model who currently going thorough the process. She even wants to bring Jim back to campus early next year to do a series of workshops on effective program review practices. Yeah for us! Of course our next step will involve collectively digesting his recommendations and revising our strategic plan to identify the 2-3 sets of priorities we wish to develop as a department for the next 3-4 years.
Extreme Display Case Makeover
Jerri Lynn's PR class is at it again--Project Hallway. Teams of students are working to "makeover" Craig Hall's bulletin boards. Other departments have been included in this semester's project. For COM, I've asked a team of students to redo the display case next to Craig 375. You know, that glass case with a mish-mosh of our publications and awards. They are going to make it more student/visitor friendly by creating a faculty register, if you will, with pictures, short bios and fun facts. You should have received an email from Laura Whitney asking for information, PLEASE respond so they can complete their work this semester. We need this faculty directory, so help them out with the information requested as soon as possible.
ADVISORS UPDATE
1) Mid Term Grades are here. All grade rosters must be submitted by 10:00 a.m. on October 10.. How do you know if you need to submit mid-terms--go to your MY GRADES link on the F/ARC. Here's another way to know: Only undergraduate first-semester students, those on academic probation, and those enrolled in the Partners in Education (PIE) program will have mid-semester grade reports produced. With the current obsession with student success, the Provost is insistent that we submit ALL mid terms grades on time. It's hard to believe but some people don't turn them in. Let's be the first department in COAL to have a 100% rate of posting grades.
Mid term grades are an opportunity to provide some assessment of student performance thus far. Advisors who have students receiving mid term grades will be notified to contact their students to review the grades.
2) They're here! The Spring 2008 schedule has been released to students. So you know what that means--advisees will want to meet with you, get your advice, and get your signature. I just posted to the InCommon blog reminding students to contact you for an appointment well in advance of their registration date. A good rule of thumb I go by is to meet with the student a week before their registration date. You can find that on their advising notes page, just below the top of the page.
3) Note about the new BS/BA requirements. For each of the 6 tracks, the new degree audits read something to the effect that "advisor approval is required for the list of electives." That is not entirely the case. Students need your approval in this major only to take COM 397 or 597. In those cases, you need to submit an "advisor approved" electives form. Otherwise, they pick from the list of courses provided. Easy.
4) Attend Master Advisor Sessions to keep up to date on advising practices. The session on Tuesday was about legal issues for advisors. Plan to attend the next one if you can:
Listening Skills for Advisors
Presented by Harry Cook
Friday, October 12, 12 to 1 p.m.
Plaster Student Union 313, Traywick Parliamentary room*
That's all for now. More to come later, I'm sure.
Kelly