Student Affairs News

October 13, 2006

In This Issue:

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

            Each year we are asked to consider contributing to the State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC).   This is a way to directly help folks in our city and/or county who may have special needs, but may lack the resources to obtain help in any other way.

 

            UTSA has made great strides in recent years:

 

 

Please join me and “Be a Part of a Life-Changing Experience” for our community.  Participation is the key in making this a University-wide effort, not the amount of each individual contribution.  Everyone’s personal situation is unique to them in terms of what they can afford, but we do hope that everyone can make a contribution to this effort, even if it is only a few dollars.

 

 Student Affairs is sponsoring a guest speaker from a United Way supported agency to make a presentation at the Retama on October 25.  I encourage you to come listen to the positive effects that our gifts provide.

 

-- Kevin Price

 

 

 

 

        

        The newsletter now goes out every two weeks.  The new deadline for submitting your newsletter items is Monday at noon.

        Please  send future newsletter items to Vivis Lemmons.  Next deadline is Monday, October 30.

 

 

Celebrate Latino Culture at the Fiesta Latina -- Tonight!

Free and open to the entire UTSA community.

 

Friday, October 13, at 7 pm

 

1604 Campus, University Center Laurel Room

 

STAFF NOTES

Please welcome Jana Kennelly as Student Affairs associate development director.  A native Texan, Jana has spent the last eight years successfully raising money for the National FFA (Future Farmers of American) Foundation.  Jana will be visiting with each Student Affairs department to learn about your needs and priorities for funding.  Her first day on the job is Monday, October 16.  Fundraising authorization forms with the draft solicitation letter and list of those you want to solicit should be sent to Jana in VPSA office.

Newsletter editor and development assistant Cindy Brockwell's last day is today.  She'll work in Boerne with Brockwell Construction.  Please send your future newsletter items to Vivis Lemmons.  Send fundraising forms, requests, or emails to Jana Kennelly.

Barry McKinney has been promoted to Director of Student Activities.  For the past two years, the Office of Student Activities has experienced incredible growth under Barry's leadership as the Associate Director. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You're Invited to a TRIO Celebration 

  

   (Click on the poster for detail)

 

        Join Congressman Henry Bonilla, President Romo and TRIO grads to celebrate the expansion of TRIO programs at UTSA!

       

        WHEN:     Thursday, October 19, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

        WHERE:   University Center Retama Room, Room 2.02.02, 1604 Campus

 

 

 

 

Find Student Activities news and happenings "In the Loop."

 

Student Government Meets Thursdays

The Student Government Association meets every Thursday in the Regent's Room of the John Peace Library. Meetings begin at 5:30p.m. The meetings are open and university administrators are invited to attend. Individuals wishing to address or make a presentation to the Student Government General Assembly should contact Christian Porter, SGA Vice President, at least one week prior to desired time. Christian may be reached at christian.porter@utsa.edu.

 

 

 

Student Activities Events For The Week Beginning October 16th

 

 

 

Monday, October 16, 2006

 

GLBTQ Cultural ReConnection

Text Box: Alpha Chi Care Bear Drive Donate a New or Previously Loved Stuffed Animal! 1604 Campus University Center–Student Activities All Month

 Reception and Networking

1604 Campus

University Center – Pecan Room

2pm – 3:30pm 

 

The Dating Doctor

Reception and Networking

1604 Campus

University Center – Chisholm Activity Center

Text Box: Trick or Treat So Others May Eat Student Organizations Sign up to Dress-Up for a Great Cause 1604 Campus University Center – Student Activities All Week

 7:30pm

 

 

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

 

Get Your Vote In

Voter Registration Drive

Co-Sponsored by Omega Delta Phi

1604 Campus

Sombrilla

11:30am – 2pm

 

Viva la Poesia!

