Minutes of the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid (AFA) Meeting
February 19, 2004

Present: Cathleen Bellomo, Kathleen Edgin, Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo, Leslie Miller-Bernal (Acting Chair), and Nicole Pellegrino

Professor Miller-Bernal called the meeting to order at 12:36pm

A brief discussion on who should pay for the pizza as agreed on the last meeting led Ms. Cathleen Bellomo, who had a petty cash on her, to volunteer to pay for it in the absence of Ms. Susan Sloan. Ms. Sloan will pay for the pizza for the next meeting.

In the absence of a clear agenda items, Professor Leslie Miller-Bernal, the Acting Chair, proposed that we discuss questions 28 and 30. This proposition was accepted by all.

The chair listed the number of times that each member computed with respect to the working categories. After Professor Leslie Miller-Bernal compared them and following a discussion, it became clear that the three first categories, namely, 0=None, 1=1 to 3 times, and 2=4 to 6 times emerged as the most agreed upon categories. The other categories: 3=7 and more times, and 4 and other are difficult to interpret. This is due partially to the open ended types of the questions that were formulated. For instance, where does one put the thesis writing visitation times or the number of the meeting times between the faculty members and students in case the faculty members are at the same time the work study supervisors?

The most important questions are: What kind of information would one like to obtain? And for what kind of purpose will it serve? Thus, one can design the question consequently or appropriately. In any case, from this question (number 30), we may obtain some needed broad information, which can be used toward our purpose.

Personal contacts have been good for Wells. Even on-line registration now frequently used in many schools needs some contacts between students and their advisors in the process of finalizing the registration. At some large colleges and universities like Cornell University, these contacts in some academic units are reduced to a minimum level, which may, in some cases, look like anonymous/impersonal. However, the number of advisors at Wells can also lead to confusion, for instance, different interpretations of the catalogue, as most students have more than 2 advisors from their first year to the senior year. This situation may also have an impact on a student's decision for choosing a major. Once, Wells adopted an "advising core" approach, which offered a special training for some faculty members. However, some of them felt that the chance of students to enroll in the disciplines of the faculty involved in this program would be higher than otherwise. Thus, some faculty members resisted this system.

The sabbatical leaves also can cause some problems for students who may shift to visiting professors who do not have any obligations to be readers on students' senior thesis committees and/or advisors as part of their contracts.

Within Wells 101, it was noted that Dean Koester is doing a good job in an attempt to improve the quality of information given to students. In short, we shall come back to some of the issues raised here.

Question number 28 is the most complicated one to deal with. Some students seem to have confused fields and courses. How does one group these disciplines or subjects? In which department would some courses fit into such as liberation theology or criminology, etc? What may faculty members want to know in this question? Some academic subjects that have emerged at the top include anatomy (or sciences), journalism, languages, history, and women studies. Although, it is not clear that there is any direct correlation between surveying students and the recruitment of new students, the information may help create new courses. Instead of having students go through the complicated processes of fulfilling their academic interests elsewhere like at Cornell University, Ithaca College, or Cayuga Community College (CCC), they should be able to do it at Wells. Given its location, the consortium model or any other similar arrangements that work elsewhere may be difficult to effectively implement at Wells.

Meeting adjourned at 1:31 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo