Associated Students of The University of Arizona
Tue, 10/14/2008 - 2:08pm — danistil
Name of proposed new unit, OR Title of submission:
Associated Students of The University of Arizona
Name of contact person for this proposal: Tommy Bruce
Contact person title: ASUA Student Body President
Contact Address:
Contact Phone: 520-621-4615
Responses from President and Provost
Response #1> Back to List of White Papers
If you do not wish to comment publicly on this site, you may post your comments at uatransf@email.arizona.edu
Comments
I too applaud the idea of
I too applaud the idea of making sustainability a priority in these times of budget crunching. I wonder just how much we could save by investing some money in solar panels and other LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified efficiency initiatives. Our Visitor center has a few TEP (Tucson Electric Power) solar panels on it and their power is nearly completely sustainable. We have earth week coming up this semester and I'm sure students would be in favor of raising some money to start using one of Arizona's most abundant energy resources: the sun! I know a fair portion of students' tuition goes directly into paying the school's utility bills and this relatively small investment could help us save millions each year for years to come. I hope our many environmental and sustainability clubs and committees unite to put a white paper up. This seems to be one of the most intuitive and effective means of saving our university money in this time of dire need.
Sam Ellis
Executive Director of Academic Affairs
The African American
The African American Advisory Council would want to insure that Transformations processes including consolidations and workforce reductions would not erode The University of Arizona's efforts to recruit and retain diverse faculty, students, and staff.
The UA President’s Hispanic
The UA President’s Hispanic Advisory Council (HAC) is pleased to provide its evaluation of this White Paper/Proposal, with the specific goal of relating it to the joint UA/HAC goals concerning diversity and inclusion, recruitment, retention and graduation of Hispanic students and faculty, and on meeting the UA goal of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution by 2012. Additional criteria used when reviewing this proposal include the following: UA’s land grant institution status and thus its location in the southwest and the changing demographics of this area; innovative program design, including instruction methodologies; and whether the proposal realistically addresses the UA’s business needs. HAC’s mission it to strengthen relationships between the UA and the diverse communities within the State of Arizona by serving as a communications conduit and developing mutually beneficial partnerships.
HAC has reviewed this proposal and rates this as:
An Excellent Model w/Revamp- this proposal could be used as a model for meeting the Hispanic Advisory Council criteria. We recommend that the proposal be moved forward and expanded. Revamp or further examination of the University College proposal.
I agree with almost all of
I agree with almost all of this white paper. The student perspective is of utmost importance; without student buy-in, the Transformation will not go in the history books as a good move of the university.
I do find some contradictory suggestions, though. For instance, providing more summer courses and evening/weekend courses will increase energy cost.
I am concerned with summer minor programs in that they would exclude a population of students who cannot afford the pricey summer tuition. Summer is a money-maker for the university, but it shouldn't be exclusive in nature. The reduced tuition for evening/weekend courses is a good idea; however, the students will need to be aware of unintended consequences. The folks teaching those courses will likely not be tenured faculty. How will this affect external demand of UA graduates?
I am very impressed with
I am very impressed with almost every aspect of this proposal. The proposal with respect to GenEd hasn't been mentioned yet in these comments. I think it should certainly be considered seriously.
I restrict my comments to the
I restrict my comments to the students' proposals for a greener campus: they are great! Instead of building more new buildings we should place a moratorium on new construction until old buildings are made energy efficient. This would save a huge amount of money. This University should be a centerpiece for the "green campus movement"; instead by wasting resources on over-cooling and overheating our buildings we are setting a bad example of how to live in a sustainable way in an arid environment that is extremely hot. I like the composting and Farmer's Market ideas. What about providing plots of land for Victory Gardens as they did in WWII.
This was a very strong
This was a very strong proposal with several reasonable suggestions. The very first one is the most basic and most appropriate: use of electricity. For years I have had a huge complaint against the University's use of air conditioning. For example, when it's 100* outside, I have to bring a heavy sweater to class. Instead the University should raise classroom temperatures during the warmer months, make use of natural air by opening windows when appropriate, and lowering classroom temperatures when it gets cooler. This plan is environment-friendly and will create a huge savings.
Other strong suggestions in this proposal include more attention to seasonal hiring and auxiliary funding. More on-line classes are also a viable possiblity, especially for smaller classes that students need to graduate but that are not operating to capacity.
