University of Washington SAF Accreditation Review, 2006

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Standard V: Students

Commitment to Quality Student Advising
The College is committed to high-quality student advising at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Advising for all students is coordinated through the Office of Student and Academic Services, which is staffed by three full-time professional staff members—a Director, an Undergraduate Adviser, and a Graduate Adviser. The office strives to respond to student needs and provide the highest quality advising on campus. The office regularly solicits feedback; the exit survey that is administered to all graduating students specifically queries for feedback about the advising received during tstudents’ academic careers. In addition, students are encouraged to regularly visit the office to share successes and challenges, and students are regularly informed of campus and community educational and career opportunities. The office maintains an open-door policy to provide drop-in service for College students and faculty.
Because the needs and types of advising differ greatly between graduate and undergraduate advising, the programs are described separately below.

Graduate Advising
Graduate student advising is done as a partnership between the College faculty and the Office of Student and Academic Services, under the guidance of the University’s Graduate School.
The Graduate Adviser is a full-time professional staff person who administers the admissions process for the graduate program, helps coordinate graduate orientation, and guides students through the administrative processes of their graduate programs. The Graduate Adviser audits student files for compliance with University Graduate School policies and requirements, and assists students with setting up their faculty committees and filing forms.

The faculty chair and committee help students develop a program of study that will fulfill their educational goals and fit the requirements of the program. Students’ committee chairs work closely with the students on graduate projects, theses, or dissertations, and help guide their research.

The University’s Graduate School is the governing body of all University graduate programs. The Graduate School approves all programs and reviews them at a minimum of 10-year intervals, as well as establishes policies and minimum requirements for all University graduate programs. Any College policy is above and beyond the University’s Graduate School’s requirements; for example, the minimum number of credits for an M.S. degree at UW is 36, while the College requires 45 credits.

Another way the College is committed to high-quality graduate advising is by conducting a thorough graduate student orientation program. Upon entering the graduate program, each new graduate student is required to participate in the course CFR 500, Graduate Orientation. The orientation program is a two-day program, where students are presented with the various University and College policies and procedures, introduced to research and graduate study expectations, and given an opportunity to develop relationships and community with the incoming students. The orientation is conducted on campus and at the College’s field site, C.L. Pack Experimental Forest, giving new students a good introductory perspective of the College and some of its supporting facilities.

Both the faculty and the Graduate Adviser use the College-produced Graduate Student Guide (also known as “The Red Book”) to help administer the graduate program effectively by using the same guidelines and explaining University Graduate School policy. This guidebook can be found on-line at http://www.cfr.washington.edu/Acad/grad/redbook.pdf and is included in the back of this self-evaluation. The key College forms used for advising are the Green Sheet (the program of study form) and the Committee Form, which is used to establish and change committee membership. These forms are in addition to any forms required by the Graduate School for general and final examinations.

Undergraduate Advising
Undergraduate students are centrally admitted by the University’s Admissions Office and are placed in pre-major status. If a student decides upon the College’s Environmental Science and Resource Management (ESRM) major, he or she makes an appointment to see the Undergraduate Adviser who helps the student declare the major and plan for academic requirements and program of study. If the student is a transfer student, the adviser will also evaluate the student’s transfer coursework and help file any course requirement petitions, if appropriate (petitions are approved by the chair of the faculty).

During the advising appointment, the Undergraduate Adviser also helps the student explore the different course pathways within the ESRM major and how those may fit with the student’s educational and professional goals. For example, if a student is interested in pursuing the MFR in Forest Management for a graduate degree, the student would work with the Undergraduate Advisor to prescribe and plan the coursework in the Sustainable Forest Management pathway that will apply to the MFR in Forest Management.

Undergraduate advising files are regularly audited and updated with coursework as it is completed. Students are notified of any potential problems, especially relating to focus or degree progress.

When a student is nearing graduation, he or she will make a final advising appointment to apply to graduate. A final degree audit is conducted and the application for the bachelor’s degree is filed. Students are also informed about the College’s Graduation Celebration and are encouraged to fill out an exit survey about the program.

