November Meeting Recap

Jeff Stellmach started us off with a presentation on Dealing with Difficult People. I’m not sure why we brought him in since I’m like 97.6% positive that we never have to deal with difficult people… Anywho, we started off by separating behaviors from people. It’s often behaviors that are difficult. We should have empathy and respond with “I statements.” I use these all the time, such as when I say, “I think I’ll have some more French fries” and “Why yes, I think I can totally afford this thing even though it’s the end of the month.”

Some of the wonderful Study Abroad rockstars discussed the Latin America Initiative & Study Abroad options. Did you know that in 16-17, there were approximately 3,700 travelers? The top country where people are sent is…Spain! They have a few new initiatives including Gobal Classrooms, a Leadership Program in Costa Rica, and an expansion to Projects with Underserved Communities.

Kudos!

Jeff Kudos to all the Moody Advisors for crushing it during registration!! It was a long, hectic couple of weeks but you all made it through in amazing shape!
Thank you to the Engineering Student Services advisors for seeing the trillion undergraduates (and some accidental/didn’t know where to go/have no clue graduate students) for the Q drop deadline day. I know it was exhausting and you heard some pretty heavy things. You are ALL very appreciated and I know our students feel the same way. Love you!
Shout out to all of the Engineering Student Services advisors for their tireless work during the Q drop deadline. 720+ students walking into our office is no joke and everyone did an amazing job at making each student feel taken care of. You all are fantastic and make ESS a great place to work.
Desiree Alva Big – shout out – to Theresa Thomas who assisted New Student Services with OA Recruitment!  🙂
Molly Gully Thank you to the Vick Center academic advisors and career counselors for going above and beyond this registration season all while staying positive and having fun. You are THE best!
Kudos to the ACA FUNdraising Committee for another awesome service event at the Webb Early College Prep Academy! I really appreciated the opportunity to destress from registration advising and serve up some delicious meals to the families participating in ENCORE.
Lauren Kudos to Megan McKay for handling walk in registration advising like a BOSS.
Patty Moran Micks To our newest member–Kayla Belk–for rocking registration advising! Go FYE!
Othell Ballage, Jr. I am honored to commend the entire Student Division advising team for their work always! And particularly for the dates October 9 – November 10, 2017, when they helped nearly 1650 students. That team consisted of Elyssa Castillo (the marathoner); Beth Labate (who has now advanced to lead the College of Natural Sciences Center for First-year Advising); Marc Pereira (a rising star); Stephanie Quinn (the prodigal daughter returned to make her mark); Rachel Smith (an advising rock star); and Gabe Lopez (The Rock). I want to thank Summer Cacciotti (the quintessential team player) for a special assist on deadline day, as well as the AMS/HDO/PSY advising team for sparing her. Casey Bushman for commitment to our team being ever willing. And last but not least, I want to thank Liz Johnson, for keeping the order, and leading a fine team of student workers. People like you make the advising life easier to breathe.
Thank you, Eric Carter, for being such a wonderful and supportive colleague!

October Meeting Recap

In October, it was announced that our ACA Website will be the host of all future information, including the Argosy, Meeting Minutes, etc. If you are reading this, congratulations; you’re in the right place!. If you’re still checking the old Argosy page, I apologize for your disappointment by the lack of new content.

Dr. Jennifer Jones Barbour provided a rousing presentation on “How to Translate Leadership for Yourself.” She led us through an activity to come up with a name of someone who was an effective and ethical leader. Here are the results:

Check out the Meeting Notes for a fantastic break-down of the different points made regarding leadership.

Next Taylor Brown spoke with us about the Sports Leadership Fellows Program, which is focused on developing leadership in student athletes.

Jim Henson discussed the LAITS online courses coming up and provided some stats on them as well. Students seems to be enjoying them, with a survey finding that 35% of students find these courses better than traditional large courses and 56% of student being more likely to take another online course in the future.

Alberto Martinez let us know about the Certificate on History and Philosophy of Science, which is taught by faculty within CoLA and CNS. It is also auto-approved.

Kudos!

Anonymous A huge Kudos to all advisors across campus and specifically the Student Success Initiatives team for the huge leaps in 4-year graduation rates. Kudos for the tireless efforts to help make graduation an achievable reality for all students across campus!
Nathan Vickers Kudos to Lauren Marriott for covering the office while we were at NACADA.   You rock for holding down the fort!!!  Also, kudos to all of Team 3 for simply being the best!!  Y’all make each day great!!!
ACA Exec Shout out to the ACA Committees for all of their hard work so far! We loved hearing all of your ideas for the new year and can’t wait to see them take shape! 😀
Jinane and Sarah Special thank you to the ACA POD facilitators this year (Carter, Emily, Katie, Sarah, Eric, Micah, Amanda, Rebecca, Nathan, and Courtney)! We have awesome group of facilitators and are looking forward to seeing your PODs and the POD program having another successful year. Let the friendships begin!
…and congrats to the PACE Advising Team for being recognized as one of the Outstanding Advising Program Award – Winner at the 2017 NACADA Conference this past week! Way to go!
Kudos to Jinane and Sarah for co-charing the POD Program committee this year. PODs are off to a GREAT start thanks to your energy and leadership!
Engineering Student Services HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ONE OF THE BEST ADVISORS EVAHHHH, Mrs. Amanda Golden 🙂

September Meeting Recap

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!