Author: Dustin Grabsch

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Office of General Education

Meet the new Senior Advisor for General Education and the 2023 – 2024 Peer Academic Leaders

The Office of General Education is excited to welcome our new Senior Advisor and twelve Peer Academic Leaders to the team.

Melina Padron will join the Office of General Education team on Monday, July 24. Padron’s professional experience includes serving as an enrollment counselor and, most recently, serving as an admissions counselor at Arizona College of Nursing.

As Senior Advisor, Padron is responsible for coordinating the Office of General Education’s undergraduate student outreach and timely offering of academic advising to ensure progression through Common Curriculum requirements. The Senior Advisor develops, oversees, and provides Office of General Education programs, initiatives, and student interventions to undergraduate students.

When asked about what excites Padron to join Student Academic Engagement and Success, she shared:

Higher education has always been a passion of mine, especially as a first-generation college student. I am honored to play a role in helping SMU students achieve their goals, both academically and personally. I’m excited to connect students with the great resources SMU offers to help them be successful during their time with us. SMU is a vibrant and diverse campus, and I look forward to joining you all on the Hilltop.

In her role, Padron will also serve as the primary supervisor of the Peer Academic Leader (PAL) program. PALs are a diverse group of undergraduate students to help students better understand the Common Curriculum, utilize academic resources, and navigate academic challenges.

PALs work directly with students in their Residential Commons, empowering them to take ownership of their collegiate careers through mentorship and educational programming.

Get to know the twelve Peer Academic Leaders serving for the 2023 – 2024 academic year. Their headshots, biographies, and assigned Residential Commons are on the Office of General Education’s website.

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Student Success & Retention

Office of Student Success and Retention to temporarily close for move to Perkins Administration Building

The Office of Student Success & Retention will move to the Perkins Administration Building (PAB), Suite 301, on Wednesday, July 5.

Due to packing, moving, and unpacking, the office will be closed Monday, July 3, and Wednesday, July 5, with a university holiday closure on July 4.

Phone service will be interrupted during this time, and emails will be responded to upon reopening. Our telephone number and email remain the same.

Please help us update your websites, publications, or resources that list our physical office location to our new location in Perkins Administration Building. Thank you for your support and understanding during this time of transition.

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Student Success & Retention

Help select the next Director of the Office for Student Success & Retention

On behalf of the Director for Student Success and Retention search committee, please join us for an upcoming finalist campus presentation and/or campus partner panel interview.

Three finalists have been selected for the Director of the Office for Student Success and Retention. Finalists will visit campus on Friday, June 30;  Friday, July 7; and Monday, July 10.

Friday, June 30, 2023:

  • 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm: Campus Partner Interview
  • 3:00 pm – 3:45 pm: Campus Presentation

Friday, July 7, 2023:

  • 10:00 am – 10:45 am: Campus Presentation
  • 11:15 am – 12:00 pm: Campus Partner Interview

Monday, July 10, 2023:

  • 10:00 am – 10:45 am: Campus Partner Interview
  • 11:00 am – 11:45 am: Campus Presentation

If you are interested in joining for one or more campus presentations or campus partner interviews, please email Dr. Dustin Grabsch (dgrabsch@smu.edu), chair of the search committee. Calendar invites with candidate materials, presentation prompts, and other applicable information will be shared with interested community members. We appreciate your input as we select this important campus leader.

About the Role: The Director is critical and collaborative in supporting undergraduate retention and graduation initiatives at SMU. The primary role is supervising three full-time staff and providing day-to-day problem-solving for students trying to remain, depart, or return to SMU. Working closely with the Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education and Academic Success and the SMU in Four initiative, the Director operationalizes processes to identify at-risk students, strategically outreaches to inspire engagement, coordinates interventions, tracks academic progress, and assesses our institutional strengths and weaknesses. The Director chairs a university-wide retention and financial support committee to retrain undergraduate students. The position serves as a critical partner to the Office of the Dean of Students.

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Academic Center for Excellence Academic Devleopment of Student-Athletes (ADSA) Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center Disability Accommodations & Success Strategies First-Generation Initiative Hilltop Scholars Mustang Scholars National Fellowships Office of Engaged Learning Office of General Education President’s Scholars Rotunda Scholars SMU in Four Student Academic Engagement & Success Student Academic Success Programs Student Success & Retention University Advising Center University Honors Program University Testing Center

SEAS units begin migration to new SMU-branded web pages

In partnership with the Office of Information Technology, Student Academic Engagement and Success (SAES) began migrating unit websites to the new SMU-banded web pages.

As part of the brand migration, the SAES Marketing, Communication, and Digital Technology committee worked with unit webmasters to assist with a site content refresh (e.g., text, pictures, layouts). The committee recommended reorganizing navigation and pages based on Google Analytics data of high-traffic pages. As part of the process, broken links, spelling, SEO optimization, SMU web governance, and site navigation are also being addressed. Finally, professional headshots and employee biographies will be added over the summer.

Beginning with the SAES main navigation in late May, all units will be migrated over the course of the summer and early fall terms.