Latino/a Poetry Night with Joaquin Zihuatanejo

1604 Campus

University Center Laurel Room

7pm – 8:30pm

 

Text Box: UTSA Appreciation Day 1604 Campus University Center – Airport Lounge 11am – 3pm Wednesday, October 18th  

 

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

 

Rocky Horror Picture Show

1604 Campus

University Center – Laurel Room

6:30pm - 9pm

 

Thursday, October 19, 2006

 

GLBTQ Film Festival

Downtown Campus

Buena Vista Theater

Rent from 3pm – 5pm

Transamerica from 6pm – 8pm

 

Latif Bolat

Turkish Mystic Music Concert and Reception

Co-Sponsored by COLFA and English, Classics and Philosophy

1604 Campus

University Center – Retama Auditorium

7pm – 9pm

 

Alcohol Awareness Table

Text Box:  “Pumpkin Pick-Up” Participants Pick Up Their Pumpkins for Decorating Contest Downtown Campus Durango Building-Student Activities All Week

 1604 Campus

University Center – Window Lounge

11am – 1pm

 

 Friday, October 20, 2006

GLBTQ Film Festival

1604 Campus

University Center – Laurel Room

Transamerica from 6pm – 8pm

The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green from 8pm – 10pm

 

OCTOBER IS GLBTQ MONTH

 

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ALCOHOL AWARENESS WEEK

 

 

 

 

 STUDENT AFFAIRS MONTHLY DIRECTORS' REPORTS

 

September 2006

 

 

 ATHLETICS - Lynn Hickey

  

OFFICE OF UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS AND TRANSITIONAL SERVICES - George E. Norton

 

Undergraduate Admissions - Jennifer Ehlers

 

Orientation & Transition Services - Lisa Alonzo .

 

FINANCIAL AID, Scholarships & Enrollment Services - Lisa Blazer

 

Financial Aid/Scholarships - Jan Carey-McDonald

 

Enrollment Services - Henry Cantu

 

 

 

REGISTRAR - Joe DeCristoforo

·   SIS staff (Martha LaRoque, Melissa Martinez, Tammy Casas and Douglas Mowery) conducted nine refresher/training classes for Business Objects XI.  Fifty-six department chairs/ASO’s attended the sessions.  Four were held in the HSS computer training lab, three in the UHTC computer training lab and two were held Downtown in the computer training lab. 

·         Several meetings were held with IT and other functional users to discuss data cleansing in Banner.  Several approaches were explored to ensure data is correct for reporting purposes.  One of the first priorities is to ensure that the various program codes are correct and consistent in Banner.  Institutional Research, IT Administrative Computer and SIS staff have developed a plan to verify current data in Banner.  Once it is verified, the next step is to develop trigger tables within Banner to validate the information before it can be saved in Banner.  Other possible areas of validation of Banner data fields will also be evaluated.

REGISTRAR DT - Fred Hample

Downtown Council and the Associate Deans Council met and reviewed enrollment information provided by the registrar’s staff for the Fall Semester to compare college enrollments and discuss the Spring 2007 course offerings.  Registrar’s staff and others continue to work to meet and review procedures in preparation for the launch of the Events Scheduling Webviewer.  Library staff informed the downtown council that major portions of the library collections for criminal justice and architecture have been moved to the downtown campus library.  Vice Provost Zapata encouraged members to actively participate in the strategic planning exercise that is underway and its importance for the future of the downtown campus.

 

OFFICE OF STUDENT LIFE - Kevin Price

 Childhood Development Center - Luretta Filbert

In the month of September we held our Open House (September 13th).  We had a great turnout; parents visited the classrooms where teachers did some creative activities with the children for the parents.  Most of the parents then met in the Gross Motor Room for refreshments and a short slide presentation.  Now we are working hard to be ready for our Harvest Fest (October 13th) where we will be featuring the children’s artwork.  We also started the plans for having canopies installed on our playground.  We still have a vacant Assistant Early Childhood Specialist position.

 Judicial Affairs - Anne Jimenez

 Housing & Residence Life - John White

September brought with it a flurry of activities centered building community among the residents of Chaparral Village. 

 The Resident Assistants held meetings with their residents to discuss policies and procedures and to begin building community.  The RA’s held individual unit meetings with each unit to discuss roommate and unit agreements.

 Facility problems seemed to continue during the first part of the month with many issues relating to water leaks.  We are now experiencing 2nd generation of water leaks (those that were repaired last year and are again resurfacing).  Gary Coates and Facility Services are working to correct these problems and begin corrective actions that will stop the leaks.

 Academic programming is well underway.  Kim Center has worked to begin several new programs this year: 

 Grade analysis for last year has been completed for the residents of Chaparral Village:

 Phase II housing, Laurel Village is getting closer to being started.  Contractors began taking bids for the subcontractors.  We are expected to have a final price by the 1st of October. 