I would like to publicly
I would like to publicly state in this format what guides my thinking with regards to academic advising during this Transformation Process. It has been my privilege to be directly involved in the transofrmation of academic advising services for undergraduate students since 2001 beginning with the advising task force. I am completely focused on preserving some of the gains we have made to strengthen and improve academic advising over the last 7 years. These gains have been made possible by partnership with students, faculty, and the professional advising community along with the strong support of central administration. My understanding is that there will be a change in the current organization of the colleges. The only thing that I know for certain, from a personal standpoint, is that this is something for others to decide. My opinion on this challenging topic is irrelevant with respect to what guides me. I have heard nothing to suggest there will be a reduction in the number of students, actually the opposite. If we are to maintain what we have accomplished thus far in terms of an advising ratio, and we are expected to serve students when advising will become much more complex with new programs, college structures, and policies, not to mention the introduction of new technology, then it seems to me that there should NOT be a reduction in the number of academic advisors. One might argue there should in fact be an increase. In my years of experience in academic advising I know that faculty and professional advisors have developed a synergy that should be preserved. Is there room for improvement? Always. Instead of reducing the number of academic advisors we need to address the problem of turnover in staff which will be even more difficult in a time of increased complexity through our transformation to a World Class institution. My compliments with regards to the ASUA paper should NOT be interpreted as agreeing with the statements made about University College or how the institution serves students who have not declared a major, who are in transition, or as Deb points out, are enrolled in another college. My colleagues who work in UC are to be commended for their dedication to serving students. As others have pointed out, I am impressed with ASUA's creative suggestions about new revenue streams, sustainability (anyone with an office in SUMC knows that energy efficiency is an issue), and the strong statements made about preserving academic advising for students.
As I am an employee of
As I am an employee of University College, and therefore have a vested interest in its continuance, my comments could be viewed as self serving. However, the concerns I have with ASUA’s white paper involve the larger issue of advising itself, the recommendations they make, and the logic behind those recommendations.
ASUA recommends that University College become a student support center, while maintaining its current duties. As academic advising is only available through the colleges, the currently enrolled 3920 students would need to find a new college. The 2765 undeclared and non-degree seeking students would need to be moved to other colleges for advising. Given that University College employs 9.75 advisors for those 2765 students, with a 00:1 ratio stipulated by the Academic Advising Task Force, the number of advisors that would need to be hired by the other colleges would remain about the same. So no salary savings would occur. Another college/colleges would also have to take responsibility for the 166 students in the Interdisciplinary Studies major –a new half-time advisor would be required (400:1 ratio for advising of declared students). The 473 students in pre-nursing would need to move to a new college, and the 514 pre-pharmacy students would also have to find a new college. If University College moves to this new “student support center”, costs could actually increase as professional staff members would need to be hired to work with students in major exploration. An alternative would be to hire peer advisors, which I would assume could require at least two staff members for training and supervision.
ASUA’s proposal also states that moving major exploration to a student support unit would give an “increased focus on the needs of the entire student body”. While I’m not exactly sure what that means, or how having staff members not affiliated with a college would automatically cause this to happen, I do know that 15-20% of the students seen by University College are not University College students. And given that we have over 15,000 appointments a year, this is a considerable number of appointments.
The white paper also states that academic advising should be increased across campus and not be cut. However the recommendation of moving University College services to student affairs automatically cuts 9.75 advising positions, as the proposal doesn’t necessarily reallocate these positions to the other colleges absorbing those students.
While I applaud ASUA’s efforts to address issues concerning students with a white paper, I think that getting additional information to support some of those recommendations would have been a good idea.
Deb Kruse
I'm happy to see a proposal
I'm happy to see a proposal that looks at cost-saving through energy efficiency, among other things. This kind of thinking is key to long-term financial stability, and is of benefit to more than just our budget.
I also like the community service proposal, and agree that it would not only reduce course demand, but would increase goodwill between UA and the larger community.
And as a member of the advising community, I'm glad to know that our efforts are so highly valued by those whom we serve--the students.
Good discussion.
I appreciate your efforts to
I appreciate your efforts to include sustainability as an important piece of our transformation. I agree that adopting sustainable practices will be cost effective for us and also offer unique and world class experiences to our campus, faculty, staff, and students.
It is nice to see the student
It is nice to see the student representatives take student needs into consideration and give such sound recommendations. They put all the missions of the University first while taking into account the very important needs of the student population. Great job!
Once again Tommy Bruce has
Once again Tommy Bruce has demonstrated the qualities of his leadership! His team has put forward some creative, even obvious, cost saving strategies that will help our institution become World Class. We are fortunate to have such a fantastic group of students involved in this process. Thank you all for your thoughtful contributions and hard work.
Roxie Catts
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