AFA Communique

April 2015 Sun

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April 1— Deadline for Course Substitutions

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April 23 — History of the Health Sciences: 12-1 p.m. Greenblatt Library (AB 225)

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Where Undergraduates Begin

AFA Departments Academic Advising

May 7 — Spring 2015 Grades Due by Midnight May 8 — Commencement

Career Services

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Future Dates

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August 10 — New Faculty Orientation

Julie Goley, Director 706-731-1604 careercenter@gru.edu

CURS Abigail Drescher, Program Coordinator 706-729-2094 adrescher@gru.edu

August 14 — Convocation

Faculty Dev. & Teaching Excel.

December 12 — Fall Commencement

AFA … by the NUMBERS 1210 Students currently eligible to participate in Spring Commencement.

599 Total students enrolled in INQR 1000 to date.

291 Students going on study abroad and away programs this year.

16 Faculty mentors who participated in our Brown Bag seminars this academic year.

1423 Students advised in the Advisement Center who have been registered for Fall 2015.

182 Students currently in the Honors Program.

5031 Students who have taken advantage of the extended hours at the libraries.

450 Career Advisor Appointments completed with students.

Carol J. Rychly, PhD Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs Adam T. M. Wyatt, PhD AVP for Academic Affairs and Student Success

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ACADEMIC ADVISING

Katherine Sweeney, Director 706-731-7979 academicadvising@gru.edu

May 18 — First day of classes for summer.

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Spring 2015

April 28 — Last days of classes

April 29—Library on Demand Webinar: Searching Tips for PubMed. 12-1 p.m.

April 30—May 6 — Final exams

May 2015 Sun

April 28 — “Celebrate 60!” Sophomore Declaration Day: 11-1pm in the JSAC Coffeehouse

104 Boykin Wright Hall

Phone (706) 446-1422

Augusta, GA 30912

Fax: (706) 737-1585

Deborah Richardson, Director 706-737-1742 ctl@gru.edu

First/Second-Year Experience As part of the university’s commitment to student success and to the goals of “Complete College Georgia”, fairly substantial modifications were made to the responsibilities, staffing and technologies in the Academic Advisement Center in early 2014. The center currently has 14 professional advisors assigned to teams representing the colleges of Allied Health; Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Business; Education; Nursing; and Science and Mathematics. The center’s goal is to prepare students for transition to their major departments having taken the right courses in the right order to ensure timely completion of degree requirements.

Success is a choice, and the Academic Advisement Center exists to help students make the best choices during those pivotal first years of the university experience.

Which students does the center advise?

All first-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students who:  Have fewer than 60 earned hours  Have 60 or more earned hours but have not yet selected a major  Are not yet accepted to a program with additional admission requirements  Are seeking an associate degree

What tools are available at the center?

Advisors assess students on an individual basis and apply appropriate protocols.

Rarely would all tools be used in an individual advising session.  EAB Student Success Collaborative: Data analysis system provides quick Academic Advising Continued on Page 2

Beth Huggins, Director 706-737-1594 ehuggins@gru.edu

Honors Program Tim Sadenwasser, Director 706-729-2083 honorsprogram@gru.edu

Registrar Heather Metress, Registrar 706-731-1430/1431 registrar@gru.edu

Study Abroad Maria Darley, Director 706-729-2306 studyabroad@gru.edu

University Libraries Brenda Seago, Director Greenblatt 706-721-3441 Reese 706-737-1744 www.gru.edu/library 1

Academic Advising Continued from Page 1.

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overview of a student profile based on comparison to historical data of successful GRU graduates. Departments have identified “success marker” courses and advisors use those to drive conversations with students. Major Matcher feature shows alternative majors where a student might show better success based on past performance. Advisors select groups of students based on different criteria to conduct particular outreach.

GradesFirst: Advisement management system tracks center traffic and logs student contact through appointments, phone, text and email. It provides on-line appointment system and kiosk self-service.

Progress Reports provide feedback from professors on targeted students for advisor follow up.

JagTrax: Degree audit system showing student progress toward graduation. It provides a GPA calculator as well as a “what if” feature to show how progression to degree changes if major changes.

What else happens in the center?

Advisors conduct study skills workshops, academic department spotlights, test taking tip sessions, time management exercises, note taking seminars, major information sessions. In addition, all students see an advisor before officially changing a major or withdrawing from a course to ensure an understanding of any possible implications.

Any new changes coming on the horizon?

A software package that allows advisors to control courses students can register for in an upcoming term but allows students to control the particular sections and instructors.

What can students/faculty/staff do to help?

Keep the lines of communication open, make sure advisors are kept up to date with changes to programs, and work with the advisors to help ignite passion for your programs with your majors. Call at 706.731.7979, drop by suite 262 in University Hall or email academicadvisement@gru.edu.

CURS Program Chooses Projects

CURS received the largest number of faculty proposals to date. After a blind review process, 13 projects were chosen. The selected faculty members are Simon Medcalfe, Hull College of Business; Todd Hoffman, English and Foreign Languages; Chris Mojock, Kinesiology and Health Science; Maria Sabbatini, Biological Sciences; Stacy Bennetts, Biological Sciences; Candace Best, Psychological Sciences; Seretha Williams, English and Foreign Languages; Angie Spencer, Chemistry and Physics; Allison Foley, Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Social Work; Tadd Patton, Psychological Sciences; Gregory Passmore, Medical Laboratory, Imaging, and Radiological Sciences; Laurence Miller, Psychological Sciences; and Caterina Hernandez, Pharmacology and Toxicology.