Regular Services Provided by the Student and Academic Services Office
To help understand the variety of services provided by the Student and Academic Services Office, a list of regular office staff activities, organized by frequency, is provided below:

On a Daily/Weekly Basis
Advising—both graduate and undergraduate
Updating Job Board, Website, Publications
Data management
Answering questions and making referrals
Time schedule and room updates
Mailing packets and information
Transfer Thursdays

On a Quarterly Basis
Database updates—majors and on leave
Dean's List letters
Low scholarship letters
Satisfactory progress check-up
Checking scholarship recipient registration
Planning Time Schedule Quarterly
Disbursing Scholarship funds
Graduate student registration--full/part time
Enrollment status and analysis
New course/Course change applications
High school/Community College visits
Welcome letter to new students
Contacting inactive students
Advertising courses on campus
Visiting service courses for recruiting
Graduation applications/warrants
Updating degrees granted information
Transfer Student Orientation
RA/TA Appointment Process

On an Annual Basis
January Graduate Admissions
Graduate Student Orientation
Dawg Daze Events
Career Fair
FAEIS statistical reporting
College internal statistical reporting
UG Research Involvement Report
ABET Reviews for PSE
Environmental Opportunities Fair
Website Updating
Scholarship Luncheon
Adviser's Luncheon
College Graduation Celebration
UG Orientation (all summer)
Mailings to new UW freshmen
CC Advising Conference
Plan a Transfer Day
GRE/SAT/ACT Search
GEAR UP Events
General Catalog updates
April Scholarship Applications/Meeting/Notification

Recruitment and Retention
The University is committed to recruiting and reaching out to underrepresented students. The Office of Minority Affairs has recruitment and outreach, academic support services, and pre-college opportunities aimed at providing access to the University for diverse students and communities. The recruitment and outreach department is responsible for the recruitment and outreach activities for all undergraduate underrepresented students across Washington State. It provides outreach services during high school and community college visits, college fairs, student campus visitation programs, admissions, financial aid, and scholarship counseling, and college test preparation and educational workshops. The Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program (GO-MAP), a division of University’s Graduate School, is committed to serving the needs of students of color and those from other underrepresented groups, while simultaneously providing opportunities for all students to learn and develop through experiences rich in cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity. GO-MAP’s primary goals are recruitment and outreach, enhancing scholarship and research, and building community on and off campus. To achieve these goals, GO-MAP offers programs, events, activities, and opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and the community to advance excellence in an equitable educational and social environment.

For the academic year 2004-2005, 54 underrepresented minorities made up 15% of the College’s total student body and 156 women accounted for 42%. The College continually makes efforts to recruit and attract a diverse student body, and will increase efforts in the future. The College makes public the commitment to promoting diversity in our faculty, staff, and student body through both recruitment and retention. Additionally, the College developed a diversity plan to attract graduate students, which is described in the following memo:

MEMORANDUM

TO: Johnnella E. Butler, Associate Dean
The Graduate School
From: Steve West, Associate Dean and Graduate Program Coordinator; Robert Gara, Professor and Alternate Graduate Program Coordinator; Michelle Trudeau, Director, Student Services, College of Forest Resources
Date: February 10, 2003
RE: 2003-2004 Graduate Opportunity Program Diversity Plan

The College of Forest Resources is grateful for receiving a GOP award for the 2002-2003 academic year, and would like to be considered for an award for this coming academic year. We have continued our efforts to increase the diversity of our graduate student population, and we are committed to nurturing an atmosphere of inclusiveness.

Dr. Gara, as one of the minority faculty at the College of Forest Resources, remains involved with the graduate programs at two levels. He is now the Program Area Leader for the Silviculture program as well as the Alternate Graduate Program Coordinator. Dr. Gara also remains involved in our minority recruitment and retention efforts.

The College feels strongly that the variety of perspectives and life experiences found in diverse students increases the value of the educational experience for all of our students. We are well aware that the field of forestry, no matter how broadly defined, has been very traditionally white male. Our diversity plan, outlined below, we hope will help change the face of forestry to one that more accurately reflects the diverse world in which we live.