Last week, the following unit websites were completed:

Scheduled to migrate on or around the dates listed below will be:

  • June 23:
    • University Testing Center
    • University Advising Center
  • July 21:
    • Academic Development of Student-Athletes
    • Office of Student Success and Retention
  • August 11:
    • Student Academic Success Programs
    • Office of Undergraduate National Fellowships
  • September 1:
    • University Honors Program
    • First-Generation Initiative
    • Scholars’ Den
  • September 22:
    • President’s Scholars
    • Rotunda Scholars
    • Mustang Scholars
    • Hilltop Scholars

Please pardon our dust during this transition. If you discover broken links or issues, please direct them to academicsuccess@smu.edu to be routed appropriately. The next communication on the webpage migration will be once all SAES units have been completed.

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Office of General Education

Lisa Cordoba becomes a Certified Administrative Professional

Lisa Cordoba, the Administrative Assistant in the Office of General Education, passed the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) exam in May.

CAP is an NCCA-accredited credential designed specifically for the administrative professional. The NCCA, or National Commission of Certifying Agencies, is the Institute for Credentialing Excellence, or ICE’s accrediting arm, and verifies that the CAP meets national and international credentialing industry standards for certification programs.

The exam covered knowledge, skill, and abilities in the areas of:

  • Organizational Culture and Leadership
  • Business Communication and Deliverables
  • Software, Data, and the Internet
  • Office and Records Management
  • Meeting, Event, and Project Management
  • Operational Functions

Please join the Office of General Education in congratulating Lisa (lcordoba@smu.edu) on this professional accomplishment after months of study!

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Student Academic Engagement & Success

Final updates made to 46 COVID-19 cohort students for one-time exceptions for Proficiencies and Experiences

The Office of General Education communicated on Monday, February 20, to the campus community about the one-time exception to two Common Curriculum Proficiencies & Experiences for COVID-19 cohorts.

Based on feedback from School Record Offices, we completed the last of three recommended audits to ensure students who dropped classes, withdrew, or did not pass a class with an applicable tag would receive the waiver(s).

We added the final round of waivers to 46 undergraduate students on the Common Curriculum. We applied 42 Community Engagement waivers and 37 Civics and Individual Ethics waivers.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Office of General Education at gened@smu.edu.

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First-Generation Initiative

Second annual First-Generation Graduation Celebration a success during Celebration of Excellence Weekend

Co-hosted by the First-Generation Association and the First-Generation Initiative, the second annual First-Generation Graduation Celebration was a success on Sunday, April 30, in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballroom.

This year’s celebration spotlighted the 75 first-generation students graduating in May and August of 2023. The 75 students will be collectively awarded an estimated 142 degrees.

Eighteen graduating students were presented with a first-generation graduation stole, a commemorative Class of 2023 tumbler, and a handwritten letter from a First-Gen Proud Faculty or Staff Ally.

Get to know the 18 graduating students who were joined by their family and friends at this year’s ceremony:

Graduation stoles have long been worn by graduates during commencement ceremonies as a symbol of personal and academic achievement. At SMU, we are proud to provide stoles to all of our first-generation graduating students to help them mark the significant accomplishment of reaching graduation day.

First-generation students often face unique challenges, such as navigating the college or university system, balancing academic demands with work and family responsibilities, and overcoming financial difficulties.

Class of 2023 first-generation students posing for a photo in their graduation stoles.

Wearing a stole that says first-generation during graduation is a way to recognize and honor these challenges and to show pride in being the first in one’s family to achieve this level of education. It is also a way to inspire and encourage future generations to pursue higher education.

This blog post will be updated in two weeks to include additional photos from the ceremony. For information on the First-Generation Initiative, please email 1stgen@smu.edu.

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Hilltop Scholars Student Academic Engagement & Success University Advising Center

Two SAES team members were recognized with The “M” Award at the 2023 Hilltop Excellence Awards

Two Student Academic Engagement and Success (SAES) team members were honored with The “M” Award at the 2023 Hilltop Excellence Awards on Friday, April 28.

Dr. Caitlin Anderson, Director of the Hilltop Scholars Program and Senior Lecturer of Applied Physiology and Wellness, and Ellen Richmond, Director of the University Advising Center, were recognized with the highest recognition on the Hilltop.

The “M” Award is the highest recognition bestowed upon students, faculty, staff, and administrators on the SMU Campus. The recipients’ efforts have been continuous during their years at the University and are not limited to a narrow vested interest. The “M” Award honorees inspire others, giving unselfishly of their time and talents to make the University, and indeed the world, a better place.

Please join us in congratulating our stellar SEAS and SMU colleagues!

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Office of General Education

Updated Common Curriculum Proficiencies and Experiences requirements and rubrics available

The Office of General Education, enacting the vote of the Council of General Education, has published updated rubrics for the Common Curriculum’s Proficiencies and Experiences graduation requirements.

The Council of General Education sought to:

  • Provide consistency across the Proficiencies in terms of the number of hours required for an activity and the length and number of the required reflections
  • Create a standard prompt for each Proficiency, as students often had difficulty understanding what to put in their reflection
  • Add the option of submitting completed work that demonstrates the supporting skills (completed during the activity or course) in lieu of a reflection.

Overall, the Council noted that the inconsistencies in the requirements and the fact that they caused problems for students (and were largely arbitrary), so the Common Curriculum Proficiencies and Experiences were streamlined. The streamlined requirements and updated rubrics are now available on the Common Curriculum website.