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Academic Advising News

Academic Advising News is published as a service of the Academic Advising Portal, an academic advising and information website maintained by Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies.

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Academic Advising News: July 2014

July 1, 2014
Degree Program Allows Students to Tailor a Major to Fit Their Interests

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Turfgrass science. Golf management. Immunology and infectious disease. Medieval studies. Wildlife and fisheries science. Organizational leadership. With more than 160 majors and hundreds more minors on the books, it seems as though everyone can find something right for them at Penn State.

Adviser Resources Cultivate Global Perspectives

To assist academic advisers address global citizenship education and intercultural competence with their students, Think Global recently introduced a preliminary global education library. Called Resources for Academic Advisers at http://dus.psu.edu/global/advising-resources.php, the library offers a growing list of articles focusing on the meaning of global citizenship as it applies to college students, the essential constituents of a global perspective, and the conceptual implications of cosmopolitanism for the work of higher education practitioners. To suggest additional articles, contact Elena Galinova at galinova@psu.edu. 

Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law Receives Approval for Separate Law Schools

UNIVERSITY PARK / CARLISLE, Pa. -- The Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University announced today that the Council of the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar (the ABA) has approved the University’s proposal to operate two independent and fully accredited law schools: Penn State Law at University Park and Dickinson Law in Carlisle, Pa.

Academic Advising News: June 2014

June 2, 2014
New Portal Provides Access to Academic Advising Policies, Tools

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Division of Undergraduate Studies recently introduced the Academic Advising Portal as Penn State’s new online gateway to academic advising information, tools and resources. The portal, at http://advising.psu.edu, replaces Advising @ PSU as the University’s one-stop, searchable source of academic policies and procedures and will help students locate what they need to plan and manage successful educational experiences. The new site also supports academic advisers, faculty and staff members as they advise undergraduates and highlights opportunities for professional development and collaboration.

MOOC-for-Credit Explores Social Science of Wrongful Convictions

Penn State will offer its newest massive open online course (MOOC) "Presumed Innocent? The Social Science of Wrongful Convictions," produced by the College of the Liberal Arts. The MOOC employs the perspective of the social scientist to understand why and how wrongful convictions occur. The course will open to thousands of students for free on the Coursera platform in late June, and will also be offered for Penn State credit at a reduced tuition rate beginning July 2.

MinorQuest: New Online Tool Identifies Minors by Interest Area

To help students identify minors that match their interests, the Division of Undergraduate Studies created an interactive site called MinorQuest, available at http://dus.psu.edu/students/minorquest. The new resource prompts students to select areas of interest from a menu and then locates those Penn State minors that provide opportunities to study all areas selected. Because minors can often include special considerations, such as hidden prerequisites and controlled courses, MinorQuest also provides both a planning checklist and a worksheet to help students determine if and how they can realistically complete a minor of interest. 

Academic Advising News: May 2014

May 7, 2014
Undergraduate Exhibition Shows Students' Range of Scholarly Interests

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Freshman John Swab’s interests have taken him far during his short time at Penn State. His research on the impact of streetcars on the historical growth of Baltimore won the freshman award at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Undergraduate Poster Exhibition, and he was one of the few freshman students to join more than 240 others from across the University to present his findings at the University-wide Undergraduate Exhibition in the HUB-Robeson Center.

Proposals Sought for 2014 Conference on Academic Advising

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Division of Undergraduate Studies is accepting proposals through May 16 for the 13th annual Professional Development Conference on Academic Advising. This year’s conference takes place Wednesday, Oct. 1, at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel and will focus on “Advising Smarter: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Applications for Student Success.” 

Administrative Enrollment Controls 2014-2015

The University's goal is to adjust to shifting student interests and to accommodate all qualified students in the undergraduate majors of their choice. When limitations of space, faculty, or other resources make this goal unattainable, the college dean responsible for the major may request administrative enrollment controls.

Academic Advising News: April 2014

April 1, 2014
Proposals Sought for 2014 Conference on Academic Advising

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Division of Undergraduate Studies is accepting proposals through May 16 for the 13th annual Professional Development Conference on Academic Advising. This year’s conference takes place Wednesday, Oct. 1, at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel and will focus on “Advising Smarter: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Applications for Student Success.”