 Most of the month, we focused our attention on the Peer Review Process that will occur in early November.  We were charged with completing a report that outlined each process, history of the department, financials, job descriptions, etc.  We completed this book.

 Marketing efforts for Spring 2007 and Fall 2007 kicked off during the month of September.  Our on-line application is going strong.  We have received 234 applicants already for Spring, Summer and Fall 2007. 

 Special Events - Dr. Patricia Graham

·         December 2006 Commencement

·         Thursday, December 14, 7:00 p.m., College of Liberal and Fine Arts I and College of Public Policy

·         Friday, December 15, 3:00 p.m., Honors College

·         Friday, December 15, 7:00 p.m., College of Liberal and Fine Arts II and College of Sciences

·         Saturday, December 16, 9:00 a.m., College of Business I and College of Engineering

·         Saturday, December 16, 1:00 p.m., College of Architecture and College of Business II

·         Saturday, December 16, 5:00 p.m., College of Education and Human Development

·         Ambassadors in Training

·         Freshmen who are interested in the Ambassadors Program, but are not eligible to apply, were invited to participate in a pilot program entitled, Ambassadors in Training.

·         Through an application and interview process, 8 freshmen were selected and will serve during the Fall 2006 semester. 

 

 

UNIVERSITY CENTER AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES - John Kaulfus

Student Activities – Barry McKinney

We were very excited to welcome Michelle Montanio back to work at the Downtown Student Activities Office after an extended medical leave.  We helped kick-off Texas Tejano Heritage Month by co-sponsoring the Texas Tejano Exhibit and Programs.  Our In the Loop electronic newsletter has been updated with an all-new and improved look.  We set some records this month with the largest number of students ever participating in the Babcock Road Clean-Up (215), the largest number of Best Fest Booths (81), and we increased our numbers for the Student Organization Leadership Summit (152).  We also implemented a Greek Life program for new members called Greek Life 101 with more than 100 participating.

The Campus Activities Board, Honors Alliance, and Student Government groups had record numbers of student participating in their leadership development retreats.  We had a successful kick-off to Latino Heritage Month as well.  We participated in the Diez y Seis de Septiembre Parade Downtown.  Our Panhellenic sorority recruitment had 108 women participate and 69 women accept a bid to join a sorority.  Our IFC fraternity recruitment had 181 men participate and 105 men accept a bid to join.  We also increased the fraternities on campus with Sigma Pi, an international fraternity that colonized with 39 members!  The Greek Community hosted several Hazing Prevention Programs for National Hazing Prevention Week.  These events had more than 100 participants each.  We facilitated the Constitution Day Programming with over 300 students signing the constitution and began our Homecoming Art Contest for the Homecoming Posters.  We began a partnership with Valero’s Volunteer Council. This initiative will connect UTSA students & Valero employees on volunteer projects in the community; specifically, the MS 150.  We are also beginning to work on confirming agencies for Make a Difference Day.  Finally, Barry McKinney was promoted from Associate Director to the Director of Student Activities.

 University Center - Lowa Mwilambwe

The UC is in the process of hiring for the following positions:  Building Supervisor, Building Manager, and Audio-Visual Technician.  These additions will help the UC enhance customer service delivery.  The University Center Events Management Office (UCEM) processed 770 room reservations in September, up from 464 in August.  UCEM staff continues to fine-tune the reservation process to ensure they are efficient.  The University Center Operations continues to address repair and remodel issues throughout the building.  New chairs will be arriving for two meeting rooms along with new audiovisual equipment upgrades in several other rooms.  The Facility Fee Committee is conducting a final review of the fee proposal before submitting it.  The online reservation form is complete.  The R25 Transition Committee is awaiting a few administrative approvals to go live with the form.  The UTSA server team did an outstanding job completing the development of the Resource 25 (R25) training database for the campus.  Once training dates have been finalized with HR, R25 group-training sessions will begin for new users.  

 STUDENT SERVICES - Sam Gonzales

 Career Services - Susan Dollar -

 Campus Recreation - Dr. Suzy Gray

·        Suzy and Bob met with Corinne Vela-Zapata and Leslie Bulkley about the smoothie bar operation in the Rec Center expansion.

