General Committee Meeting Minutes

Council of Academic Advisors
General Committee Meeting Minutes
THH 102
September 16, 2011

Meeting Convened: 9:00 a.m.

9:05 a.m.
Welcome and Introduction from this year’s Chair: Jeanne Herman
Introduction of 2011-2012 Committee Members

9:10 a.m.
USC Dean of Academic Records and Registrar,
Chief Technology Officer for Enrollment Services
Dean Douglas Shook

- Dean Shook spoke about his past roles in the Marshall School of Business, his continuing role as Professor at the school, and his new role as Dean of Academic Records and Registrar. He discussed the incoming class numbers and the 10 year trend of decreasing numbers of students on probation and/or dismissed (55% less) and thanked Advisors for their assistance with this. He announced a small increase in probation numbers since then, with a possible correlation with the rising number of international students. He also discussed his goals of eliminating paper and smoothing out processes in the Registrar’s office. He invited anyone to contact him either via email: shook@usc.edu or at his new office in Hubbard Hall.

9:20 a.m.
Introduction of new Advisors or Position changes

USC Office of International Services (OIS)
Becky Peterson/ International Student Advisor
Xin Jiang-USC China Institute
Cultural Differences to consider while working with (Chinese) international students

- Becky and Xin passed out handouts for the upcoming “Living in the United States Workshop” series for Fall 2011 available online: http://sait.usc.edu/ois/workshops-events/calendar.aspx. They discussed USC’s Undergraduate International Student demographics (18% from China, 17% from South Korea, 9% Hong Kong) noting that there is a focus on professional programs/majors. They also discussed the differences in Chinese Higher Education classrooms and roles of advisors, listed some potential barriers for international students and finally outlined some effective bridging techniques for advisors. Tips follow: have a group meeting at the beginning of the semester to explain your role as an advisor, speak slow or be sure to have handouts with written details, ask them how to pronounce their name as well as the meaning of their name. Note that they are on a fast track to graduate quick and may be selecting their majors based on family pressures, so be sure to highlight all options and be specific.

9:45 a.m.
USC Office of Admissions
Becky Chassin
Senior Associate Director
Class of 2015
Recruitment, Admissions, Advisement and Orientation

- Becky shared a draft snap shot of the incoming freshmen class (noting that roughly 15% were International – with a growing USC Admissions presence in Asia in the future). She announced that USC is moving towards a Common Application that nearly 500 universities utilize, at this time 25,000 students who have marked USC as an interest for the 2012 class. She discussed the Admission’s upcoming application calendar. Freshmen applications will be due January 10th, with students requesting a Merit Scholarship and departments that need auditions or early decisions holding a December 1st deadline. Decisions would be made from end of January until late March – with a May 1st commitment date for students. Transfer students must applyby February 1st and final decisions would be made by the end of July. Becky outlined a little bit more of what the Admissions office is looking for in our students including how 1st and 2nd major choices are decided.

10:05 a.m.
USC Rossier School of Education
Job Springer
Assistant Director of Recruiting and Admissions

– Job announced special post-Bachelors programs for students interested in working in K-12 or University positions after graduation, including Teaching, Counseling, and Student Affairs. More information available at: http://rossier.usc.edu

USC Career Center
Jennifer O’Connor
Associate Director for Alumni and Student Services
Overview of services: how they interact with career centers in professional schools
How advisors make referrals to the Career Center

– Jennifer passed out handouts for services and upcoming events and spoke about the importance of the career search as a four-year process, which begins with Self-assessment and investigation before making decisions and developing resumes, networking, and interviewing skills. She announced that services are available to all students and this includes Graduate students and Alumni. She stressed that students should be utilizing their services to discover interests, strengths and weaknesses. Jennifer notes that most of their traffic is seniors who are approaching graduation and shared that much of their time is spent helping students discover the skills they are obtaining from their experiences and how to describe them in the cover letters, resumes, and interviews. She closed with a review of some of her handouts (all available online at: http://careers.usc.edu/) and reminded advisors that the Career Fair is coming up on September 22nd and to recommend Freshmen and Sophomores to use that as an opportunity to prepare for the future.

10:25 a.m.
Announcements and Raffle
Next general meeting; Friday, November 4 THH 102
Holiday Social: tentatively planned for 12/9

10:30 a.m.
Meeting adjourned

Submitted by:
Russell Sommer