Our Diversity Plan
Of the 38 new graduate students we enrolled in autumn of 2002, females were 55% and minorities were 21% of the total, including one Iranian American, seven Asian Americans and one Hispanic American (47% did not indicate their ethnicity). For the first time ever, the college has more new female graduate students than male, which for the traditionally male field of forestry, is remarkable. Nevertheless, we would like our underrepresented minority student numbers to increase, so we are continuing to implement our College-wide diversity efforts and plans.

We developed a Diversity website on our College’s home page in fall 2002 (see attached printout) that clearly outlines our diversity program, which has goals as follows:

Track diversity efforts within CFR
Seek new ways of recruiting diverse faculty, staff and students
Seek to find and remove barriers to diversity at CFR
Formalize mentoring efforts
Create partnerships with other diversity efforts, both on and off campus
Involve diverse members of CFR

We have maintained good ties with several northwest Native American tribes, including Yakama, Colville, and Quinault. We attended the Education Summit in Omak hosted by the Colville Tribe in August 2002, which had a recruitment fair and discussion about many issues with Native American education. Furthermore, we house the STEP (Science and Tribes Educational Partnership) program, which offers summer science education to high school youth at targeted tribal schools. We are also staying in contact with our recent graduates so that they can help with our recruiting efforts on the reservations.

Our cooperative agreement with Tuskegee University in Alabama is also going well, and Louis Black will be visiting us on March 18th, 2003 with two prospective students. Our two African American graduate students are a result of this program, and we hope to utilize their expertise and experience to continue this effort.

We attended the MANRRS (National Society for Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences) national conference in Portland, OR in April 2002. Two of our African American graduate students, Morris Johnson and Johnny Grady, attended along with three other staff members, including the Director of Student Services. We helped sponsor the conference and hosted a recruitment booth. The cost of attending this event is high, but we see it as an essential part of our diversity plan.

Some of our other efforts that are working to increase the yield of underrepresented and minority students include:

We encourage our undergraduate underrepresented and minority students to apply for our graduate program. This effort works very well for us on a continuing basis.
We do not have any formal visiting days for graduate applicants, but we encourage our applicants to participate in the GO-MAP Prospective Student Days and let them know we will be open for visiting during that time.
We utilized the GRE graduate student search service again this year, which focused on attracting diverse students. We have not participated in the Western and National Name Exchange for a few years, mainly because we were not very aware of this resource. We will add the Name Exchange to our search effort. We also advertise our programs in the Peterson’s Guide, but the results of these efforts are difficult to track with the I-200 restrictions.

Lastly, the college always matches the GOP award with a second year of funding, usually from our endowed fellowships or a research assistantship. We do not have a lot of funding, so making a two-year package with the GOP often makes the difference in recruitment of top minority and underrepresented students.

2002-2003 GOP Awardee Information
[Student] was awarded the GOP research assistantship for 2002-2003. She is an outstanding student, receiving a BS degree in Biology from Purdue with honors and a BA in French, with an overall GPA of 4.0. She has also received several awards, including the National Merit Scholarship and the Association of Women Students VIP Award for Political Involvement. Furthermore, [Student] is also an outstanding citizen, and was involved in her co-curricular activities her studies, including mentoring in the Women in Science Program, Directing the Purdue Students Against Sweatshops group, and serving as President of the Iranian Cultural Club.

[Student] entered the competitive Social Science graduate program with GRE scores of 590/750/780, as well as extensive undergraduate research and teaching experience. She is currently studying with Dr. Anne Kearney, who says she is progressing very well, and stated, “She has been doing very well in her classes (4.0) and is currently exploring research topics for her thesis. She is also pursuing a joint master’s degree at the Evans School.” She is very pleased with [Student], and coupled the GOP award with a Research Assistantship award for her second year of study.

[Student] is Iranian, an ethnic group that is very underrepresented in US higher education, especially in the traditionally European American male field of forest resources. We are very pleased to be able to recruit students like [Student] with the GOP award, and hope such efforts will help to change the face of our field. We are very appreciative to the GOP program for providing us with this wonderful opportunity.