·        Campus Rec staff continued work on the FF&E budget for the expansion.  Yolanda Miller and Purchasing staff presented purchasing training to Campus Rec professional staff to prepare for purchases for the expansion.

·         Plans made to go "on the road" with the Admissions staff to Houston, Dallas, Corpus, Laredo and the SA programs.

·         Campus Rec leadership team met to develop a plan to increase implementation of Learning Reconsidered 2 principles into Campus Rec daily operations.

·         Alejandro Escudero-Yerro, Head of Socrates Exchanges at the IPAG Business School in Paris toured the Rec Center as part of his exchange day at UTSA in conjunction with the College of Business.

·         Fitness adding new classes to the group exercise schedule: Salsa (108 participants thru 1 week) & Jazz. (59 participants thru 3 weeks).

·         Intramural Golf Champions will travel to Texas A&M to competed at the NIRSA Regional Golf Tournament. 

·         Outdoor Pursuits took students on Surfing, River Kayaking & Backpacking trips.

·         Intramural Flag Football has 95 teams competing in league play. 

·         9-Hole Disc Golf Course reconfiguration completed. 

·         Mid-November is the revised schedule of completion date for the Intramural Fieldhouse Project.

·         Assisted Admissions and the Learning Communities by providing the Gymnasium for their Welcome Bash - Casino Night,

·         Hosted the 2nd Annual SECC Kick-Off Breakfast.

 

Student Health and Counseling - Dr. Elizabeth M. Stanczak

During the Month of September 2006, Dr. Stanczak led a discussion among the Counseling Services staff regarding Serious Incident Response policies and risk management issues.  She attended a Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Training for Combat Veteran's at Texas State University in an effort to prepare to co-facilitate a Veteran's Support Group with Mr. Jeff Gatlin here at UTSA.  She is co-teaching a Freshman Seminar Course titled "Positive Psychology" as an outreach effort this fall and finding working with freshman outside of counseling "challenging" in a very "positive" way.  She has participated on various committees to hire new personnel, guide Alcohol EDU efforts, develop policies and generally oversee the new construction and renovations of the Health and Counseling service areas.  During the month, it has become apparent that both the Health and Counseling Services are hard working, well organized, highly professional groups of wonderful people.  Thank you team! 

 

Student Health Services - Patsy Berlet

A total of 1694 students (1514 at 1604, 180 downtown) were seen at Student Health Services clinics.  Self care usage by students totaled 380 (132 at 1604 and 248 downtown) and 435 first time visits were recorded at 1604. Nursing staff evaluated/assisted 1263 (1195 at 1604 and 68 downtown) of these and physicians (General Medical/Well Woman, and Orthopedic) provided care for 508 (469 at 1604, 39 downtown) students.  Students referred off campus for medical treatment were 117 (97 at 1604, 20 downtown).  Psychiatrists saw 41 students, had 5 cancellations, 16 reschedule and 9 no show by students for a total of 71 appointments created. Pharmacy Statistics - 133 (1604-110 prescriptions and 23 Downtown) filled.  Lab Statistics - 206 labs tests were done.  No Show Statistics - 40 students failed to show for doctor appointments for both campuses.  Health education outreach included Freshmen Orientations, Alcohol EDU (4422 students logged on and 4000 completed Part I, participation in the Diversity Fairs, Vendor Fair, Rowdy Wing Fling, and Freshmen COR 1230. HIV testing was provided by Hope Action Care.  Health education outreach programs had 277 students attend and Alcohol EDU had 4625 students log on.  Weight loss classes, one on one counseling continue as well as freshman COR 1230 students being oriented to Student Health Services.  Peer education included the Student Health Advisory meetings, Peer Against Impaired Driving and Peer Education Training.  Training attendance included Breast Cancer Awareness with the American Cancer Society, Peer Education Training, health education workshops, Alcohol EDU, and Rowdy Wings.  UTSA was represented at the American  Heart Association Walk on Sept. 30 by Fermina Alarcon and Kathy Ceresoli. Debbie Grushkin gave presentations to both the RA’s and student body at Chaparral village regarding first aid.  All RAs have received a goody bag full of information and contact numbers to assist them in areas of student health.  We welcomed Irene Behrends our new half-time nurse on board.  Venessa Avant is our liaison for the SECC campaign.

