Minors Minutes: Monday, January 25th

In Attendance:

1.  Reviewed upcoming timelines. 

    Group discussed timelines and what was left on the project.  This included:

• The migration of the code changes that happened on Monday, January 25 after 5pm.
• The upcoming rollover of the 2014-2016 catalog to the 2016-18 catalog planned for February 1, 2016 after 5 PM.  This will allow the college IDA coders to begin coding their majors.  Everyone was reminded that each major would need to be reviewed since all minor scoped requirements would change to electives and a new minor/certificate trigger requirement would be included in each major degree plan.
• Existing certificates will be added in the new minor/certificate system by May 2016.   The group was reminded that the current Certificate Awarding System would still be valid for an certificate that needs to be awarded prior to the 2016-2018 catalog for a student AND that graduate certificates will remain in the Certificate Awarding System. 
• Discussed the new Administrative Interface that will need to be developed this summer/fall to replace the Certificate Awarding System for those minors/certificates that are in the 2016-2018 catalog and beyond.
• Reminder that this systems is still scheduled to be replace by the new SIS replacement in 2019.

    No one expressed concerns about the proposed timelines and the steps to get there.

2.  Reviewed minor/certificate request form

• It was agreed that the maximum number of students in the minor/certificate system should be changed to allow colleges to turn minors/certificates on and off.   This allows the colleges more control and flexibility to manage their minors/certificates.  The ability to do this will most likely fall to those authorized to approve students for a minor/certificate.  
• A reminder was discussed that colleges would be responsible for enforcing any rules associated with their majors.  For instance, if Communications didn't want a P R major to have an ADV minor, how would this be enforced?  An advisor at for the major would need to make sure that if a student was in RTF with an ADV minor, but then moved to P R, it would be up to the college advisor to remove the ADV minor from the P R major.
• Turning off the minor/certificate would make it viewable, but not selectable (greyed out in the selection menu) in the Student Application (eDocs) system.  A request was made to have a legend on the page that indicated what a greyed out minor/certificate means.

3.  Reporting

• Reports are being worked on and will be vetted by the group at a later date. 
• Two specific reports will be important to give the colleges enough information to help them manage their minors/certificates.  One will include all students who applied to their minors/certificates and another will include those that are actually pursing the minors/certificates as indicated by linking the minor/certificate to the major on the student profile record. 
• Standalone certificates don't have to be linked to a major, but should always be run with the student's major so the requirements are accurately assessed. 
• The goal is to allow reports to be user submitted when needed.

4.  Student profiles

• It was agreed that we would have to flexibility to add up to five minors/certificates for each major on each profile (both official and tentative).  This will minimize the amount of work that will need to be done upon certification, graduation, and conferral for the colleges and Office of the Registrar.  This only impacts data entry for the profile screen.  All other processes will remain the same. This includes:
• Even though there may be 5 minors/certificates per profile, the audits generated from this will still be one major and one minor/certificate.  If you have 5 minors/certificates, you will generate 5 different audits.
• Slotting audits will still default to the highest PTD.
• It is the responsibility of the colleges to limit the number of minors/certificates advisors can add for their students.  The ability to programmatically provide this won't be available in phase 1. 

5.  Student FAQs

• A student FAQ was handed out.   Colleges may want to use this as a template for their students.  Shan will send an electronic copy to them to review.

6.  Training

• Colleges should determine who their trainer will be.  Training will begin in the summer (July?) with this group.
• The Office of the Registrar is creating a training manual for advisors and administrators.  This will be sent to the group to be reviewed before training begins. 
• The Office of the Registrar agreed to help with any training or documentation that is needed. 

7.  Communication

• It was requested that the colleges share their communication plans for advisors and students to the workgroup.  This may allow us to minimze effort across areas and reuse what has already been done. 

The workgroup was asked if they had any concerns or red flags at this time.  None were brought up and all seemed ready to move forward.