NEW STAFF
STAFF LEAVING
STAFF MOVING Birthdays
Nancy Skochdopole - March 8
Deveron Ellison
Summer Kokic - 8 years
Hilary McIlvain - 4 years
Gordon Brannon - 4 years
Fernando Del Rio - 3 years
Paley Wu - 3 years
Joann Martinez - 2 years
Chante Chapman - 2 years
Randy Trevino - 1 year
Enrollment Services Highlights
Graduation Fair
- for May Commencement was a big success. Director of Academic Ceremonies,
Gretchen Voight said, "It was non-stop both days. Many more students than
last year." The fair held in the SMU Bookstore is designed to provide one
location for the graduate to order regalia, graduation announcements, have
graduation photograph taken, and handle all the details to make graduation
special. Voight estimates at least 700 students came through the fair.
Financial Aid Staff - learns
about new federal loan process. Thirteen members of the Financial Aid
staff attended a workshop on Direct Lending. The federal government passed
legislation that subsidized and unsubsidized loans will be handle by colleges
and universities through a process of direct lending. The Dallas workshop
was provided for financial aid staff of colleges throughout the north Texas area
to train staff for this change. More information is "under construction"
on the SMU Financial Aid website but should be available soon. Direct
lending will begin with the new financial aid year.
Records and Registration Meetings
- what goes around, comes around. The Registrar's office has invited staff
in the schools who work with academic records and registration to meet each fall
and spring term to share information. This year the Registrar's staff
brought back a former format to make the meetings more interactive.
Newsletters are produced for both the undergraduate and graduate meetings so
that the amount of time "reporting" has been greatly reduced. This allows
the meeting to focus on feedback, comments, and new ideas in an open discussion.
Both the schools and the Registrar's staff have enjoyed and found this new/old
format to be a successful change.
Bursar's staff work on new ideas
- The University Bursar, Pat Woods, brings her staff together each year to
reflect on the past year and look forward to the next year. At the end of
2009, four groups of staff formed to bring to reality ideas from the end of the
year meeting. Groups are working on ideas to improve collection of past
due balances for the current term, streamlining the process for authorizing other
payers for student accounts, enhancing communication with students and families,
and increasing the use of the Bursar website as a important tool for students
and families. Targets for all initiatives are summer 2010.
Honors Convocation - showcases
the academic talent of our undergraduate students. As the number of
academically gifted students increase each year in the first year class, more
students are tapped for academic honors. The Honors Convocation has grown to the point that it is difficult to
personally acknowledge all honor students.
Honors Convocation for 2010 is April 19 at 5:30pm in McFarlin Auditorium. It
is open to the public -- so come cheer our wonderful students as they are
recognized for their achievements.
Honor Roll -
http://smu.edu/registrar/honor_roll/
Mustang Express - Transfer
Admission has created guidelines within which a transfer student can receive an
admission decision immediately upon presenting all required documents. If
a transfer student meets specific grade point and course requirements, an
Admission representative can offer admittance to the student on the spot (so to
speak.) The
admission decision is contingent upon the student retaining the academic profile
represented in their admission packet. Transfer students also must provide
a final transcript for work done for the spring term.
Water Damages Records - Perkins Administration Building was the home of the University
Registrar from the time it opened in 1928 until Enrollment Services moved to the
Laura Lee Blanton Student Services Building in 2003. Throughout most of those
years, academic records were made of paper and required storage to keep the
records safe, dry and secure. Before leaving Perkins, all of the records stored
in the records vault were imaged. The vault in Perkins remained the storage place
for the original documents.
Over the weekend of February 14th, a
pipe in the vault began to leak. By the time it was discovered several
inches of water filled the floor of the vault. Most records were damp if
not soaked. The quick action of the Blanton staff, Risk Management and Registrar's staff to call
in document recovery specialist has mitigated the damage to these precious
relics of our history. John Hall, University Registrar reports, "Harley
[at Restorx] told us that they were extracting about 20 gallons of water a day
from the record. [However,] the records look amazingly good -- and I think
Restorx will recover 99.99% of our records for us."
John goes on to say, "We were
impressed with the professionalism and work of Restorx. Also we sincerely
appreciate the attention to this recovery project by SMU's Anita Ingram, Robert
Taylor, and Eric English.