Office for Summer Session launches new website

The Office for Summer Session at Penn State has launched a new, student centered website.

Radio, Rioux Receive Excellence in Advising Award

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Timothy Radio, Division of Undergraduate Studies programs coordinator at Penn State Mont Alto, and Robert Rioux, Friedrich G. Helfferich Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering, have been selected to receive the 2014 Penn State Excellence in Advising Award.

Hendrick Best Practices for Adult Learners Conference

Penn State’s Commission for Adult Learners invites you to attend the Hendrick Best Practices for Adult Learners Conference. This one-day event showcases the best practices from the Penn State community involved with helping adult learners. Best practices come from classroom and distance learning faculty, administrators, counselors, researchers, and other persons involved with making life more fulfilling for adult students at Penn State.

Academic Advising News: March 2014

March 1, 2014
Task force seeks input on revisions to Penn State's General Education program

A comprehensive review of Penn State’s most popular General Education courses has determined that no consistent method is being used to place the topics being taught into broader cultural, scientific and ethical contexts.

2014 MRC Senior and Faculty/Staff Diversity Recognition Awards

Each year, MRC recognizes graduating seniors (MRC students) who excel in many educational and extra-curricular aspects. In addition, MRC recognizes outstanding Penn State faculty and staff who demonstrate a commitment to diversity efforts beyond the responsibilities of their position.

Does Media Use Influence Choice of Major?

This Academic Advising Noon Seminar session will share results of a National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) - funded study conducted in 2013 to learn whether and how media use is related to a student’s choice of major. More than 2,000 communications and journalism majors at Penn State, Michigan State, and University of South Carolina were surveyed on a range of potential influences on major choice, including personality traits, demographics, career intentions, exposure to television, and social media and technology use. The discussion will also address implications for media influence on other majors. Presenting this session from the College of Communications will be Anne Hoag, associate professor of communications.

Academic Advising News: February 2014

February 1, 2014
New MajorQuest guides students in choosing a major

The Division of Undergraduate Studies released a newly designed version of MajorQuest last week to help Penn State students find majors that relate to their areas of interest. The new site at http://dus.psu.edu/students/majorquest introduces an improved interactive tool that prompts students to select one or more of their interests, such as art and design, cyber information, environment and sustainability, helping people, sports and teaching. MajorQuest then filters Penn State’s more-than-160 majors and lists those that incorporate all the selected interests.

ALEKS: The Impact of Changes in Math Assessment, Improvement, and Placement

Academic Advising Noon Seminar session discussing ALEKS Math Assessment. What have we learned so far from our initial experience with ALEKS and from our students’ efforts to improve their skills by completing learning modules? What else do we need to know to help students select appropriate General Ed quantification courses? Join the discussion and also learn about policy changes for prerequisite enforcement. Leading this session will be James Sellers, associate head for Undergraduate Mathematics; Tanya Furman, associate vice president and associate dean for Undergraduate Education; and Janet Schulenberg, associate director of technology and curriculum for the Division of Undergraduate Studies.

Academic Advising News: January 2014

January 1, 2014
New service will assist with Recommended Academic Plan conversions

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Beginning in January, the Division of Undergraduate Studies (DUS), with approval from the Office of Undergraduate Education, will provide a single Recommended Academic Plan (RAP) template to assist units across Penn State in meeting the University’s AD-69 Web accessibility mandate. The new service will include a content management system plus storage space for all Recommended Academic Plans to be housed on a central server administered by DUS. The new process will allow nontechnical staff within colleges and campuses to easily create and update academic plans by entering data into the template, which will then produce consistently formatted and accessible RAPs. Though DUS will administer the service, units will continue to create, maintain and ensure the accuracy of RAPs specific to their colleges/campuses.

Nominations Sought for 2014 Shirley Hendrick Award

The Shirley Hendrick Award recognizes a University administrator whose visionary accomplishments have contributed significantly to foster outreach and increase Penn State’s efforts to serve the adult learner. The award is open to academic administrators University-wide, including deans, associate deans, assistant deans, and chancellors, whose visionary accomplishments have contributed significantly to the success of the Penn State outreach mission.