UKnighted Newsletter
January 2007

New Sophomore Center Focuses on Retaining Students

Changes are happening in Student Development and Enrollment Services. In early fall ‘06, the Student Success Center (SSC) introduced the innovative Sophomore Center, an office created to support and enhance the retention of sophomore and second-year UCF students. The Sophomore Center signifies a change in SSC’s focus. Previously, SSC had offered retention programs only to first-year students, which historically needs such efforts. While these programs will remain an integral part of SSC’s services, the Sophomore Center will provide newfound attention and assistance to sophomore students.

Students who have successfully survived their first year in college may have been struggling silently in their sophomore year. The Sophomore Center evolved out of the increasing research which indicates that sophomores may need as much retention assistance as freshmen.

Additionally, second-year students experience somewhat different sets of problems than freshmen and require programming targeted to satisfy their situations. Nationwide, colleges and universities have begun to realize this and have recently focused increased attention on these students. UCF, in adherence to its mission to be on the leading edge of institutions across the nation, created the Sophomore Center to fulfill the academic needs of its second-year students.

This endeavor began late fall ‘05, when Mark Allen Poisel, associate vice president for Academic Development and Retention, met with representatives from the SDES academic service units, the advising support offices in each College, and Campus Life departments to discuss ways to effectively address the sophomore challenge. Additionally, a work group with representatives from Career Services and Experiential Learning (CSEL), Campus Life/Leadership, and SSC convened to design strategies and programs that would best promote sophomore retention as well as academic, personal and social engagement.

To collect firsthand information, sophomore focus groups were created. Under the leadership of Ron Atwell, SDES Assessment and Planning, more than 40 students volunteered their feedback concerning UCF experiences. This input allowed for direct insight into the concerns and challenges sophomores face, as well as suggestions that might aid in their retention success.

The objectives of the Sophomore Center include:

• Provide services so that at least 40 percent of sophomore undeclared students will declare a major by the end of the spring ‘07 semester.

• Connect with 70 percent of targeted sophomore populations, through outreach programming, newly developed interventions, and academic advising services.

• Develop an efficient and effective transition program that facilitates a “seamless” connection for targeted sophomore students to the appropriate college or department advising support office.

• Identify key campus partners to serve on a collaborative Sophomore Task Force and conduct monthly meetings to discuss programs, services, and strategies for connecting sophomore students to the entire university community.

The Sophomore Center will provide academic advising to the following targeted populations: undeclared sophomore and second-year students; First Time In College students who enter UCF with 45 or more credits earned through accelerated courses (AP, IB, CLEP, and/or dual enrollment); and students seeking to change majors.

During the fall ‘06 semester, the Sophomore Center provided support services to more than 975 students. Almost 25 percent of sophomore and second-year undeclared students were able to choose a major.

The Sophomore Center Web site will be unveiled in the spring ‘07 to increase awareness of the many activities, programs and services offered on campus. It will include links to college advising and other campus support units.

A program to connect sophomore students with the appropriate college advising support office staff will occur early spring semester in preparation for the next multi-term registration cycle. In addition, the center will promote connections to faculty and potential undergraduate research opportunities through the Undergraduate Studies office.

The Sophomore Center is led by Robert Snow, director, with staff member Harry Jernigan, academic advisor, and is currently located in Howard Phillips Hall room 221.

The mission of the Sophomore Center is to retain sophomore and second year students at the University of Central Florida. This will be accomplished by providing academic advising and support services to targeted populations, programs that guide students towards declaration of a major, and services connecting students to campus resources. The office will collaborate with the college advising offices to transition students as they progress into their sophomore year.

Helping Others in the Community

This was the ninth year the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS) collected donations and gifts to bring to the Salvation Army Women and Children’s Living Center.

“This is such a special event as I have gotten close with many of the women as some of them have been staying there for over a year,” said Suzi Katz, director for NCAS. “This was a record year for the number of women and children at the shelter. There were even some women who were left homeless [Hurricane Katrina victims] in New Orleans and relocated to Florida.”