Counseling Services - Dr. Thomas Baez 

The summer days of preparation, orientation, and welcoming have surpassed.  Now we are in the phase of action and we are waiting for the cool days of fall.  As we welcome more students to our campus we are faced with not only more students with counseling needs but with more students with higher severity of symptoms.  The best part of it is that we have had to work “hand in hand” with others departments such as UPD, Housing, Judicial Affairs, Health Services and others to accomplish our mission.  Regrettably, we have had to diminish our outreach commitments on campus temporarily.  Nevertheless, we are trying to work more efficiently and still provide the needed counseling services for our students in both DT and 1604.

 Amongst our activities for the Month of September 2006, we would like to highlight the following:

 Special Projects & Collaborative Efforts:

We have continued planning for the TUCC conference which will take place on February 1-2 in DT.  Our committee is planning a pre-conference which will address eating disorders issues on campuses and is being developed by Dr. Mengden, our local expert in this area.  This pre-conference (1/31/06) will be open to other professionals in the community.  The Recovery center project, coordinated by Dr. Woolley has continued to develop.  Most recently, we have been working with faculty, such as Dr. Gerald Juhnke in spreading the word out to the faculty and students in recovery.  Also, we have sponsored an Al-ANON group, and an AA group which will be meeting at our center on Wednesdays at 5:15.  Please refer anyone to the “5:15 meeting”.  The Women’s Resource Center is collaborating with other departments including the Women’s Studies Institute for the planning of the Domestic Violence Awareness month and the Women’s History month activities.  We presented on Advanced Motivational Interviewing skills for JA staff and Residential Coordinators. Also, Ms. Nomi Solomon conducted a presentation on “Dealing with disruptive people” for a Human Resources class.

 Training Updates

Our new post doc resident, Ms. Miranda Chen (University of Oklahoma) arrived and immediately contributed by providing clinical services for our students and supervision of a practicum student.  One practicum student from St. Mary’s (Ms. Rita Olfers) has continued to provide support with testing and doing triage.  Our other practicum student, Ms. Katherine Jones, has left due to personal reasons.  Also, we have added another practicum student, Ms. Arena Arenivas, who is assisting with our testing needs.  These students are being supervised buy our post docs for their clinical work and by Mr. Jeff Gatlin and Dr. Stanczak for their testing work.  Mr. Arnulfo Ojeda, who had been working with us as a contractual employee, has accepted our part-time vacancy and will begin on Monday, October 9, 2006.

Clinical Updates:

Our group advertisement resulted in three groups making it this semester.  These are the anxiety management, the anger management and the thesis/dissertation support group.  We had an increase of 17% in students coming for counseling services and 57% percent of those were new clients.  We had 7 serious incidents reports that we had to manage during September.  Thanks to all departments involved!

Professional Development

Our staff attended a workshop on the treatment of trauma for service veterans returning to college campuses presented at Texas State University.  Some of our staff attended the ALLIES training, presented by Dr. Catherine Woolley and Mr. David Kessler.

Ms. Anne Jett (Human Resources) provided our staff with an excellent presentation on team building using the Keirsey Temperament scales.  The Rape Crisis Center provided an in-service training for our staff and is working with us on coordinating our efforts.  Ms. Melissa Hernandez and I provided training to our staff on Motivational Interviewing and Brief Substance Abuse screening.  Also, Ms. Hernandez has continued to provide leadership and support for FACES and their presentations across campus.

Disability Services - Lorraine Harrison

Three hundred sixty students are receiving services this semester, with four to five new students registering for services each week. DS is coordinating seventy to eighty test accommodations each week.  Nelda has been working with the police department to coordinate a training session for law enforcement professionals on working with people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.  Lorraine and Nestor continue to work with Parking and Transportation on the golf cart shuttle service.  They are also planning a panel discussion as a disability awareness event for Diversity Month in November.  The panelists will be students registered with DS, and the audience will be students in education classes who are planning to teach.  Lorraine and Nestor also presented information about working with people with disabilities for graduate classes taught by Dr. Beth Durodyne and Dr. Mariano Trujillo.  At the downtown campus social work intern Chad Dismukes is planning an event on mental health awareness for Diversity Month and providing outreach to registered students.  Patrick has completed the first of two Dreamweaver classes and is working with the staff of the Early College High School program to coordinate accommodations for students with disabilities in this program.