Dear Faculty Colleagues,
We hope your semester is off to a great start! The Office of Advising & Co-Curricular Programs has put together some information and resources that we hope will be helpful as you navigate the next few weeks of the semester.
Advising Updates
- Class Dean support – The class deans are your partners in fostering student success! To promote our collaborative efforts, class deans will copy academic advisors in follow-up correspondence to students. Significant action-based notes such as a change in one’s major/minor, reinstatement conditions, or course schedule may be added to DegreeWorks.
- Dean’s excuses – Students are expected to meet your attendance and participation requirements. We may provide students with excused absences for extenuating circumstances such as active conference participation (formerly reserved for NCUR only, it now includes those who are presenters/active researchers at other conferences), bereavement, family emergencies, or religious observances. A reminder — requests for excused absences for fall religious observances are due Friday, September 9th! Students with health-related absences should be referred to Bailey’s Health Center.
- Dean’s Review Form – The dean’s review serves as an early academic alert that allows faculty to document and relay significant concerns related to academic performance prior to midterm grades. Upon receipt of the form, the class dean will meet with the student to determine the stressors impacting their behavior, connect the student to appropriate resources, and formulate a plan to improve in the course. If the student continues to miss class in excess of the formal warning without an excuse, faculty can notify the class dean, prompting the student’s mandatory withdrawal from the course. The deadline for students to withdraw from individual courses this semester is Tuesday, November 15th.
- Meet the Team Lunches – Save the dates! Members of the Office of Advising & Co-Curricular Programs want to hear from you! Come chat it up, ask a question, or discuss a topic of concern. Faculty are invited to join us for lunch on the following dates:
October 20th – Midterm Outreach
December 12th – End-of-semester Support
All meetings are at noon. Space is limited so please RSVP at least a week before the date.
- Scenarios and Advising and Teaching (Coming Soon) – How can we work together to ensure that students are making the most out of their educational experiences? What happens when we make an advising mistake? The Office of Advising & Co-Curricular Programs will coordinate with CITLS to offer opportunities for faculty and staff to discuss promising practices and scenarios within advising and in the classroom. Stay tuned for a request for topics for a virtual, October meeting.
- Health Professions – Are you considering a career in health professions? Our HP Advising team is here to support you! Advising appointments are a great way to get you started on your health professions journey. So don’t hesitate to come by our offices in 218 RISC (Prof. Nancy Waters, watersn@lafayette.edu) and 101 Scott Hall (Ms. Simona Glaus, glauss@lafayette.edu) or email us directly to schedule your advising session with us. Additionally, you can let us know about your interest in health professions by emailing us at healthprofessions@lafayette.edu. We will then add your name on our HP distribution list. This way you will be able to receive the information about our HP programs, workshops, experiential opportunities tailored to health professions students and more. To register for our upcoming Health Professions Information sessions, please visit our website . To access the information about course requirements and considerations for medical, dental, veterinary and optometry school, please read our letter available on the Office of Advising website.
The information about course requirements and considerations for students interested in applying to medical, dental, veterinary or optometry school can be accessed HERE!
Additional Resources
- Academic Resource Hub – The Hub will be partnering with 50+ peer educators to provide academic support programming through Supplemental Instruction, Mentored Study Groups and Individual Peer Tutoring. The SI Leaders, MSG Leaders and Individual Peer Tutors will receive orientation training and be establishing their session schedules over the course of the 1st week of classes. If you know of any student candidates to serve on our dynamic student support team, please direct them to “How to Become a Tutor”.
- Accessibility Services – Students registered with Accessibility Services have been reminded to request their Letter of Accommodation: a document provided by Accessibility Services which outlines the reasonable accommodations that are to be provided to the student. The letter is sent electronically to each instructor and the student is responsible for communicating directly with each faculty member regarding the accommodations and how the accommodations apply to the course. Please contact Marty Sullivan sullivma@lafayette.edu with any questions.
- Multi-language Learner Academic Support – The English for Academic Purposes Center aims to equip English learners with the reading, writing, and oral communication skills and the knowledge of US culture necessary to succeed at college. In September, the first EAP workshop on College Academic Writing and Reading will be held on September 16th and the second workshop on College Academic Reading and Vocabulary will be held on September 21, the registration link can be found on the event webpages. There will be three Conversation PARDner group chat sessions this month, please find the detailed information through the program webpage or this flyer. EAP tutors are adding their one-on-one meeting hours through TutorTrac. Students can work individually with EAP tutors to horn their English language skills, please visit the program’s website to learn more.
The online magazine Global Expressions: Writing Beyond the Mother Tongue is calling for paper submissions. Especially, if you are teaching a writing class, please encourage your multi-language students to submit their second language writings or become a contributor to the magazine.
If you have first-year multi-language students as your advisees, you should have received a copy of students’s EAP placement test report with advising suggestions last month. If you have any questions or would like to discuss more, please feel free to contact.
When advising international students, cultural differences as well as communication barriers can make it challenging for both student and advisor. Please check out a sample advising syllabus developed for Lafayette advisors and some tips summarized for successful communication with international students. You can also find teaching suggestions for working with multilingual students posted on the center’s website.
Please contact Tingting Kang at kangt@lafayette.edu with any questions.
- Student Academic Resources – CITLS, in partnership with several offices, has created a one-stop-spot for academic resources. Students and faculty can find information regarding accessibility services, tutoring, advising/registration, healthy living, and more! Please bookmark this site, and share this information with your students.
- Student-Athlete Academic Support – Athletics offers a range of services to student-athletes who have the dual challenge of performing well in the classroom while maintaining a commitment to Division I athletics. The Peer Mentor program matches first-year student-athletes with experienced athletes for weekly mentoring and guidance. In addition, semester-long academic coaching is provided to support select student-athletes in a variety of areas. The Structured Study program is available to all student-athletes to assist with time management and to take advantage of studying during the academic day. Lastly, student-athletes who don’t personally own a laptop may rent equipment at no cost when traveling to competitions. Please contact Carly Riepenhoff with any questions or concerns regarding student-athletes.
Thanks,
Office of Advising & Co-Curricular Programs