With assistance from the UCF Athletics Association and SDES, they presented at least four gifts to each of the 19 children at the shelter as well as a special package for each of the 39 women there. According to Katz, “the joy that is brought to the women and the appreciation was tremendous.”

In addition to sharing gifts with the shelter, NCAS collected seven boxes of books from the UCF Bookstore that will be used in the Storybook Knights program. Student-athletes, who participate in this program, visit local schools in underserved areas, read the books to students and then donate the books to that school.

UCF Student-Athletes Establish New Academic Record

• 11 of 17 varsity teams ended the semester with a 3.0 term and UCF cumulative GPA. This marks the first time that the average team GPA exceeded the 3.0 barrier in both categories.

• Women’s Golf lead all teams with a 3.3 semester team GPA and Men’s Soccer lead all male teams with a 3.1.

• 272 of 508 (53.5 percent) student-athletes earned a 3.0 or better semester GPA. Football led all teams with 41 students earning a 3.0 or better in the fall term. This is the third consecutive semester that more than 50 percent of student-athletes have earned a 3.0 semester GPA or better.

Rosen Event Raised Money for Foundation

The third annual Casino Knight was recently held at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Rosen Campus Life and an Event Management class hosted the event, which was free to all UCF students.

The Las Vegas style event included food and a poker tournament. Each poker player was asked to donate a $10 entry fee to benefit the HUG Me Foundation, an organization for children and families with HIV/AIDS. A total of $365 was raised.

The tournament winner received a prize pack value of $500, which included a dinner for two at the Capital Grille restaurant, a cooking class at Roy’s Restaurant, a polo shirt and more. Many other prizes were raffled off at the end of the night.

RWC Officials Receive Officiating Honors

UCF Intramural Supervisors Vladimir Voyard-Tadal and Donnie Barnes officiated at the Western Kentucky University Regional Flag Football tournament, and were both selected as all-tournament officials.

Twenty-four officials from all over the country attended this tournament, and the top four were given all-tournament honors and the opportunity to officiate at the national tournament. There will be six officials from UCF at the national tournament this year, breaking the record of five set back in 2003.

Students Win Big Prizes at LINK Auction

On November 28, over 200 first-year students participated in the fourth annual Learning and Interacting with New Knights (LINK) Fall Auction for a chance to win $1,300 in tuition, Hewlett-Packard and Dell computers, X-Box 360 game system and more. A short delay caused by a false fire alarm only heightened the excitement of students bidding against each other using their LINK loot. Students earn LINK loot points by attending academic, cultural, community-building, lifestyle and wellness programs and events throughout the semester. Lauren Sackett, who attended over 75 LINK programs during the fall semester, won the tuition prize with a bid of 30,000 LINK Loot points. When asked what she liked about LINK, Lauren replied, “I liked meeting new people and getting involved in our school… I learned about new resources at UCF [through LINK events].”

The LINK program sponsored more than 240 programs during the fall 2006 semester, with more than 75 percent of freshmen participating in at least two programs.

“LINK would like to send a big thank you to SDES and all participating offices, programs and students,” said Kelli Williamson, coordinator for LINK. “We look forward to the LINK Spring Auction, scheduled for April 18, to be an even greater success.”

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Dream

The Multicultural Student Center will be hosting the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration on Wednesday, January 17. The MLK event is planned in a way to relive the march in Washington that culminated with King’s historic speech, “I Have A Dream.” Anyone who would like to participate in the procession is asked to meet at Memory Mall at 11:15 a.m. The procession will begin at 11:30 a.m. and end at the Reflecting Pond.

There will be a 30-minute program consisting of an excerpt from Kings speech, a speaker, closing remarks and the singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at the Reflecting Pond.

Rec Center Moves to Phase II Expansion

The Recreation and Wellness Center is currently planning the Phase II Indoor Expansion process. This project is funded by student Capital Improvement Trust Fund (CITF). Plans are in progress with the architects to decide what the expansion will include. According to surveys, student priorities are: fitness space, court space, multi-purpose room and Outdoor Adventure center. The center’s new area is estimated to open spring 2009.

