In Attendance: Matt Carlton, Rachel Henry, Brad Kyker, Kris McKinlay, Charity Romano, Ellen Notermann, Shannon Stephens, Helen Bailey, Kristi Weddige, Kim Marsalek, Maureen Muller, Peggy Smith Andersen, Cynthia Moyer, Susan Sparling, Katie Tool, Matt Taylor, Bonnie McKim, Wendy Spradlin
Absent: George Petersen, Tom Zuur, Stacey Breitenbach, Patricia Ponce, Martha Caldwell, Tammy Martin
Guests: Doug Keesey
Kris McKinlay brought the meeting to order at 1:10. Wendy moved to approve the minutes. Maureen seconded the motion. The minutes were unanimously approved.
Announcements:
- There will be an “Unlearning Racism Retreat” facilitated by Lee Mun Wah April 26-27 at Cuesta College. Kris handed out flyers and asked AAC members to consider whether they wanted to go. If there is enough interest, AAC may be able to pay for a group to go.
- Kris handed out “The Right Hand of Privilege,” the latest in a series of articles that have been the basis for discussions on White Privilege.
Items of Business:
Advising 102
- There was a question as to whether to offer the CTL Workshop Advising 101 again or to offer Advising 102, and if AAC want to offer 102, what the topic should be.
- In the past there has been a definite need for Advising 102, especially a session centered around boundary issues. Other possible topics include how to support a student on AP and what to do if a student is in crisis?
- AAC decided to offer 102 in Spring, preferably a Thursday, 11:00-1:00, in May. In the future, AAC will offer 101 in Fall and Winter and 102 in Spring.
- Bonnie, Brad, and Shannon will be on the panel, and Susan will help if needed. Susan will contact the Counseling Center to see if someone wants to participate.
- Matt will finalize the time with CTL.
GE Concerns – Doug Keesey and Katie Tool
- The GE Program wants to be a link at Cal Poly, collaborating with administrative offices, Student Affairs, advisors, and faculty to promote student success. To support this goal, they created a new logo: General Education ~ Links to Learning. Katie passed out carabiners with the new logo and the University-wide Learning Objectives attached.
- Katie also presented the new Advising Resources sign. It holds fourteen 3 x 8-inch one or two-sided brochures, and she is working with various offices to fill it with brochures that feature advising-related services. This sign will be installed in the Library, and the next one will be in the UU. Please let her know if you have a brochure available that you would like displayed.
- College Advising Centers would like to get copies of the updated Advising Resources handout, which is available on the sign.
- General Education classes are traditionally thought of in terms of content areas that provide support for the majors and breadth to help students become fully educated. The GE Program is trying to change this thinking to include the idea that GE courses should also provide students with transferable skills: writing and speaking ability, critical thinking, problem solving, scientific method, information competency, ethics, social engagement, service learning, aesthetic appreciation, intercultural understanding, and global awareness. The GE Program believes balancing content knowledge with transferable skills is in keeping with the newly approved University Learning Objectives and will provide students with foundational abilities that they can use in their major classes and beyond.
- Students don’t currently think that their major classes and their GE classes are connected. The GE Program would like to change that.
- The GE Program has two goals: 1) Revolutionize the consciousness of faculty teaching GE and 2) Work with faculty to assess what areas in the major classes GE classes do not prepare students for well.
- Another area of concern for the GE Program is that students take their Area A classes and improve their writing; then they don’t write at all in their major classes for a while, and they lose those skills. Then they take the GWR and do poorly. One possible solution is that GE writing professors can help professors teaching classes in the major to incorporate writing into those classes.
- The GE Program is asking for AAC’s help in the following areas:
- Encouraging students to view their curriculum as an integrated whole and to see connections among its different parts. In this model, students would be introduced to the Learning Objectives early on and then see how they’re using those skills in upper-division courses.
- Encouraging students to become intentional learners who reflect on their own education, identify specific gaps in their learning, and choose the particular courses that will fill those gaps. Students tend to avoid classes in which they are weak, and AAC can advise them otherwise.
- Encouraging students to take their Area A classes in their first year and then to take their lower division GE classes before their upper division because these classes are foundational for other GE classes and for major classes.
- Giving them feedback on what the most common gaps in student learning are among advisees.
- Some AAC members wondered how students pass their Area A classes and yet cannot pass the GWR. Doug offered two reasons: 1) grade inflation and 2) students do learn to write in Area A classes but then lose the skill before taking the GWR because they don’t use it. The GWR does not address the problem of teaching students how to write. They need to do it repeatedly in many classes.
- The question was raised as to whether transfer students or native students are having trouble with the GWR. The possibility was raised of having the equivalent of the EPT for transfer students.
One Page Student Profile
- Kris handed out a summary page of all the requests to date.
- AAC wants to delete Class Standing from the list.
- AAC wants to add an indicator for whether they have applied for graduation and where they are in the application process. They also want to add the expected quarter of graduation.
- There is an SA Open Forum Friday at which the profile will be discussed.
New Evaluations Phone Hours
- Evaluations has new phone hours designed to increase productivity. They are: Tuesday-Friday, 10:00-12:00 and 2:00-4:00.
- Their window hours are Tuesday 2:00-4:00 and Wednesday-Friday 10:00-12:00.
Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award
- Ways in which the award has been advertised: CP Report, email to all department heads, Portal announcement, students.
- Two applications have been received.
Retention and Recruitment
- Kris handed out the University’s draft plan for “Recruitment and Retention of First Generation Students.” AAC will discuss it at the next meeting.
- Cal Poly taking another look at First Generation issues has been mandated by the Board of Trustees.
- Susan explained that there is currently no financial support for low income or First Generation students to attend SAP, so she has proposed using the money that is earmarked to help those students attend Summer Institute to help them attend SAP instead.
Final Report of the Ad Hoc Student Advising Task Force
- Kris handed out the report from June 1999 and asked AAC members to read it. It was part of the materials that she and Matt gave to the Provost.
- Some of the actions that AAC is currently taking are a result of this report.
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