CUE Releases Report on Undergrads

COMMITTEE EXAMINES UNDERGRADUATE EXPERIENCE,
OFFERS RECOMMENDATIONS IN MANY AREAS OF STUDENT LIFE

     COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University has taken a good, hard 
look at how well it is serving its 36,000 Columbus campus 
undergraduate students, and the result is a detailed list of 
recommendations for improving everything from academic advising 
to parking.

     The Committee on the Undergraduate Experience (CUE) -- 
composed of 23 students and 23 faculty and staff members 
appointed last spring by Provost Richard Sisson and Vice 
President for Student Affairs David Williams -- spent over a year 
examining the academic, social, and service components of the 
university as they affect undergraduates.

     In its recently released report, CUE outlines how its work 
fits into Ohio State's ongoing efforts to refocus attention on 
quality undergraduate education, and the committee provides 
numerous examples of things that work well and things that need a 
little help.

     "CUE was put together and given support from the highest 
levels of the university to identify what needs to be improved," 
said Martha Garland, associate dean of the College of Humanities 
and CUE co-chair.  "We found there are good people throughout 
campus who are committed to making things better, and we 
anticipate that over this summer plans will be made to adopt many 
of the recommendations that we have made." 

     The committee found that students are generally satisfied 
with their Ohio State education, but there is room for at least 
some improvement in almost every aspect of the undergraduate 
experience.

     Two needs serve as overarching themes for the 
recommendations: (1) enhancing the sense of community among Ohio 
State's diverse population, and (2) enabling more students to 
stay at the university through graduation.

     Included at the beginning of the report is a statement of 
"Mutual Respect in the Classroom" -- shared expectations for 
behavior by teachers and students that emphasize preparation, 
civility, respect, clarity and high standards.  CUE recommends 
that this statement be incorporated into the syllabus for every 
class at Ohio State.

     General recommendations were made in three categories:
(1) basic needs (social involvement, safety and security,
transportation, and financial issues), (2) academic experience 
(first-year experience, advising, curriculum, and quality of 
instruction), and (3) reducing redtape and valuing the 
individual.

     A student member of CUE, Yvette Hicks, a junior from 
Columbus, said she is hopeful the committee's work will benefit 
students.  "The same problems pop up every year, just with 
different players," she said.  "CUE addresses these problems 
and gives positive solutions."

     Suggested improvements in each area include:

BASIC NEEDS

Safety and security
-- continue support for Campus Partners project for redevelopment 
of the east of High Street neighborhood
-- provide alcohol-free events for students on campus
-- increase availability of safety escort services
-- install more campus emergency phones
-- install more secure bike racks
-- use new methods to advise students of crime patterns

Transportation
-- increase student participation in policy-making
-- provide reliable, frequent shuttles from parking lots at all 
times of the day
-- increase proximity parking on campus
-- do not allow faculty and staff to park in student spaces

Financial issues
-- create a computerized database of campus jobs available to 
students

Social activities
-- increase the number and variety of activities offered on 
campus
-- expand alcohol education programs
-- stabilize and increase funding for student organizations and 
event programming

Disability services
-- create a matching grants program to fund programs for the
disabled population

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

First-year experience
-- improve system for transition into the university
-- restructure orientation, Welcome Week and survey courses
-- initiate a pilot project for "clustering" first-year 
students (self-selected only) so that 20 or 30 students with the same
academic interest take the same sections of two or three 
courses together, thus forming bonds and providing support for 
each other
-- enhance support for the one-third of undergraduates who enter 
as transfer students from other universities

Advising
-- revise structure of academic advising to provide more 
professional advisers and fewer advisees per adviser
-- permit more direct enrollment into degree-granting colleges 
(without first spending time in University College)
-- improve adviser/student e-mail contact
-- perfect and expand on-line programs to let students check on
their academic status, course enrollment, etc.

Curriculum
-- evaluate the General Education Curriculum for effectiveness 
and flexibility
-- address the root causes of lack of space in desired courses
-- continue the progress already made to reduce closed courses
-- encourage mutual respect and shared expectations in the 
classroom

Quality of instruction
-- implement an award for departments which do an outstanding job 
of teaching undergraduates
-- improve teaching and encourage mutual respect in lower-level
mathematics courses
-- provide course material in accessible formats to students with 
disabilities

REDUCING THE RUN-AROUND AND VALUING THE INDIVIDUAL

-- establish a Student Advocacy Center (in progress) to provide a 
central place for students to find help with special problems, 
get information and find support
-- create an "integrated financial services office" to 
centralize and simplify business with Student Financial Aid, Fees 
& Deposits, Student Loan Services, the Registrar's Office and 
other university offices involved with financial transactions 
with students
-- improve and integrate student databases to provide quicker,
more accurate information to students, their instructors and 
advisers, and other staff who serve them
-- build on the information technology now in use for direct 
student services such as registration, mailing of grades, and 
financial information to provide even more responsive service
-- establish a student-centered institutional research system to 
gather, analyze and make readily available the data needed to 
measure the success of the university in fulfilling its mission 
to students

     Information for the report was gathered from focus groups, a 
random phone survey of 300 undergraduates, and extensive 
interviews with key individuals.  In addition, 1,800 student 
satisfaction inventory questionnaires were distributed to 
undergraduates.

     The introduction to CUE's final report states:
     "During the process we tackled a variety of issues both 
large and small.  Our vision was to accomplish improvements as 
rapidly as appropriate, with some changes taking place before our 
review was concluded, with others taking place soon after, while 
for others we might simply be stating a destination for the 
institution to begin moving toward.  We often said we wanted to 
plant some annuals, some perennials, and a few oak trees as 
well."

                             #

Contact: Martha Garland, (614) 292-1882; or Eric Busch, (614) 
292-9334, co-chairs of CUE


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Mon, 12 Jun 1995 10:22:38 -0400]
All documents are the responsibility of their originator.