March 31, 2016

In Attendance:

1.  Student Deans Meeting Discussion

Concern about the second assumption from the  Assumptions document was brought up at the Student Deans meeting on March 23.  It reads:

Student must have declared a major before applying for a minor (two types of students cannot pursue a minor 1) degree holder non degree seeker, and 2) students seeking a degree yet currently in an undeclared major code).

The concern was that a student in an undeclared major would perceive this as a disadvantage if their desired minor/certificate was not available to apply for due to a capacity issue. After much discussion the Workgroup agreed to continue with the assumptions for the fall 2016 rollout.   It was also agreed that the Workgroup would reassess the issue after the minors/certificate rollout and have actual data to review.  This is consistent with what the academic deans and the Workgroup initially agreed to in April 2015.

Listed are the reasons why the Workgroup would like to continue moving forward with the existing assumptions:

• The infrastructure has been built with the assumptions in mind from the beginning.  To change course at this point would require many changes and would be difficult to meet the fall 2016 rollout for minors/certificates.
• It was agreed by the Workgroup that students should have to declare a major as soon as possible before choosing a minor/certificate so that they could graduate in 4 years. 
•  A declared major is required to earn a minor.  In addition, an audit must be done to insure that the major and minor/certificate are not in the same field of study (FOS). 
• Just because a student may not be able to apply for a minor/certificate, does not mean they can't register for courses required by those credentials.
• The PTD would most likely be negatively impacted for students that were pursuing a minor without a declared major because more requirements would be added to their undeclared degree plans that they could not meet. 
• Most students in undeclared majors are focusing on core requirements. 
• There's a benefit to have students wait to declare a minor.  They can focus on their majors and determine what or if they'd like to pursue a minor/certificate..

2.  Degree Audit Coder/Training Update

The IDA team has been conducting training sessions two times a week for the IDA coders.  This is to inform them of the new rules/processes and help with creating the new requirements for all the major degree plans.  Existing certificates will be added to the new system beginning in May and new minors/certificates will be added throughout the summer.  Once added into the appropriate systems, colleges will be able to code and test them in IDA.

The Registrar's Office is creating a training manual for advisors and administrators for the new systems and processes.  Training is still planned to begin in July. 

3.  Reporting

We reviewed the beta version (test data only) of the attached report for colleges to review numbers for students that are approved for a minor/certificate vs. pursuing a minor/certificate.  This downloadable report will be available to authorized individuals at any time.  It is important to note that students must apply for a minor/certificate and be approved first.  In order to be considered pursuing a minor/certificate the following must be met:

• The advisor of the student's major must add the approved minor to the major degree plan on the student's IDA profile screen.  This is where the system will check to make sure the major and minor/certificate are in different fields of study and if a student is in a declared undergraduate major.
• The minor/certificate must be attached to a degree plan that matches the student's major(s) on the student record in *NRRECS.
• The effective CCYYS of the minor/certificate will be the current CCYYS if approved by the 12th class day or the next CCYYS if it is approved after the 12th class day.  The minor/certificate effective CCYYS must have be in the current CCYYS to be included as pursuing.  The exception is if the major and minor are in the same college. 

Other reports still needed:

• Automatically expire a student from a minor/certificate if it isn't linked to a major on the IDA profile screen after a year based on the effective CCYYS.  Communication to owning college/department and student will be needed.
• Create a message or SAN for students who have been approved to a minor/certificate to remind them that they must see their major advisor to link it to their major before the are considered pursuing it.  Wording of the message or SAN to be vetted by Workgroup.

4.  Authorizations

Currently, those minors/certificates that are set up to be restricted and need approval from the departments need an authorization record based at the college and field of study level, i.e. C ADV for minors/certificates with a parent FOS of ADV.  To simplify and use the same authorization mechanisms to update the open/close in the minors/certificate system, we will also allow colleges to add authorizations at the college level only.  Those areas that have no restricted minors/certificates can determine the staff they would like to open/close any minor/certificate for the entire college.  See authorization document for specific example.

5. Demos

The new minors/certificate system will allow colleges/depts to open and close minors/certificates to allow colleges flexibility in managing their student numbers.  Closing a minor/certificate will still allow students to see them in the Student Application drop downs when they are applying for minors/certificates.  However, a closed minor will be grayed out and students won't be able to select it from the pull down. The Student Application was demoed to show how the pull downs will work. 

The difference between approved for a minor/certificate and pursuing a minor/certificate was discussed in detail (see reporting section above).  In order to facilitate the difference, the Registrar's Office has added displays to NRRECS, EASI, and the IDA profile system to show approved vs. pursuing. 

Audits will not include a minor/certificate in the results until the effective CCYYS has been met unless the major and minor are in the same college.  This is to make sure the PTDs accurately reflect the students major/minor with the most accurate timing for course work inclusion. 

6.  Administrative Suite

A new administrative suite is being developed to allow the following:

• Registrar's Office to confer minors/certificates.
• Allow colleges to expire/remove students from minors/certificates if needed.
• List all students approved for a particular minor/certificate.
• List all students conferred in a particular minor/certificate.
• List all students pending approval in a particular minor/certificate.

7.  Misc

The Registrar's Office is providing the infrastructure/systems for colleges/departments to link to from their own webpages and/or systems.  The Registrar's Office will provide a page that lists all the new services that a student may need for the new processes.  They include:

• The Minor/Certificate system to allow student to search for minors/certificates.
• The Student Application System to allow students to apply and be approved for minors/certificates.
• IDA 2.0 to allow students to run degree audits.