SMU Holiday Schedule for
2010-2011
Independence Day Holiday - Monday,
July 5th
Labor Day - September 6th
Thanksgiving Holiday - November 25
and 26th
Christmas/Winter Break - December
24-31st
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - January
17
Good Friday - April 22nd
Memorial Day - May 30th
Anniversaries
VIPs -
Very Important Ponies
Some of our VIPs this month are:
Pavielle Chriss - Just wanted to lift up Pavielle for her excellent interview in the Daily Campus. Kudos to her and to all of you for your own valuable work as well as your support of our diversity efforts. Ron Moss
John Hall, Gretchen Voight, and Cate Hamilton - I wanted to extend my appreciation to all of you for hosting the NT TACRAO workshop at your beautiful campus. It was a very informative and entertaining day. I came away with some new and exciting ideas. I especially like how you have made your FERPA information and release forms available online. I am hopeful that in the near future we will have that available for online access as well. Dee Ann Brown, North Central Texas College, Bowie
Damon Wilkins, Stanley Stubblefield, and Shahnaz Khaja - Many thanks for all the help with the TCCURAO Support Staff Workshop last week. The workshops were a hit, and the attendees left with a great impression of SMU and Enrollment Services. John Hall
Charles Harper and Anna Gomez - even after I interrupted your meeting, you immediately researched the question of a parent and got back to him within an hour. I appreciate your unconditional customer service and I know our families do as well.
Kimberly Scott - Just want to send out a good word for Kimberly. I was very busy at the front counter today and Kimberly stepped up to assist when I needed it. I really appreciate your assistance today, Kimberly, Thank you.
Paley Wu - I'm glad to report that with Paley's help, SMU's Cost Page now meets the new legislation requirements (including the Net Price Calculator which will be added as soon as it is available).
Consuela Mitchell -
and everyone in Financial Aid, a big THANK YOU for the work on compliance with
the new state regulation regarding financial information. Your quick
response and hard work is appreciated. I know this is just the beginning
-- but keep up the great work. Commitment to Diversity The recruitment and retention of a diverse student body is
and has been an important goal of SMU for many years. Undergraduate
Admission sets goals each year to increase the number of students of color in
the first year classes. Over the past ten years, the diversity of the
first year class as gone from a low of 15.7% of the entering class to 24.1% of
the 2009 first year class. Even though this increase is significant,
it is not enough. On February 22, 2010, the Division of Student Affair and
Undergraduate Admission collaborated to host approximately 200 local high school
students from Dallas and Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD for a Multicultural
Recruitment Conference. Workshops were offered on the admission and
financial aid processes as well as motivational addresses from Dr. Lori White,
Vice President for Student Affairs, Tony Tillman, Assistant Provost, Pat
Feldman, A-LEC, and students and staff from Student Activities and Multicultural
Student Affairs. Executive Director Jennifer Jones and Senior Admission
Counselor and Coordinator of Diversity Initiatives, Pavielle Chriss both insured the success of
the event. Undergraduate Admission and the Division of Enrollment
Services will be hosting a National Hispanic College Fair in Moody Coliseum on
April 16. SMU was selected by this National organization as one of the
sites for their nation-wide college fair program. High School students
from the Dallas Independent School District will meet representatives of over 50
colleges and universities to learn the opportunities available to them in higher
education. Undergraduate Admission expects over 2000 DISD students to
participate. As with all student recruitment, the involvement of the SMU
community, whether small or large, contributes greatly to our achievement of all
our goals to attract the best and brightest students. NTCCURAO
SMU Enrollment Services welcomed Registrar and Admission Officers to a support staff workshop hosted by the Texas Association of University Registrar's and Admission Officers (TACRAO) north Texas region. The name notwithstanding, approximately 125 staff from colleges and universities in the north Texas region participated in a day long program geared at issues confronting all enrollment services personnel.
To insure that all who wished to attend could participate, the daylong workshop was presented twice, on consecutive days in March. The morning programs included an interactive presentation by SMU Parent and Family Program Director, Deanie Kepler and SMU Enrollment Services Director, Kathy Rowe on "Navigating the Dangers of the Front Line." This session provided the participants with an opportunity to analyze various customer services scenarios to share approaches to good customer service practices. Next John Spencer, Registrar form TCC, South and Bill Roessler, Director of Records and Reports at TCC District talked about College Connections and gave an update on the new VA programs. Lunch included a presentation by Deanie Kepler on the impact of Generation in the workplace. Dr. Kepler has done extensive research on Generation to assist colleges in understanding the changes in students and parents as well as offer insight into working in multi-generational offices.