Project Facts:
Architect: Cannon Design
Web site: www.cannondesign.com
Contractor: Wellboro
UCF Project Manager: James Davis
Square Footage: Approx. 45,000 sq. ft.
Total Project Cost: $11,800,000
Anticipated Opening: Spring 2009
UCF Web site: www.rec.ucf.edu

SARC Auction Raises Money for Tutor Club

SARC’s Tutor Club, Tutors Advancing Student Knowledge (T.A.S.K.), auctioned one-on-one private tutoring sessions to UCF students in preparation for final exams. Eight tutors auctioned over 12 hours of tutoring in six different subject areas. Bids ranged from $10 to the highest bid of $50. Over $135 was raised for the T.A.S.K.’s future club functions.

“We are very proud of the success of the first-ever T.A.S.K. Tutor Auction and look forward to making this a semester event,” commented Alicia Orta, president for T.A.S.K. and SARC peer tutor. “We are very thankful to all of the SARC tutors who donated their time to this cause to raise money for our developing club.”

SARC biology tutor JJ Leissing, who donated an hour of private tutoring last week, said, “I was thrilled to have been able to assist a student in preparation for their final exam and more importantly, help T.A.S.K to raise funds.”

Commencing to Success

Dennis Dulniak, university registrar, and Joy Blair, assistant university registrar, along with a team from the Registrar’s Office, managed four successful commencement ceremonies December 11 and 12. Over the two days, 2,511 baccalaureate, 460 masters and 86 doctorate degrees were presented to the attending graduates. In addition, Rita Bornstein, president emeritus of Rollins College, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters.

SDES Changes

• Linda Anderson has recently been promoted to office manager of the University Testing Center (UTC). Anderson has been employed as a program assistant within the State University System for over 30 years; 20 years of service have been directly with UTC. She coordinates all national and state standardized paper-and-pencil examinations and provides administrative support to the department.

• Brian Boyd was recently hired as an associate university registrar. Prior to joining the UCF family, he was the registrar at Carroll College, a small private college in Wisconsin. “It’s an opportunity to work with a larger staff, which is so talented and has a deep understanding of the work and the processes,” said Boyd.

Boyd oversees data and systems within the Registrar’s Office, such as graduation, scheduling, transfer credit processes, imaging (the process of converting student documents into electronic form) and verifications. He was involved in the testing phase of the new PeopleSoft 8.9 upgrade.

• The Student Academic Resource Center (SARC) welcomed Kenneth Staack as the new coordinator of Academic Support Services. Staack originally from Omaha, Nebraska, received his bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from Northwest Missouri State University and was a member of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity. He completed his master’s degree in Higher Education Administration at the University of South Carolina where he worked at university housing.

• Paul Viau was hired as an associate university registrar for the Registrar’s Office. Viau has been a member of the UCF community for nine years and previously worked in First Year Advising and Exploration. Viau oversees customer services areas, such as the front desk, the Helpline, the Registrar’s Web page, transcript requests and coordinates revisions to the Undergraduate Catalog.

Although he misses interacting with students, he is excited about working in the Registrar’s Office where he learns something new everyday. “It’s a great professional growth opportunity,” said Viau. “It’s a new challenge.”

SDES Awards and Recognition

• Dennis Dulniak, Registrar’s Office, attended the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions (AACRAO) Leadership meeting in Washington D.C. held December 8-10. He served on the current Nominations and Elections Committee and will be co-chair of volunteers for AACRAO ‘08 in Orlando.

• Ana Mack, Student Academic Resource Center, completed her Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership.

• Greg Mason, Housing and Residence Life, was recently awarded the Distinguished Service Award at the 30th annual Association of Fraternity Advisors (AFA) meeting. Pi Beta Phi donated approximately $250 to the AFA Foundation in his name.

• Katie Shepherd, graduate assistant for the Student Union, was awarded the Norman A. Whitten Memorial Award for Outstanding Student Leadership for Region 6, Association of College Unions-International, the highest honor for a student within the region. She was also elected to be student regional director for Region 6.

