We are so excited for the new academic year to begin! However first, allow me to share what has been going on this summer.

First, our staff has worked closely with the university-wide new student orientation program to be a part of welcoming the approximately 4,000 new first year students to GVSU. We provided staffing for 28 out of the 40 scheduled day-long sessions (5 days with more than one staff member). Our college specifically is welcoming approximately 200 new first year students who declared CCPS majors while at orientation.

In addition, our office has provided one-on-one or small group orientations for more than 200 new transfer students coming into our college during the spring/summer and fall semester. These sessions are typically 2-3 hours with each student.

In addition to welcoming these new students by sharing information, reviewing schedules and making follow up contact with every CCPS student, we were also preparing for the upcoming year including our annual student success seminar series and other events we will schedule throughout the year. We will share these updates with you in future editions.

We hope that you will continue to review our newsletter on the second Monday of every month (after this) and share the information with students as appropriate. If you have questions or need more information please do not hesitate to contact us. 

I am grateful to have so many talented faculty and staff that work in our college to provide information and opportunities to our students. Without you, our office could not do what it does. Have a wonderful semester!!

--Jennifer L. McCaul, Director
CCPS Undergraduate Advising Center

After some last minute shuffling of sites, the staff of the CCPS Undergradate Advising Center started off the new academic year with a morning of service back at  Feeding America West Michigan on August 12th. After a tour of the facility and information what the facility does, the CCPS-UAC staff got to work.

The task for the day was sorting dairy products, sorting and washing eggs, and labeling product for an inventory control project. The work we completed in just a few hours would have taken the full time staff there 4 days around their scheduled work. We had a great time learning more about this organization, working to serve our community and coming together as a team while doing it.

• In April, we said goodbye to our longtime office coordinator Rayshena Wilson. She was the welcoming face and calming voice of  the advising center for over 10 years and she will be missed! The good news is that she is just around the corner as she took a position with the School of Criminal Justice. We wish her well as she continues to grow and develop in her new role within the college!
   
• In May, we said goodbye to our 2nd year Graduate Assistant Kate Snider who graduated with her M.Ed. in College Student Affairs Leadership. She is now working at Western Michigan University's Haworth College of Business as a Program Coordinator and Academic Advisor for their Integrated Supply Management Program. Congratulations Kate we are so proud of you!
   
• We welcome with wide open arms our new office coordinator Angie Ryan! She has previously worked in the Admissions & Records office and comes to us with years of GVSU experience. She has quickly taken the reins of office operations and continues to share her talents and skills in new ways each day. Angie is also working on finishing her M.Ed. in Adult & Higher Education.
   
• We are also welcoming our new 1st year Graduate Assistant Theresa Lyon. She started in our office the first week of August and will begin the College Student Affairs masters program this fall. She previously worked at The Onion, was an administrator at a pre-school, and coached competitive cheerleading teams. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Health, Fitness, and Recreation Resources from George Mason University. Welcome aboard Theresa!!

Every year our office reaches out to all new CCPS students and their families to offer a welcome and information about the services that our office provides.

In an effort to be more sustainable, last year we changed our format from paper to an e-newsletter. This allowed for us to be more environmentally conscious (over 1000 sheets of paper saved last year) as well as save money. However, we also were better able to track how many students and families read the document and which links are the most popular. Last year we had about 40% open rate which we were quite pleased with for our first year tracking.

This year's issue was sent on August 13th to almost 600 new CCPS declared majors (First year and Transfer) as well as their parents (if an email address was on file). We are already at a 42% open rate after just the first week! Check out this year's issue for yourself and let us know what you think!  Welcome New Students & Families

Mark your calendars for the CCPS-UAC Student Success Series that we are offering throughout the fall semester! Sessions include information about Time Management, Study Skills, and Test Taking strategies.  Please let students know to RSVP as space is limited! MORE INFORMATION

OrgSync is a social networking site just for GVSU! Now you can connect with hundreds of student organizations and campus departments. See what's going on around campus! Sign-up and create your profile today to begin searching for organizations or departments to get updates from at GVSU! Look for CCPS Undergraduate Advising Center and join us! MORE INFORMATION

The next issue of the National Academic Advising Association Journal (Volume 33 - Issue 2) includes book review submissions by Leah Kicinski, 2nd year Graduate Assistant in the CCPS Undergraduate Advising Center as well as Kate Snider, recent alum of our office. The journal will feature the printed book review citation wth the full review available online now.

Leah Kicinski's review of:

Codes of conduct in academia: New directions for higher education number 160, winter 2012

Kate Snider's review of:

Developing Students' Leadership Capacity: New Directions for Student Services Number 140, Winter 2012