Section 3: Comprehensive Standards

3.4.9 The institution provides appropriate academic support services.

Judgement of Compliance:
Compliance

Narrative/Justification for Judgment of Compliance:
Christopher Newport University is in compliance with this comprehensive standard. The institution provides appropriate academic support services.

Academic Advising Center
Since 1996 the Academic Advising Center (AAC) has made its services available to all students and faculty. An objective of the Center is to integrate information and resources needed by new students from admission through graduation. This includes, but is not limited to, enrollment, financial aid, bill payment, housing and degree requirements. Information is made available through mailings, email communication and website updates.

Academic advising and program planning is directed by the faculty at CNU. The Academic Advising Center, under the direction of the Provost, provides student resources designed to inform and guide students through appropriate developmental advising, provided by the faculty, at all student class levels. Freshmen begin this process by attending a mandatory summer orientation program, Setting Sail, at which time they work with a faculty advisor. Prior to orientation each student reads the First Year Student Guidebook and completes a First Term Course Planning Sheet. In 2005, a second integrated resource, Graduate in Four, was issued the week before classes, providing check sheets and planning guides for each academic year. Graduate in Four is a collaborative document that details student services, student activities, career planning and the academic information needed to successfully progress to the baccalaureate in a timely manner. Additionally, the Important Terms for First-Year Students is made available on the AAC home page to help students understand their new learning environment.

The AAC trains new faculty members each semester, and schedules special sessions for freshman advisors each summer. Advisor Training includes: 1) a review of current resources; 2) developmental advising tips; and, 3) case studies focusing on good practices. AAC also provides A Guide to Parents of First-Year Students to help parents direct their students toward a successful transition to college through a list of frequently asked questions.

AAC regularly provides currently enrolled students with advising and registration information via the University Portal, the University’s message system, announcements as well as mailings. All freshmen meet with an academic advisor prior to registration. The AAC works with the University Registrar, Financial Aid, the Bursar, Dean of Students, Housing, and Athletics to coordinate support services and academic planning deadlines.

AAC supports the Office of Student Life as they provide transfer and readmit student orientation programming each term. The Transfer and Readmitted Student Guidebook, designed to support the needs of transfer and reentering students, illustrates AAC’s efforts to integrate information to support student success.

AAC also coordinates the declaration of majors and the assigning of major advisors. Each student is assigned to a full-time faculty member in the department of their major when the major is formally declared (Full-time Faculty Advisor Assignment Guide). Each student receives written notice of the assigned advisor (Congratulations on Declaring Your Major) that includes instructions as to what steps to take next. Academic advising is required prior to registration in 95% of the majors and advising files are maintained in each department. Students receive major program planning sheets to guide course selection. A yearly audit is conducted by the AAC to ensure that all program planning sheets are current and consistent with all academic policies and requirements.

Intervention for At-Risk Students
AAC and the Office of Counseling, Coaching and Consulting (OCCC) work together to provide student support through the Instructor Referral Program (IRP). Instructors use an electronic form to recommend intervention for students at risk due to poor attendance, low test/quiz grades, or inappropriate classroom behavior. While this strategy is available to all faculty, freshmen classes are specifically targeted in an effort to increase retention.

AAC offers academic support workshops in the residence halls (at least once a semester) on Time Management, Reading for Comprehension on the College Level, Test Taking Strategies, etc. Through the IRP and the workshops, students are invited to take the Learning Assistance and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) that provides an additional intervention for students who experience difficulty adjusting to college-level work and expectations. This 20 minute online assessment tool is designed to help identify learning strengths and weaknesses. An academic advisor reviews results and suggests changes.

Faculty submit mid-term grades for all freshman students. The Registrar provides electronic reports of grades to all faculty advisors, and the AAC asks each freshman advisor to do additional outreach to their advisees with grades of D or F. A postcard is sent to the student home address during the fall and spring break announcing the midterm grade posting (grades do not appear on the card) so that parents will know that the grades are available electronically through the student CNULive account. Academic Advising provides additional intervention for students listing three or more grades of D or F prior to the last day to withdrawal without grade penalty. Students on academic probation must meet with a professional advisor for program planning and grade projections. Advising and programming planning are required of all freshmen with three or more low grades

End of term grading intervention is also provided. The AAC monitors all students whose GPAs will place them on suspension if not improved during the current term. The following student resources appear on the Academic Advising homepage:

Table of Continuance
Grade Problem Resources
Tips for a Successful Semester for Students
When Instructors Talk Fast or are Hard to Understand
Grade Point Calculator

A Second Chance Contract is used to reintroduce suspended students to the curriculum. Each reinstated student must complete a graduation plan. Contracted students must complete each subsequent term with a minimum 2.0 GPA. The AAC provides advising support and referrals until minimum good standing is achieved.

Faculty Advisor Training as an Academic Support
Advisor training is provided to freshman advisors and focuses on providing accurate materials, developmental advising techniques and intervention strategies. Faculty Resources are listed on the AAC homepage, and faculty may call any time with advising questions.

