Summary Notes June 1, 2006

1. Advising Fair
• Everyone was in favor of holding it on a Thursday from 11-12:30.
• Fall or Winter quarter discussion: Cindy said holding the fair in Fall would raise student awareness of advising early. Kathryn suggested putting it off until Winter because no one knew what the impact of PeopleSoft would be yet. Brad pointed out that if the fair were held in Winter, Winter transfers could attend. Susan suggested having the Lucy booths during Fall.
• AAC agreed to do Lucy booths in Fall and the fair in Winter.
2. David Conn presented a proposal that had been raised at Dean’s Council and asked for AAC’s input. The proposal would call for a certain number of units to be set as the expected number to be completed by Winter quarter of sophomore year. If students didn’t reach it, intrusive advising and attendance at summer quarter would be required.
• Cindy asked whether financial aid would be available for summer if students were required to attend.
• Kris explained that OCOB requires change of major students to attend summer and that this approach is not working well. Students can ask for exemptions for financial hardship or internships, and most are granted exemptions.
• Ellen asked students why they weren’t taking summer classes, and many of them said they were taking classes at Cuesta. She suggested offering classes they can’t take at Cuesta or can’t get into during the rest of the year.
• Bonnie noticed that three D3 courses are being offered at the same time this summer, which doesn’t offer students many options. She has found mostly transfer students take summer courses. She is not sure tracking sophomore units will work because many students won’t meet the goal because of major changes. She heard Poly Reps telling prospective students that it is not difficult to change majors, and she finds that misrepresentation harmful.
• Susan supported the idea of intrusive advising at that stage but wants to assure that it’s not punitive. She also pointed out that students who don’t take a break in summer may burn out. Ellen agreed with her.
• Kathryn said if they are tracking total units toward a student’s major, that will not work for English because English students don’t start their major courses till Winter of their sophomore year.
• Brad feels the push to graduate sooner will marginalize certain groups of students, for example first generation students.
• Susan suggested putting resources into giving students evaluations every quarter instead of waiting till their fifth quarter.
• Neither Tammy nor Matt liked the idea of requiring summer classes.
• Cindy said that trying to reach the new enrollment goal in one summer is too soon.
• David presented another suggestion that had come up at Dean’s Council to have students take the first two weeks of classes on campus and the remainder online.
• Kris suggested offsetting admissions so that half of the incoming students started during Summer and half during Fall.
3. Sandwich Boards
• Mary reported that the reaction at the previous meeting to the idea of sandwich boards was lukewarm.
• Everyone responded that they liked the idea, and all the college advising centers want one, as does SAS.
• Katie will follow up and order.
4. Kris volunteered to co-chair AAC next year. She received a unanimous vote of approval.
5. The June 15 meeting was cancelled.

Academic Programs
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Phone: 805 756-2246
Email: acadprog@calpoly.edu