Dear Academic Affairs colleagues,
Happy last week of the spring semester! Thank you for another great semester at TCU. Academic Affairs faculty and staff represent all that makes TCU great. As faculty, you lean into your mission to educate our students. You listen and share your knowledge and help our students grow and learn. As staff, you recruit, admit, register, advise, mentor and communicate important information to our students, and cheer their successes. Thank you for all that you do.
Before we dismiss our faculty for the summer, here are a few updates on syllabi and advising.
Streamlining the Syllabus
Faculty Senate voted to accept the recommendations of a committee of four faculty and two students, led by Associate Provost of Faculty Affairs Fran Huckaby, to streamline the syllabus by putting standardized information online. Print and digital syllabi can link to the information with hyperlinks or QR codes instead of including it in the syllabus, thus shortening the syllabus significantly. The navigation bar within LMS courses will include a drop-down menu with links to the updated syllabus policy page on the Koehler Center website.
Academic Advising Improvements
Student Services, led by Associate Vice Provost Annorah Moorman, is directing the implementation of a new academic advising program, Stellic. The Academic Advising team is focused on enhancing and standardizing the academic advising process campus-wide among 600-plus full-time and faculty advisors. Stellic will provide additional support for both advisors and students by delivering degree pathways and allowing more time for mentorships and holistic advising. Stellic was piloted this spring and will be implemented campus-wide for the fall semester. Approximately 200 advisors have been trained in Stellic. Additional and refresh trainings will be offered in the fall and continue until all advisors are trained. More information will come. I look forward to seeing the results of this initiative.
Chairs and Directors Academy – Next Week
There is still time for department chairs and program directors to register for the Academy next Tuesday and Wednesday, May 16-17. You will learn from experts in higher education leadership, colleagues in research and finance, and more. To date, 40 faculty have registered to attend. You can register and access the agenda here.
I wish you all a wonderful summer and look forward to seeing everyone on campus in August.
Go Frogs!
Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Texas Christian University