Additional training for majors advisors occurs each March for new faculty. Topics include working with undecided majors; placement recommendations in mathematics, science and English; a review of the general academic policies and procedures; legal issues; etc.

Advising manuals are updated annually and currently exist in hard copy. This manual includes information on: 1) Resources; 2) Course Placement; 3) Advising Tips; 4) Policies and Procedures; 5) Sample Forms; 6) Legal Issues; 7) The First-Year Student Guidebook; and 8) The Transfer/Readmit Student Resource Guide.

Disability Support Services
CNU recognizes its responsibility to provide individuals with disabilities with an equal opportunity while maintaining the standards that are fundamental to its quality academic programs. Office of Disability Services:

Any student admitted to CNU who has a disability may request formal accommodations by following the instructions listed in the Disability Services Guidebook. The office is staffed by a fulltime coordinator who provides guidance to faculty as needed.

Assessment
Surveys completed in 1999 and 2000 indicated that first year students were generally satisfied with freshman advising and that they understood the general education course requirements. Currently, a new assessment tool is being developed for implementation in the fall of 2006. Yearly evaluation of the freshman advising program by the faculty advisor is used to improve design and content. Although advising in the major has not been evaluated, a Faculty Senate committee on Advising has been established and is working to recommend not only an evaluation process but the need to offer faculty rewards for providing effective academic advising to all students.

Alice Randal Writing Center
The Alice Randal Writing Center assists students to improve their writing. The writing consultants—CNU students who have completed a three credit Writing Center practicum—provide assistance at all stages of the writing process to identify and correct problems in their writing (but not proofreading services). Students may also use the on-line consulting service. If the student requests, the faculty member who made the assignment can receive the consulting feedback the student used.

The Center’s resources include an extensive library of handouts, handbooks, workbooks, dictionaries and reference books. The Center’s website provides links to other resources (Alice Randall Writing Center Resources). Students may use the Center’s computers to work on writing projects. Additional services include free workshops on such subjects as essay development, grammar, punctuation and documentation form. Center consultants visit individual classrooms by invitation to discuss Center services. Bookmarks detailing the Center hours and services publicize these services to faculty and students.

Office of International Initiatives and Fellowships
The Office of International Initiatives and Fellowships (IIF) at Christopher Newport University provides leadership and support for students and faculty in the promotion and pursuit of study abroad programming and internationalization efforts, including the pursuit of prestigious international scholarships and fellowships. The Office of IIF, together with University administration, faculty and staff, embraces the common objectives of internationalizing the undergraduate, graduate and professional curricula across academic departments and disciplines, to promote international scholarship and educational exchange, to enhance the CNU experience for international students and scholars, to advance international awareness throughout the University, and to create a community and a society that is responsive to the increasingly international imperatives and obligations of global citizenship.

The goals of IIF are:

IIF assesses its effectiveness as follows:

The Honors Program
The CNU Honors Program offers academic enrichment opportunities for all CNU students, not just the approximately 200 persons currently in the program. Program participants enroll in “H” sections of required courses, take advanced seminars, and participate in activity courses, attending cultural and intellectual sites and events both on and off campus.

The Honors Program also encourages individual extracurricular initiative. All students may compete for Honors Summer Research Stipends to undertake research stemming from any class already completed. In its three years of existence, this program has given 20 awards, usually of $1000. [ web snapshot 1] Likewise, all students are eligible to compete for International Research Assistantships, which enable them to work with graduate faculty at the University of Brussels for six weeks during the summer. [ web snapshot 2] The first group of three students—two in Honors, one not—traveled to Brussels from May until July 2006. Also, starting in 2005-06, the Honors Council set aside $2000 for Research Support Grants available exclusively to Honors students. [ web snapshot 3] One student has taken advantage of this opportunity to date.

In addition, the program has sponsored a variety of programs to broaden students’ intellectual and professional horizons, as well as to encourage their academic success. For three years, the Honors director has coordinated Quest Housing, an optional living area reserved for interested members of the Honors and Leadership Programs—a community, in other words, in which students take similar, or the same classes, and are committed to and respectful of academic achievement. [ web snapshot 4] Quest has attracted about 80 students each year. Half of the first Quest Housing group has lived together—in a group of 40—for three years, and plans to do so for their final year. Quest students are required to participate in “Survive to Excel,” an informal student-led discussion of study strategies. In Fall 2005, Honors students took the same program to a second residence hall, at the request of an R. A. and Hall Director; fifteen students attended.

Mathematics Tutoring Lab
For many years, the Mathematics Department has offered between 25 and 35 hours of free tutoring through its Mathematics Tutoring Lab. The following table summarizes the number of hours per week tutoring was available and the number of students who received tutoring over the past seven semesters. During the Fall of 2002, the Spring of 2003 and the Fall of 2003, the Mathematics Department had a part-time tutor who worked 24 hours per week.

