Your Historian is off to a great start and forgot to take pictures of the first meeting. Therefore stock images of what things might have looked like have been included for your enjoyment.
The Moody College of Communication provided a fantastic breakfast spread. Deliciousness was experienced by all.
Pictured: Probably an ACA Member enjoying the breakfast
Ana Dison opened up the meeting with some ACA Announcements. Ana discussed the future shift in meeting format- we will be trying to bring in more interactive presentations and professional development sessions. More information & updates may be distributed via the listserv (in an organized fashion). The Past Presidents Council has also been created to serve as a resource for the current president.
Ana Dison and the Past President’s Council
Alexis George would like to remind everyone to fill out the membership survey and pay their dues.
Alexis George Rocking it as Treasurer
The Communication & Leadership Degree team provided updates about their major. This major works well with other majors and minors/certificates. The focus is on creating ethical leaders and helps dispel myths about leadership. The major is broken up into a few areas- leadership skills, communication foundations, and perspectives on social issues. It is currently open and students need only apply through Moody’s internal transfer process. COM 301L is the intro course and is a good way for students to get a feel for the major.
There weren’t a ton of great options for communication stock photos. It was either this or two dudes in suits holding up two tin cans attached by a string.
Bridging Disciplines provided an overview of their programs: 15 options, each 19 hours. Design Strategies is going through the approval process currently. Applications are accepted during the fall and spring and fit in extremely well with many degree plans while providing students an interdisciplinary perspective, experiential learning, and connections with faculty.
Students should apply through BDP’s website, NOT the registrar’s system. BDP will add them to that system manually after acceptance. BDP certificates ARE in IDA, but often will require overrides that BDP will process.
A bridge that leads to adventure, just like BDP (Note: BDP is more structurally sound than this bridge)
Wayfinder has been updated so that students can find their way through it more easily. It still includes great information about each major and certificates and can now be filtered via multiple options. Overall, it should look and feel better than the previous iteration. You can provide feedback to wayfinder@austin.utexas.edu
A student exploring with Wayfinder probably
The Health Professions Office provided an update on their new structure. They’ve had more students than they can see face-to-face each day. Students will now be seeing Peer Coaches for their first meeting. Peer Coaches will be well-trained and active team members. They will cover many of the basics of being a Pre-Health student. HPO staff will now do more developmental advising – academic turnaround, successful application, etc. Students will need to make an appointment by calling or coming by (no more online appointments).
Pictured: A really excited Health Professional
The Graduate Fair will be happening on October 10th in the Union. There will be 120 reps from universities all over the world and will be organized by theme.
The VPs will be sending out an interest survey. Please fill it out if you have opinions!
ACA Mentor Program – Join if you like other advisors!
Here are the Kudos that were submitted. Thank you for recognizing your coworkers, offices, and friends:
| Patty Moran Micks | To the First-Year Experience team….
Andrea, Casey, Jeff, Kaytlen, Kishwar, Kristen, Lisa, and Melva …..for being awesome! Y’all are the best! |
| Cindy Gladstone | To Nathan Vickers for calmly juggling repeated labor shortages (especially the last couple of years during orientation). It ain’t easy! |
| Desiree Alva | Now that August Orientation 2017 is over, it’s time to gear up for Spring, Summer School, Freshman, Transfer, and next year’s August Orientation 2018! None of these programs would be as successful as they are without the commitment, support and passion from our Advisor Community. Y’all continue to be a big part of the work we do to usher in the new class and we truly appreciate all that you do. ~ NSS |
| Study Abroad program coordinators for their continued support of our students engaging in academics, internships, and service-learning around the world. Thank you for your commitment to the internationalization of our students, staff, and campus! | |
| Thank you to Alexis Kyle for running our Econ Help Desk smoothly and efficiently during the first couple of weeks of classes. She has managed to keep all our students calm, even when they had long wait times to see an advisor or were being told bad news. Thankful to have you as part of our team and looking forward to seeing you transition into your new advisor role! 🙂 | |
| Kudos to Debbie Rothschild for gathering and disseminating information about late adds at the beginning of each semester, but especially this semester when deadlines were changed. We really appreciate your efforts to help make the late add process less hassle for students and their advisors. | |
| The ECE Undergraduate Advising Office is thankful to our new Associate Director, Veronica Vasquez, for her leadership. She is always patient, caring, and knowledgeable, and makes ECE a great department to work for! | |
| Courtney Sy | Kudos and a big THANK YOU to Nathan Vickers, Cindy Gladstone, Lauren Marriott, and Megan McKay for taking care of my new and continuing students while I was away on maternity leave all summer. I am so blessed to work with such a supportive team. Y’all are AWESOME!!! |
| Andrea | Sending a big ole Birthday Kudos to Lovelys Powell! Thank you for “being there” and “making my day” whenever I reach out. Your perspective is always appreciated. Wishing you all of the sunshine on your special day! |
| Mav | Kudos to Center for First-Year Advising in Natural Sciences! We’ve been through some changes these past few months, and we’ve become a stronger team because of them. Also, spending the summer in a classroom together was an experiment that went a lot better than I think any of us expected. I can’t wait to see what our new staff will bring to our office! |