Open Forums: Help guide the Chancellor Search

There are three upcoming forums for the University and the community to share thoughts about the qualities and talents in the next chancellor.

The schedule:

• Wednesday, Feb. 20, Room 1325, Health Sciences Learning Center, 750 Highland Ave., 7 to 8:45 a.m.
• Tuesday, Feb. 26, Main Lounge, Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St., 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
• Thursday, March 6, Dag Hammarskjold Room, Union South, 227 N. Randall St., 4 to 5:45 p.m.

The forums are spread across campus and across time slots to make it possible for interested persons to be able to attend one that fits their schedule. If none of the times work for you, or you prefer not to speak in front of a group of people, that's OK! You can email the search committee at chancellorsearch@bascom.wisc.edu at any time.

Please help us get the word out about the forums! If you're in a student organization, or a community group, please let them know about the forums.

Undergraduate Academic Advising...

ON THE HORIZON:

The Council on Academic advising (CAA) is currently discussing a proposed campus-wide review of advising goals and practices for 1st and 2nd year undergraduate students. The Council has created a subcommittee to develop (1) a focus/charge for the review and (2) a process for conducting the review.

At the moment, the focus of the review is expected to be primarily an exploration and articulation of overall “goals & principles of undergraduate advising. Other points of interest will include (a) actual advising practices on campus, (b) the nature of student/parent expectations for advising, and (c) the interconnectedness of undergraduate advising with other aspects of campus and student life.

CAA has not yet established a firm time line for the review. But the Council plans to have preparatory work -- a charge/mission statement and review process guidelines -- completed and adopted by the end of the spring 2008 term. The hope is that next year's CAA members will join the Council and serve with an expectation that the 08/09 work of CAA will focus heavily on the advising review. However, CAA does not expect the review to be its only work next year -- the Council will continue to serve its many other functions.

Anyone with questions or comments regarding this advising review can connect J. Edward Connery (student rep to CAA) at jeconnery@wisc.edu. I will be glad to relay any additional input received from fellow students.

OTHER NOTES FROM CAA:

The proposed review is the largest agenda item as of late. However, Council members have also discussed ideas about “early detection” methods for staff and faculty to identify students who may find themselves in academic difficulty – for a variety of reasons. This was not an action item, but members seemed genuinely interested in sharing best practices and hopefully helping students before "things get really hard." (Editorial Note: CAA is only one group of campus staff, but they seem to represent a great deal of good will and awareness of student needs on the part of advisors from all areas of campus.)

-ed connery (jeconnery@wisc.edu)

Meeting 2/1/08

The Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force is a standing committee that meets year round to address alcohol and drug issues and climate on our campus. Our group includes representatives from Housing, UWPD, UHS, Athletics, city alcohol position, Student Organization Office, as well as many others. Each year we send a list of recommendations to the Chancellor's Committee on Alcohol for their consideration. Some of these have included policy changes at Camp Randall Stadium - ticket recovation, and others include tailgating in lots near first year student residence halls.

The Task Force meets first Fridays, including during breaks, at 9am in 89 Bascom (in the section of Bascom with the Offices of the Dean of Students.

After the first meeting, it is clear, we really need some student input as far as policies, programs, educational initiatives and other activities that will help our campus deal with alcohol and drug issues. Pleae feel free to contact me or to contribute ti this blog.

Raul Leon

rleon@wisc.edu

Alcohol Issues

As many of you may have already seen or heard CNI released research-based strategies to reduce downtown drunkenness and related crime and violence. Here is the link to that document http://www.capitolneighborhoods.org/pdf/CNIAlcReptFINAL2008.pdf.
As a native to Wisconsin and someone who grew up in a Milwaukee suburb; I think the situation could be a lot worse, but I think we can all agree there is a problem. It is important to be imformed that the city, police, and community members are very aware that this problem encompasses much more than the UW-Students and the UW Campus in general. The CNI Executive Committee minutes from past meetings can be found at http://www.capitolneighborhoods.org/about_us/executive.html.

The question to ask yourselves is how can we take the focus off of students, are there things we can do, are there things we cannot do? What do you think about the strategies and what do you think, if implemented, will be the effect on the community and city? I encourage everyone to answer these questions and send me an e-mail of what you think. This will be a good opportunity for your thoughts to reach the EC of CNI.

jpavlic@wisc.edu

CURAFA

The Committee on Undergraduate Recruitment, Admissions, and Financial Aid met on January 31st.

The first order of business was to listen to an update from the Admissions Office. They are currently behind in the admissions process due to the implementation of a new system. The office is for the first time ever going completely paper-less, meaning that all parts of the application will be scanned into a computer. This will make reviewing the applications much easier in the future. However, since this is the first year they did this, they had to learn the new system, causing them to fall slightly behind. The admissions office will be working hard to finish everything by the March 14th deadline.
The delay in receiving decision letters has been the cause of many phone calls and e-mails from impatient students. Wisconsin has what is called "rolling admissions" meaning that students receive the decision as to whether they are admitted or not soon after their application is reviewed. Many schools have systems in which they have "cut-off dates" or "early-admissions", meaning that if the student applies by a certain date, they know which date they will hear their decision by. The fact that there have been so many phone calls/e-mails regarding decisions led to a short discussion on the differences between rolling admissions and early acceptance.

The next order of business was to hear an update from the Office of Financial Aid. At this point in time, they are on schedule for next year. Their focus is almost completely on the 2008-2009 school year now, as they are already going over the financial aid applications for next year. We also discussed a federal grant for teachers that is in the process of being negotiated. Although it is not a need-based grant, it will be included on the FAFSA form, and would give $4000 to any student who is majoring in education. However, the student must teach for at least 2 years in a low-income area. If the student changes their mind or wants to teach in an area that does not qualify, the individual would have to pay back the grant as a loan, with interest. We feel that this could be misleading to some students who see the word "grant", and discussed how to make this information known to students interested in eduation who are filling out the FAFSA.

At this point in the meeting, I had to leave. However, I know that the remainder of the meeting was to be spent drafting a letter to Chancellor Wiley thanking him for his support of the CURAFA throughout his years.

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to post them.

Recreational Sports Board

The Recreational Sports Board has not officially met this year. We tried to hold one meeting but we failed to meet Quorum. I believe that a sub-committee met this week to review the Recreational Sports budget for the year. We should be reviewing that material at our next Recreational Sports Board meeting.

The Director of Rec Sports has indicated that they continue to explore renovation/expansion options. The SERF, NAT, and Shell are all on the older side and they get many complaints about the setup ie the SERF is like a dungeon is the most common complaint. The tentative plan is to renovate the NAT and then the SERF. In regards to the Shell they are looking at some sort of partnership with Athletics but that is unclear at this point. We should be getting a presentation detailing plans for expansion/renovation. I know they are planning on adding more exterior glass to give the building more of an outdoor feel and more effectively utilize sunlight.

Rec Sports understands that this must be done with student money and the Union is already undergoing a renovation/expansion so they are trying to be mindful of the situation with regards to student seg fees. I believe they are exploring the option of looking for some private money to help fund the operation. All of these matters should be addressed at our next meeting. There might be some information I forgot so other Rec Sports Board members should feel free to post any additional information. I thought it would be in the best interest of Shared Governance to get at least some information online. Please excuse any typos.