Learning Communities
This past fall, in an effort to improve retention, Christopher Newport University introduced Learning Communities (LCs). Thirty LCs were offered; six were reserved for Leadership and Honors students, while the other 24 were available to all students. Students in each LC lived together, took two or three classes together, and had a Peer Mentor, an upperclassman, assigned to their LC. The Peer Mentor held study sessions for the LC approximately 4 – 4.5 hours per week, and met with the faculty teaching the classes 30 – 60 minutes each week.

Reliable retention data will not be available until Fall 2006, but the most interesting preliminary data suggest the Learning Communities have a positive impact on the non-Honors, non-Leadership students. The table below shows the results of participation in an LC for this group of students.

LC students have a GPA which is 0.22 higher (2.62 vs 2.40) than the non-LC students. The LC women gained 0.27 and the LC men gained 0.15 for a weighted average gain of 0.22. Participation in an LC reduced the probability of being on probation by 32%, from 26.2% to 17.8%.

These results are encouraging when comparing the input ability of the students. The fourth and fifth columns of the table above demonstrate that there was no significant difference in intellectual ability or intellectual effort (as measured by the SAT and high school GPA) between the two groups of students. In short, these data indicates that LCs, as implemented at CNU, help average students do better in college, and may well improve retention rates.

Academic Support Program for Athletes
The Department of Athletics employs a Director of Academic Support and sponsors an Academic Support Program for athletes. The program is designed to prevent and respond to academic difficulties and to ensure progress toward a degree. The program encourages student athletes to effectively balance academics and athletics.

The program includes several initiatives. Study hall is mandatory for all freshmen, first semester transfers, and any student athlete with a grade point average of 2.0 or below. Students must attend three times a week for an hour and thirty minute time period. Requests for progress reports are sent to professors for study hall athletes, athletes with a 2.3 grade point average or lower, or for any athlete that a coach would like to have monitored. An evaluation is completed at the end of each term that shows a student’s progress by his or her term grade point average as well as by overall grade point average. If a poor term or overall grade point average is noted, a student will return to study hall until progress is made. In addition to the above, mentors are provided to any student athlete who feels he/she needs extra help in mastering a subject. Basic study skills seminars are offered to all athletes who wish to attend. To celebrate achievements, awards ceremonies are held each semester to honor the athletes who have earned a 3.0 or better grade point average.

For the 2005 – 2006 academic year there were 433 athletes at CNU. One hundred and twenty participated in study hall for fall semester and 55 participated in study hall for spring semester. Over 800 progress reports were sent during fall semester, but only half of that number was sent out during spring semester. The decline in the number of students needing the study hall in spring semester is seen as an indicator of effectiveness of the program.

Graduate Studies
Each Graduate Program Coordinator conducts a Student Orientation for his or her degree program.  Additional information is available in the program’s Student Handbook, which the Coordinator provides. In addition, the Graduate Studies website offers a self-guided orientation that offers information about CNU, its resources, and the local area. The website also provides information about the General Record Examination, PRAXIS, the CNU Thesis Manual, student forms, links to Financial Aid, the Graduate Catalog, and dates and deadlines. Program faculty provide academic advising, and each student has a plan of study that is filed with the Office of Graduate Studies.

Support Documentation:
Academic Advising Center
First Year Student Guidebook
Graduate in Four
Transfer and Readmitted Student Guidebook
Faculty Resources
Instructor Referral Program
General Education Requirements
Liberal Learning Core
A guide for Parents of First-Year Students
Important Terms for First-Year Students
Table of Continuance
Grade Problem Resources
Program Offerings
Tips for a Successful Semester for Students
When Instructors Talk Fast or are Hard to Understand
Disability Services
Disability Services Syllabus statement
Disability Services Guide for Faculty
School of Business
Alice Randal Writing Center
Mathematics Learning Lab
Computer Learning Lab
LASSI - Student Instructions
Full-time Faculty Advisor Assignment Guide
Second Chance Contract
Congratulation on Declaring Your Major
Grade Point Calculator
Copy of Honors website:
          Summer Stipends
          International Research Assistantship
          Support Grants
          Quest Housing
          News & Events - Honors Summer Stipends for 2006.
          News & Events - Senior Lynanne Hodges becomes first student to win a Research Support Grant.
          News & Events - Victor Hansen to lecture, sign his newest book at CNU.
          News & Events - Deputy Office Director in Western Affrica Affairs spoke to CNU Students.
          Seminars
          Plan of Study
          Activity Courses
Government Department Advising Sheet
Spanish Degree Advising Sheet
1999 First Year Student Survey
2000 First Year Student Survey
2004 Setting Sail Survey
Academic Advising Assessment Plan 2005-2006
CNU Advising Data Collection (Rutherford Survey)
Rutherford Senior Advising Questionnaire
Rutherford Survey Comments
Freshman Advising Evaluation Form
Disability Services Guidebook

Additional Live Web Resources:
None