Admissions, Awards, and Academic Standing Committee
(AAAS)
Minutes of September 9, 1998
Present: Kurt Fosso (Chair), Alicia Gilbert, Dell Smith,
June Jones, Michael Sexton, Barbara Balko, Kevin Holloway, Deborah
Lycan, Glendi Gaddis, Michael Ford, Shannon Benfield-Blankenship, and
Sharon Barnes (secretary)
Chair Kurt Fosso opened the meeting. Introductions were made.
First item of business was to elect a chairperson. Kurt Fosso was
elected chair for fall and Barbara Balko was elected chair for
spring.
Meeting times were set for fall for the second Wednesday of each
month at 3:00. Dates will be October 14, November 11, and December
9.
Subcommittee chairs will be Barbara Balko for petitions and
waivers, Deborah Lycan for honors and awards, and Kurt Fosso for
academic standing for fall and Kevin Holloway for academic standing
for spring.
Items for the AAAS Committee's consideration this year will
include:
- Academic Advising -- Propose substitute form
identifying academic difficulty (including midterm grade) as
opposed to failing midterm form. This form will identify possible
problems creating the academic difficulty such as dropped class,
failing, student doesn't complete assignments, having personal
problems, irregular attendance, etc. Hopefully the form will be
implemented spring 1999. The AAAS committee will give their input,
then it will be given to entire faculty for their knowledge and
awareness. Evaluation of advising will be done.
- Latin Honors -- how will they be administered? Early
grades or possible misannouncements? Placed on Degree? Will Phi
Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi be placed on Degree? Diplomas are
given right after the accounts and cleared and grades posted.
- Attendance issues -- when does a person stop attending
classes? This impacts financial aid, cashier in refunding tuition,
etc.
- Retention of first year vs. second year students. Why
do we lose so many students after their first year? Loss is
because students are not connecting with Lewis & Clark. Why?
Discussion of the academic advising will be involved with this
problem.
- Awards to Students -- Michael Ford brought up the
subject renewable scholarships are a problem when students do not
maintain the minimum GPA that is required. Enforcement of the
minimum GPA has not been done, and students have received four
years of scholarship who have been substantially under the minimum
GPA. June said the committee needs to revisit the decision made
last year to give students an extra year and then cut off the
money. It is not fair to other students and is hard to implement.
She suggested that a petition process be implemented so a student
is not cut off immediately, and that a committee decides based on
the petition whether or not to continue funds.
- 1998 Admissions Year -- What influenced a lower than
anticipated matriculation? -- Communications -- Faculty and
students contacting prospects -- need to improve faculty contact
with admitted students. Attempts will be made to increase faculty
participation in phoning, as well as participation in November 7
open house with an academic fair that will have faculty from each
department represented. Competition -- Michael said that in a
ten-year report, our yield went down while the acceptance rate
went down and admitted students SATs went up. Students from Oregon
went down and we are not overlapping the regional schools. Little
things make a tremendous difference -- calls from faculty and
students to prospects are invaluable. Michael Sexton also told the
committee that more selective Colleges have early decision
students committed to them by mid-December, so there are fewer
applications to Lewis & Clark from those students in January.
The caliber of students admitted has markedly increased over the
last several years. It is hard to predict how many will actually
come L&C. How do you convince Faculty they make a difference?
Alicia pointed out that recognition is an important factor. She
feels good about having a few come from all of her phone calls.
Time is a factor for Faculty.
Michael Sexton referred to the Executive Summary of the Image
Marketing Survey. Career planning seems to be a problem. Deborah
pointed out that many students do not think ahead; that they visit
the career office after graduation.
Michael Sexton explained that is tricky in finding the right
leveraging/balancing of Financial Aid dollars. He explained that the
AAAS Committee sets policy guidelines, and this is one area where the
committee gets involved. Michael said that for instance fifteen Neely
scholarships were awarded in hopes of enrolling ten, with twelve
alternates. It can be an expensive guess if too many are awarded and
all decide to come to Lewis & Clark. Almost one-third of the
admitted pool receives some type of merit scholarship. The
competition is fierce in that many are able to offer better financial
aid packages than L&C. Kevin pointed out that the applicant pool
is so good that we are competing with some of the best-rated
colleges.
Michael Sexton told the committee that the AAAS committee takes a
role in the catalog copy, admissions rater and in selecting the Neely
and Trustee Scholarships to be offered.
June Jones pointed out that it is a dilemma in not knowing how
many students or which ones will actually come to L&C. For
instance will the student with the $1500 grant come vs. the one with
the $15,000 grant? This impacts the College's budget.
Michael Sexton said he is comfortable with the Admissions efforts
in identifying, recruiting and admitting students. Our challenge is
to yield more of that admitted pool. He showed a sample report that
will go to committee members, stating that the final report for this
season will be sent around October 1.
Kevin Holloway pointed out that if emphasis from the top is placed
on the importance of contacting prospective students combined with an
incentive, then faculty are more likely to cooperate. Currently the
merit is placed on teaching and research.
The next AAAS Committee meeting will be Wednesday, October 14 at
3:00 in Benjamin Thaxter 3 (same room).
Meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.
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Created by: barnes@lclark.edu
- Updated 26-OCT-98