The program will culminate in a symposium, including poster presentations by the students and faculty, on June 29th in the JSAC Ballroom.

access to the electronic and print resources, items such as limited circulation of books, reserves, headphones, markers are available.

placed near the main exit on each floor, comment boxes on each floor, and a webbased comments form. Positive comments have emphasized the benefit of having a safe place to study overnight. Likewise, the lack of food and coffee options available overnight have also been a recurring theme in critical comments.

Reese staff conduct hourly counts of users and unobtrusive observation behavior mapping at regular intervals. Results indicate students are using this time for individual and group studying. Wednesdays The pilot is expected to end May 6 at 8pm. are consistently the busiest night of the Upon completion of the pilot, an evaluaweek. tion will be undertaken to determine next In addition to providing study space and Comments are solicited through flipcharts steps.

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evidence; present results systematically, formulate conclusions, and evaluate the importance of their conclusions.

The Center for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (CURS) will have its third annual Summer Scholars Program from May 18th to June 29th. The program, which is sponsored by the Provost, Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs, and the Senior Vice President of Research, aims to increase student participation in research, scholarship and creative activity. The program also seeks to support high impact scholarly work that will yield significant student achievement and further research programs at GRU.

Reese Library Launches Pilot to Grant More Access On February 15, with support from the Provost, the Reese Library launched a pilot allowing it to remain open 24 hours, every day of the week. Admission is limited to GRU Faculty, staff and students from 10:30 pm—7 am, and IDs are checked. Other campus buildings are closed each evening once classes are over.

INQR 1000: Question Everything Drescher said, “The course is designed to help them ask questions and think critically and work as a team. And working in groups is key for engagement and feeling like they are engaged in the topic or engaged in the learning process.”

Dr. Deborah Richardson, Director for the Office of Faculty Development and Teaching Excellence, agrees, indicating her class was able to develop more interesting projects because the diversity of experience and skills among the student teams.

Dr. Will Bryant’s and his INQR 1000 students take time to ponder while at the expo.

Ever wondered about the difference between Jasmine Rice and Basmati Rice? Or how fast a skateboard can really go?

Freshman and sophomore students not only asked these questions, but researched them at the recent INQR 1000 EXPO held on March 13.

Music, food, interactive discussion filled the JSAC Ballroom as over 480 students presented their final projects and poster demonstrations.

According to INQR student, Brandon Edwards, "Inquiry 1000 is a class designed to enhance the research abilities of new college students while providing them with an enriching learning experience that allows them to obtain insight in prospective careers. This course is valuable due to the fact that it prepares students for real

The EXPO serves as an academic showcase for student presentations and is designed world inquisition, analysis, and communito scaffold the process of individual recation in areas of their interests." search their junior and senior years. The INQR 1000, in conjunction with CURS next EXPO planned for fall, 2016 will be (Center for Undergraduate Research and Friday, October 30th.

Scholarship), hosted the Spring 2015 EXPO “If you haven’t been to one, please join as part of the Brown Bag series. us! Experience firsthand students engagElizabeth Huggins, Director for First and ing in academics and finding out answers Second Year Experience, and Abigail to interesting questions,” Huggins said.

Drescher, Coordinator for CURS, organized By the way, for those still wondering the event, which depends upon the supabout the speed of a skateboard, the stuport from numerous faculty and staff voldents from Dr. Joseph Hauger’s class had unteers. the following answer: Inquiry 1000 is a one credit hour, small “Our skateboard can go as fast as any othgroup, discussion-based course designed er, but the "cyber-magic" is in the sensor to engage lower division students in the and Arduino. It than computes the skatediscovery, exploration, and analysis of board speed because we also know the ideas. First and second year students dewheel's circumference (2*pi*r, #bam).” velop into active learners, understanding how to identify and collect appropriate Um … yes, exactly. What they said.

Two GRU Faculty Development Fellows Named Drs. Molly Quinn and Charlotte Chatto will join the Office of Faculty Development and Teaching Excellence as Faculty Development Fellows for the 2015-2016 academic year.

The fellows will assist with faculty development projects through the OFDTE and develop new projects to serve faculty needs in their college or throughout the university.

Quinn, an Associate Professor in Teacher Education, is a founding member of the International Institute for Critical Pedagogy

and Transformative Leadership, and vice ries. She president of American Association for the currently is Advancement of Curriculum Studies. Much one of the of her scholarship engages ‘spiritual’ and Physical philosophical criticism toward embracing Therapists a vision of education that cultivates in GRU’s wholeness, beauty, compassion, and so- ALS clinic cial action.

Chatto Quinn and Christ Chatto, an Assistant Professor in Physical Community Clinic in Augusta, Georgia. She is Therapy, has specialized in the care of pa- also active with Global Therapy Group in tients with neurological diseases and inju- Haiti.

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