Presentations

• Iara Dundas, Supplemental Instruction mentor for the Student Academic Resource Center, presented with Maria de Jesus Gonzalez, Art Department, “Body and Soul, photographs by Mariana Yampolsky” at the VII Congreso de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico held Nov. 8-10.

• Craig Ullom conducted a workshop entitled “Parents as Partners?” for the Florida Housing Officers meeting on November 13 at the 4H Leadership Center in Haines City.

• Kerry Welch, Office of Student Involvement staff (OSI), Chantel Carter (OSI), and Mackenzie Jordan, (former OSI graduate assistant), presented “Structured Diversity Education: Is It Necessary for Developing Cultural Competency?” at the SACSA (Southern Association for College Student Affairs) with NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administration) Region III Conference held in Jacksonville held Nov 4-7.

• Bill Blank, Amy Kleeman and Melanie Parker, Career Services and Experiential Learning, presented “’WIG’ Out, Achieving Your Organization’s Wildly Important Goals,” at the Southeastern Association of Colleges and Employers (SACE) 2006 Conference in Atlanta held December 3-6.

• Mark Allen Poisel, Academic Development and Retention, Ron Atwell, Assessment and Planning, and Paula Krist, Operational Excellence and Assessment Support, presented two sessions: “Planning for Student Success” and “Student Success: It Takes a University” at the 11th annual meeting of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools-Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC) in Kissimmee Florida held December 9-12.

The following SDES staff presented at the Association of College Unions-International (ACUI) Region 6 Conference on November 10-12 held in Orlando:

• Rick Falco, Student Union (SU), “Partnership and College Construction Projects” (keynote speaker) • Jessica Falco and Tyler Sims, SU, “At your service-Satisfaction Guaranteed”
• Katie Shepherd, SU, “Motivating Student Employees: It is more than just a job”
• Kerry Welch, OSI– “Ethics: Why now? Why me?”

The following Recreation and Wellness staff presented at the at the National Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Region II Conference in Florence, Alabama from November 2-4:
• William Ehling, India Asunto, and James Abarquez, “I bet our grass is better than your grass. What’s in your wallet?”
• Sarah DiSabato, Kevin Bates, and
Marlaine Hagopian, “Who’s in your facility? And are they safe?”

Publications

• Lee Parker, Registrar’s Office, has published an article, “Using your GI Bill,” in the Veterans Educational Guide 2006/7, School Guide Publications, New Rochelle, NY. 100,000 copies are requested and distributed to servicemen and women who have accumulated up to $50,000 in tuition benefits through the New G.I. Bill, Army College Fund and Navy College Fund.” More information, visit: www.schoolguides.com/sgarticle.asp?pageid=76.

Welcome to SDES

•Jacqueline Bellucci, program assistant, Registrar’s Office (RO)
•Harry Jernigan, academic advisor– Sophomore Center, Student Success Center (SSC)
•Ross Leshinsky, program assistant, RO
•Evelyn Lora-Santos, assistant director, Career Development Services, Career Services & Experiential Learning (CSEL)
•Jeffrey Manges, coordinator, Career Development Services, CSEL
•Fiona Murphy, program assistant, CSEL
•Suzette Ricketts, counselor/advisor, First Year Advising and Exploration
•Maksim Sako, maintenance specialist, Student Union
•Debra Sembrano, computer specialist, SSC
•Tracy Thomas, assistant director, Career Development Services, CSEL
•Chrislee Todd, senior secretary, Budget and Personnel Support
•Jennifer Williams, coordinator, Career Development Services, CSEL

INTEGRITY
I will practice and defend academic and personal honesty.

SCHOLARSHIP
I will cherish and honor learning as a fundamental purpose of my membership in the UCF community.

COMMUNITY
I will promote an open and supportive campus environment by respecting the rights and contributions of every individual.

CREATIVITY
I will use my talents to enrich the human experience.

EXCELLENCE
I will strive toward the highest standards of performance in any endeavor I undertake.

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