The College of Forest Resources thanks you for consideration of our request.

Graduate Students
Recruitment to College’s of graduate program is currently done largely by individual research programs and through the College’s website. The College participates in the National Name Exchange for under-represented students and is listed on GradSchools.com (http://www.gradschools.com/). In the past, GRE searches were performed, but the outcome did not produce the students the College was seeking. Overall, the College receives far more quality applications than available slots, so graduate recruitment has not been an issue.

Top applicants are often recruited to the College’s graduate program through the many fellowships offered; fellowships are the equivalent of a Research Assistant (RA) or Teaching Assistant (TA) appointment, but without the 19-hour/week work requirement. These awards (usually lasting one-year) are often coupled with RA or TA appointments to make an attractive package for the highest-quality applicants. The College has a consistent track record of recruiting and retaining these top students.

Another successful method used to promote the College’s graduate programs is by providing support for graduate student research posters and presentations at regional and national meetings. The Dean’s office funds most, if not all, student travel costs to local and international conferences. The College also supports an annual Graduate Student Symposium, which showcases the research of the College’s diverse graduate student population.

Each quarter, in order to maintain high-quality graduate students at the College, faculty are asked if their graduate students are performing up to standard. If a student is not performing up to standard, either in coursework or research progress, there is a process—conducted in partnership with the Graduate School—for placing students on probation and eventually dropping them from the program, if appropriate. Fortunately, this has not been an issue in recent history, but it is a standardized process that is available if necessary.

Undergraduate Students
The ESRM major is fairly new, so active recruiting and retention is key to increasing enrollment over the next few years. Thus, the College has implemented an active undergraduate recruiting program that focuses both on- and off-campus. Classes related to the ESRM major are visited to present the College’s programs, and various events are held for University students. The College reaches out to other University advisers (housed in the different colleges and departments on campus) through a luncheon, e-mail advertising, and information sessions. Visits are regularly made to local community colleges to recruit and advise potential transfer students. Additionally, the College has a close partnership with the Universty’s Admissions Office to ensure that students interested in the College’s program are provided assistance and guidance during the admission process into the University and the College.

To retain undergraduate students, the College depends largely on the quality of advising and outreach to current students. The University automatically puts students who are performing below a 2.0 level on academic probation, and those students are contacted to develop a plan for future success with assistance from faculty and the College’s Office of Student and Academic Services. If the plan is unsuccessful, a student will eventually be dropped from the University, but with a chance for reinstatement via petition.

Current Enrollment Information
As described in Standard I, the College recently underwent a major curriculum consolidation effort. Previously, undergraduate students were offered eight majors to choose from and graduate students were offered eleven different degree programs. Similar to many natural resource colleges and universities throughout the country, steep declines in student enrollment (especially at the undergraduate level) led the College to undertake a restructuring of both the graduate and undergraduate programs (See discussion in Standard I).

The College now offers an undergraduate degree in two curricula, Environmental Science and Resource Management (ESRM) and Paper Science and Engineering (PSE), and one graduate degree, with interest areas selected at the time of application. These new programs require innovative ways of reporting and tracking enrollment information; thus, all enrollment information presented in this self-evaluation will refer to College-wide enrollment. Figures 1 and 2, however, break down the different undergraduate and graduate enrollments by major and interest areas before and after the adoption of the new degree programs. The first students entered the ESRM degree program in 2004, and the older degree programs are being phased out as previously enrolled students graduate. Note the decline in Forest Management majors since 1995; the hope is that the new ESRM major, and the option to follow the Sustainable Forest Management pathway, will increase the number of students who might be originally drawn to this type of degree program.

Since the MFR (Forest Management) will be a brand-new degree program in Fall 2006, Document G only shows projected enrollment numbers for the program. Document G does, however, present data about the entire student population of the College.

Figure 1. Undergraduate Enrollment by Major

Figure 2. Graduate Enrollment by Program Area

Required Documents: F, G

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