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College of Community & Public Service Undergraduate Advising Center Update

Volume 3 Issue 1

August 2012

Greetings from the Director

Jennifer McCaul photo

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 4,000 new first year students to GVSU. We provided staffing for 33 out of the 40 scheduled day-long sessions. Our college specifically is welcoming 215 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 225 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 new student, we were also preparing for the upcoming year including ramping up our social media presence to share information about jobs/internships, scholarships, and events; preparing 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 at the beginning of every month 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 FANTASTIC semester!!

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

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Starting the year with service

Feeding America Logo

The staff of the CCPS Advising Center started off the new academic year with a morning of service at Feeding America West Michigan on August 13th. After a tour of the facility and information about how the facility works, the CCPS-UAC staff got to work. The task for the day was sorting several pallets full of frozen meat into 20 pound boxes with a variety of proteins. The shift was finished after repackaging 2,600 pounds of meat for distribution to food pantries. We had a great time learning more about this organization, working to serve our community and coming together as a team while doing it. Want to get involved with this organization? MORE INFORMATION

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Welcoming First Year Students & Families

welcome mat

Every year our office sends out a welcome letter and information to all of our new first year students and their families to share with them the services that our office provides. In an effort to be more sustainable we changed our format from paper to an e-newsletter this year. This will allow for us to be more environmentally conscious (over 1000 sheets of paper saved) but we also will be better able to track how many students and families read the document and which links are most popular.  Welcome New Students & Families

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SCJ Alums attend Federal Law Enforcement Training

seal of the US Marshal Service

Out of a US Marshal Service recruit class of 28 trainees from across the country at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in August 2012, four of them will be representing the School of Criminal Justice and CCPS. The four students, Mike Nyhof, Mike Deminck, Jill Breur, and Troy Snyder particpated in the last cohort of the Centralized Student Career Experience Program (CSCEP) offered in partnership with GVSU. During this program the students gained over 600 hours of  professional experience in the Western District Office and will now attend a 17 week training academy in Georgia before being placed in district offices across the country as Deputy US Marshals. GVSU's School of Criminal Justice has had a total of 11 students accepted into the very competitive CSCEP program in the last few years.This program is being transitioned to a new coordinated employment effort for all federal agencies called Pathways  MORE INFORMATION

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Introducing Leah Kicinzki

Leah Kicinzki

You may see a new face when you come to visit our office this fall semester. Leah Kicinzki is a graduate student in the College Student Affairs Leadership program and will work as a graduate assistant in our office. She earned a bachelors degree in Sociology from Aquinas College and has worked for the past year with Americorps*VISTA at GRCC.  Please say "Hello" and welcome  her to GVSU and CCPS when you see her!

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Social Media Campaign

social media plugger

The CCPS Advising Center is enhancing our presence on social media with our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Since April we have experienced a 480% increase in our followers and are regularly engaging with students via these platforms.

We share information about jobs/internships, scholarships, volunteer opportunities, events, and other news that may be of interest to our followers. We have also added our twitter feed to the website for those who want to check out what we are posting.

There will be a drawing for a variety of GVSU gear and a $100 UBS gift certificate from those that "Like" our Facebook page or are following us on Twitter by Labor Day.

This is a great way for you to get connected with our office too! MORE INFORMATION

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London promoted to Senior Academic Advisor

Anne London

Anne London has been with the CCPS Advising Center since it opened in May 2007 and has been instrumental in our success. Prior to joining our office she worked at GVSU in Admissions and the Academic Resource Center. Since joining our office, Anne has served on the Advisory Board for the Michigan Academic Advising Association (MIACADA), published two book reviews in the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Journal, presented at a regional conference, and was recognized by MIACADA as an Outstandng Academic Advising award winner. Please congratulate her on this well deserved promotion to Senior Academic Advisor. MORE INFORMATION

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