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Faculty Advising Handbook
This website has been created to assist College of Business Administration faculty in their role as academic advisors. The University, as well as the CBA, places a high priority on ensuring that our faculty have the information and support necessary to effectively meet this challenge. UW-Ls strategic plan identifies these values and goals for students:
The advising handbook has been designed to provide information about some university and CBA policies and procedures, academic requirements and student support services. It also contains specific curricular information for advising students in each business major. Updates regarding registration, advising workshops, curriculum changes, policy changes, etc. will be communicated to you via e-mail and memos from the Deans Office, throughout the year. Suggestions for additions to this handbook are welcome, anytime! Thank you for your extra efforts ensuring our students are well advised! Amelia Dittman Advising Responsibilities and Expectations Based on the Colleges commitment to providing quality programs for our students, and the students expressed needs, it is expected that every faculty advisor should, at the minimum, be able to competently address these academic advising areas:
All students with declared majors in business are assigned to faculty in the following manner: ACCOUNTANCY majors to accountancy faculty ECONOMICS majors to economics faculty FINANCE/RISK AND INSURANCE majors to finance faculty INFORMATION SYSTEMS to information systems faculty INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS to faculty from the second major department MARKETING majors to marketing faculty MANAGEMENT majors to management faculty UNDECIDED majors to economics faculty Advisor assignments are made, randomly, within the above departments. Some departments have designated advisors for certain major tracks. Assignment is done in the Deans Office. New Freshmen are assigned in the summer after theyve registered. Notice of advisor assignment is sent them before they arrive on-campus in the fall. New Transfer Students are assigned within the first week of each term. Students changing majors are assigned at the time they submit the major change to the Deans Office, up until mid-semester. Advisor and major changes are not done while registration is in progress. Advisor/advisee assignments are posted on the bulletin board outside the Deans Office, 223 WCW Hall. New/updated lists are posted twice each semester; by the end of the second week of classes and just after mid-term. Each semester faculty can view or obtain a current list of advisees using the ADVISE trancode on the Enterprise system, and through the AERIE system. All academic program associates are able to access this information, as well as the Deans Office. Occasionally, a student may request to change advisors, though they are not changing their major. A form for such a request is available in the Deans Office. Approval by the "new" faculty advisor, department chair and Dean is required to effect the change. Advising for the Four-Year Graduation Guarantee program is a cooperative effort between the student, Deans Office and selected faculty. New freshmen, only, may enter into the guarantee program within the first seven weeks of their first semester. They must contact the Deans Office for details. Program Requirement Information Resources All requirements and information for programs, general education and university policies and procedures is found in the University catalog. Students are issued a free copy when they enter the university. The undergraduate catalog is published every two years. Studentsdegree requirements are determined by the catalog in effect when they enter the university.CBA checksheets are issued from the Deans Office and are continually updated. The checksheets include the requirements for general education, business core, business majors and minors. Incoming freshmen and new transfer students are given the current copy when they register. The SNAP report (Student Notice of Academic Progress) is the universitys automated degree audit. Each registration period, students SNAP reports are sent to their faculty advisors. SNAP provides lots of useful information (grade point average, placement test scores) and are especially helpful for checking the progress for students entering their final year. Students can also obtain SNAP reports of their current, or other programs through the Academic Advising Center at their website. Questions concerning the accuracy of advisee SNAP reports should be referred to the Deans Office. Catalog Requirements and Substitutions Students are subject to the program requirements listed in the catalog in effect when they enter (or re-enter) the University. The SNAP reports are driven by these requirements. Students may move to a newer catalog, but not back to an older version. Except in special circumstances, they must meet the requirements as stated, in total, for their major, minor, etc. Occasionally, students may need to seek exceptions or substitutions, especially in cases where a required course is not offered. Students seeking course substitutions or waivers should be referred to the Deans Office for review, appropriate paperwork and, when necessary, action by the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. Requests for substitutions for graduating seniors will not be considered after the first four weeks of the semester. Prerequisites for courses frequently change, and students are subject to these changes regardless of what catalog they are following. You should be aware of prerequisites for courses in your own program, at least. When advising students be sure to use a current catalog for course prerequisites, especially for courses outside the business areas. Admission to the Business Program This is a vital advising issue for students in the first half of the degree. Requirements for admission are listed in the catalog, the checksheets and identified on SNAP. However, you need to counsel your advisees, during the freshman and sophomore years, to complete the requirements in an appropriate way so they will be eligible for