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

One big activity for us this summer was working closely with the university-wide new student orientation program to welcome over 4,100 new first year students to GVSU. We provided staffing for 37 out of the 40 scheduled day-long sessions (including 10 days with more than one staff member).  This is over 300 hours of staff time out of the office as part of this process. The College of Community & Public Service is specifically welcoming over 160 new first year students who declared CCPS majors while at orientation.

In addition, our office has also provided small group orientations for 180 new transfer students coming into our college during the spring/summer and fall semester.

Other big projects this summer included attendance at a week long academic advising institute and development of a new student retention initiative which is highlighted below.

We hope that you will continue to review our newsletter on the first 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. Please come see us in 321C DEV!  Have a wonderful semester!!

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

On August 10th, the staff of the CCPS Undergraduate Advising Center started the new academic year with a morning of service at Family Support Services, an arm of the Pregnancy Resource Center.  This part of the organization is focused on helping those who choose to parent their child/children with free maternity and baby/toddler clothes, supplemental diapers and formula, parenting instruction and support, and referals to services to meet other needs.

After a tour of the facility and an overview of the services they provide, we were put to work sorting clothes. The FSS has a "store" where they allow parents to select seasonally appropriate outfits for their children from the available inventory at no charge. Our job was to assist the store with turn over from spring/summer to fall/winter. We were tasked with unpacking boxes of donated clothing, putting them on hangers and arranging by clothing type. They told us that in just a few hours, we completed what it would have taken their staff 3 days to complete!

We will be continuing our partnership with this agency until the end of the semester as we will collect donations during our annual holiday extravaganza for needed items and "pamper mom" gift bags based on the needs listed on their website. Please consider picking up items to donate and save the date for December 10th.

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, we are in our fourth year of an e-newsletter format. We have been better able to track how many students and families read the document and which links are the most popular. Last year we had a 62% open rate which was an increase from 37% in our first year of tracking.

This year's issue was sent on August 24th to over 503 new CCPS declared majors (First year and Transfer) as well as first year student's parents (if an email address was on file). We already have a 57% open rate after the first week. Check out this year's issue for yourself and let us know what you think!  Welcome New Students & Families

The CCPS-STAR program is open to first year students in the College of Community & Public Service. The program is based around the 4-Year Blueprint for Student Success and is designed to Challenge, Support, and Engage students in activities throughout the first year that increase the likelihood of a successful transition to college which leads to overall retention and achievement of long term degree goals.This program is voluntary and students may choose to participate at the level they are comfortable with or opt out at any time.Program participants are eligible to win an iPad mini at the end of the first year.

You may see a new face when you come to visit our office this fall semester. Megan Coburn 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 Communication Studies from Albion College. After her training period she will work with Hospitality & Tourism Management majors. Please say "Hello" and welcome her to GVSU and CCPS when you see her!

All new GVSU students (freshman and new transfers) will be asked to take a 20 minute web-based survey which opens on September 17th. The results of the survey will provide students with feedback about how they are doing compared to their peers and insight into how to  be successful at GVSU. Once the survey is complete, we also encourage students to connect with their academic advisor to discuss the results! Please consider providing information about this survey in class announcements or other information distributions to new students, especially first year students.

If you have new faculty or staff members in your CCPS academic department, please let us know so that we can add them to our newsletter distribution list! In the mean time please share this issue with them!