Updates in Academic Affairs: October 27, 2014

the president shaking hands with someoneWMU, Cooley affiliation offers collaborative education opportunities

The affiliation between Western Michigan University and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School became official in August, and the accord is beneficial for both institutions.

This affiliation agreement between the schools was approved by the Higher Learning Commission and the American Bar Association. Since this arrangement represents an affiliation and not a merger, the governance structure of each school remains autonomous.

With some initiatives already in process, the affiliation provides numerous opportunities for both institutions. WMU Cooley offers courses at four locations in Michigan—Lansing, Grand Rapids, Auburn Hills and Ann Arbor. WMU Cooley courses also are offered in Tampa Bay, Florida.

In fall 2015, WMU Cooley will expand course offerings to include contracts, torts and introduction to law classes at the WMU main campus in Kalamazoo.

Additionally, an accelerated degree program offered between WMU and WMU Cooley is in the process of curricular approval. This accelerated program allows students to obtain both a bachelor’s degree from WMU and a law degree from WMU Cooley in a reduced time period, as some WMU Cooley courses also will satisfy a new Legal Studies minor within the College of Arts and Sciences. Faculty members of both institutions are engaged in discussions about additional collaborative education opportunities.

For information on the affiliation between Western Michigan University and WMU Cooley, contact Mark Hurwitz, professor of political science and special assistant to the provost for the affiliation, at (269) 387-5372 or mark.hurwitz@wmich.edu. Information also is available on the WMU Thomas M. Cooley Law School website.

graduate shaking hands with the presidentPhase II of Degree Works offers more support for student progress to degree

Degree Works is a comprehensive, web-based academic advising and degree audit tool designed to help students and advisors navigate WMU curricular requirements.

Degree Works was initially implemented in June 2013 in an effort to improve completion rates and reduce time to degree completion by providing students with an easy-to-read worksheet identifying courses and requirements needed for graduation.

By using the Degree Works system, students are more likely to stay on track for graduation by completing the courses needed to complete degree programs.

The Registrar’s Office is exploring ways the Degree Works system can be used to help us operate more efficiently to improve services to students. Phase II of the Degree Works implementation project will focus on the system’s “Plans” feature.

By using this feature, advisors can create an individualized semester-by-semester academic plan for each student. This feature reveals outstanding degree requirements in a student’s program audit, indicating which courses are needed to fulfill graduation requirements.

In addition, it helps ensure that students are taking courses in the appropriate sequence and provides them with a realistic picture of how many credits they will need each semester to reach their graduation goals.

This feature also will provide valuable data on student demand for courses and therefore help departments more accurately predict how many sections and seats they will need to offer.

As a retention tool, the “Plans” feature will help advisors identify and reach out to students who are off-track or not following their assigned plan.

The Registrar’s Office will begin incorporating Degree Works into the graduation auditing process to reduce the time it takes for students to receive the results of their audit. Degree Works information will be used to verify that students have satisfied all degree requirements and are eligible to receive their WMU degrees.

Find more information about Degree Works on the Registrar’s Office website at wmich.edu/registrar/faculty-staff/degree-works.

a set of hands handing another pair of hands a stack of papersCall for papers

The Michigan Academy of Science, Arts & Letters announced a call for papers for its 2015 conference. The conference will be held on Friday, March 13, at Andrews University.

Organizers of the 121st MASAL conference welcome paper abstracts of research from faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students from Michigan’s post-secondary institutions. Conference organizers also welcome papers from research organizations, governmental agencies, public libraries and K-12 faculty members and administrators.

The deadline for submitting abstracts is Wednesday, Dec. 3. Abstracts presented at the conference will be published in the MASAL journal, Michigan Academician.

More than 30 disciplines in the sciences, humanities and social sciences are holding programs at the conference.

Find more information about conference and abstract submission.

Inquiries may be routed to Dr. Gregory Veeck in the WMU Department of Geography at (269) 387-3420 or gregory.veeck@wmich.edu.

Academic affairs non-bargaining staff invited to Oct. 31 meetings

The Office of the Provost will host meetings for all non-bargaining unit staff members in academic affairs on Friday, Oct. 31, in the Fetzer Center’s Kirsch Auditorium.

Two meeting times will be available—the first is from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m. and the second is from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. Supervisors are encouraged to accommodate staff participation in these meetings. Media Services will live stream both presentations for those staff members who are not able to travel to the main campus in Kalamazoo.

The purpose of these meetings is to provide updates in academic affairs and to answer any questions staff may have in person. Beverages and bakery items will be available before each session to thank our administrative staff members for their many contributions to keeping our departments running smoothly, and for supporting our students.

Those who wish to submit questions or comments for Provost Timothy Greene prior to the meeting may send them to this email address: office-of-the-provost@wmich.edu.