The afternoon provided a rapid fire set of presentations called "Just the Facts" in which staff offer a 15 minute overview of ideas or innovations. Topics included FERPA, Special Academic Regalia, Why Transfer students are Important, Reverse Transfers, and Professional Communications. The day concluded with a presentation by Mr. Tony Tillman, SMU Assistant Provost on "Student Retention -- It's Everyone's Business."
Important Dates
Quotation of the Month
SMU Trivia
Question
Answer HELP! As was reported in the February Newsletter (and in this one),
the success of our recruitment efforts involve everyone at SMU.
The period from now to May 1 is critical to achieving the targets set by the
University President of a first year class of 1400 academically gifted and
diverse students. An increasing large number of high school students
and their families will be on campus beginning college search or confirming their selection of a
college or university. It continues to be true that the SMU campus itself
is an enormous selling factor, but increasingly student make their choices by
how they "feel" when they are on campus.
Do they feel welcome, comfortable, valued, and wanted.
This is where we need your help. Last year we asked you to wear your SMU
nametag whenever you are on campus from after spring break until May 1. We
ask that again. This will
identify you as a member of the SMU community. Greet our guests (students
will have a red bag containing recruitment information). Provide
assistance if the family seems lost. And consider participating in our
many opportunities to talk with prospective students and their families.
This year we are adding "Show Your SMU Colors" in a great partnership with
Auxiliary Services. More details are forth coming but the basic idea is to
wear red and blue as part of your regular business attire -- a red and blue tie
or scarf, a red or navy shirt, blouse, jacket or sweater. We want our visitors to
know we our proud to be a part of SMU and we "show it in wearing our colors."
Look for e-mails with more details and the various ways you as faculty or staff
can assist in bringing in the class. Key days are:
Thank you in advance for your participation.
Summer has arrived? Summer came to SMU on March 2 with the kick off for Summer
School 2010. Although, SMU-in-Taos and SMU Abroad enrollment began much
earlier both participated in the kick off event. Over 500 students received information on the 3 summer school
programs - SMU-in-Taos, SMU Abroad, and SMU-in-Dallas. They also were
treated to free hot dogs, water, and other give aways to attract them to the
representatives of the three programs. Suellen Turner and Dr. Michael
Adler, Program Director talked with students about the various programs at SMU-in-Taos.
Although the Mary Term enrollment was closing on March 2, space was available in
the June and August sessions as well as the new Fall term in Taos. Susan Kress, Director of Education Abroad talked with students about the opportunities to
Study Abroad. Three summer programs had available spaces remaining on
March 2. However, students
often begin planning the term abroad well in advance of their enrollment in a
specific program and had many question for Susan. SMU Abroad provides daily information session at 4pm
Monday through Thursday in the Blanton building throughout the year. SMU-in-Dallas will begin enrollment during the regular
enrollment period for fall 2010. The schedule of classes is available
online at www.smu.edu/summer in the
dropdown menu for "Course Information." The summer school office is
planning great programming for students on the Dallas campus in order to build
community and offer convenient entertainment.
Mark your calendar
April 7, 2010
April 2 - Good
Friday Holiday
April 5 - first day to enroll for summer and fall
April 8 - last day to drop a course
April 26 - last day to withdraw
May 4 - last day of instruction
May 5-11 - Final Examinations
May 14 - Baccalaureate
May 15 - Commencement
Fortunately for children,
the uncertainties of the present always give way to the enchanted possibilities
of the future.
Gelsey Kirkland
Four!
SMU used Star Engraving from its
founding through the late 1970s. After Star Engraving was purchased
and the new owners discontinued this product line, Jostens was selected.
Jostens did not last but a few years and was replaced by Herff Jones who
provided excellent serve for many years. In 2009, SMU moved to the Michael Sutter company. Michael Sutter will
provide equal or a better products with additional services at a lesser
cost.
Scholar Day - March 19
Springfest - March 20th
Mustang Days - March 25-26
and April 9-10