admission at the start of the junior year. Before the start of each registration period, the Deans Office sends you reminder information on appropriately scheduling. Applications for admission to the business program are available in the Deans Office. They are due by mid-term and must be accompanied by a copy of the students transcripts.Career advising in your area of expertise should be provided as part of the advising process. You should be able to at least identify careers/career titles that are associated with your major area. Refer to your departments handbook, brochures, and Career Services Placement Report for helpful information. There are also numerous WEB sites, which can be used. An extensive list of addresses can be obtained from Amelia. When your advisees need information outside your area, and you dont feel competent to provide such advice, refer them to the department/colleague that does, or to the Deans Office. Undecided students may need to be referred to Counseling and Testing, Career Services or the Academic Advising Center. These offices will provide printed, audiovisual and on-line information, and will administer "interest inventory" tests to help students make choices. These are located in Wilder Hall. Career Services, also located in Wilder, provides staff to help students get ready for and begin the job search. They provide workshops on various related topics, and work one-on-one with students. Karla Stanek works mostly with our business majors. She is also available to speak with classes or organizations. Ms. Stanek also coordinates CBA internships. The Deans Office coordinates the CBA advising program, and tries to provide services and information to address all advising needs of faculty and students. The Assistant to the Dean, Amelia Dittman, is the expert reference and prefers staff and students contact her with questions regarding curriculum and policy questions. The Deans Office is also responsible for confirming to the University that students have met all degree requirements. All students should be referred to Ms. Dittman for a "credit check" before they begin their final year, or at any time. The Deans Office also advises new transfer students and coordinates the summer freshman orientation/registration program.Other offices and personnel, who provide various types of support for students, and to whom you may need to refer students for assistance, are listed on the next pages. It is not reasonable to expect that every faculty member can give their advisees the answers to every question they may have, but you should be able to refer students to an appropriate office or staff member. If in doubt, call the Deans Office. ADMISSIONS
SCIENCE AND HEALTH COLLEGE
CAREER SERVICES
COUNSELING AND TESTING
DISABILITY RESOURCE SERVICES
TEACHER EDUCATION
FINANCIAL AID
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
INVOLVEMENT CENTER
LIBERAL STUDIES COLLEGE
MULTICULTURAL STUDENT SERVICES
RECORDS AND REGISTRATION
STUDENT LIFE / STUDENT DEVELOPMENT
STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES
UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT / FOUNDATION
All new freshmen are required to submit ACT and placement test scores before they register for their first semester. Occasionally, the scores place students at the remedial level in math and/or English (MTH 050, ENG 050); such students are required to complete the remedial courses by the time theyve earned 30 credits or during their freshman year. Students are advised about this at summer freshman orientation, and are encouraged to register for the course(s) their first semester. Students required to complete remedial coursework will have such a message on their SNAP report. This message will disappear once they have completed this requirement. After students first two semesters on campus, they may not drop courses more than four times for the remainder of their academic program. [This does not include courses dropped or sections changed through the first five class days of a semester; first three in a regular summer term.] This is important to know, because students are required to secure an advisor or instructors signature to drop classes. Advisors may want to remind students about this when signing drop slips. Further, it is appropriate to caution students who want to drop any pre-business courses. They need to consider what dropping such courses will mean to their progress in and admission to the business program. Current policy allows dropping courses through the eighth week of class (one week past mid-semester). No grade is recorded. Probation and retention standards are issues advisors may need to address from time to time. The standards are outlined in the University catalog; a copy is included in Part III of this handbook. Questions about the standards should be directed to the Deans Office. Many faculty and most students are unaware that it is possible to be suspended from the University for ONE bad semester. If a students semester grade point average is ever less than 1.5 (after their freshman year) they are automatically declared ineligible to return to the University. Thus, a student whos had a decent, or even exemplary, record can be dismissed for one poor semester.Students should be encouraged to immediately repeat courses in which they earn unsatisfactory grades, particularly if they have been placed on academic probation. The Counseling and Testing Office in Wilder Hall can provide help with such issues as time management, study skills, test anxiety, and special needs assistance. This office will also provide counseling for personal problems, eating disorders, substance abuse, etc.Withdrawing from the University Students contemplating withdrawing from the University must contact the Office of Student Life in Graff Main Hall, which will provide a checklist of procedures to follow and will also offer counseling about such a decision. Grades of "WP" or "WF" are recorded if the withdrawal occurs after the established midterm point. "WF" grades DO affect students grade point averages.
Advising Main Page | Freshman Advising | Sophomore Advising | Junior - Senior Advising | Date Last Modified 02/22/2008 |
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