ACA September 2015 General Meeting

A great meeting to kick off the new academic year! The UTeach Urban Teachers Program was kind enough to sponsor this meeting held on September 16th, 2015 in the SAC Legislative Assembly Room. Full meeting minutes will be available on the ACA website.

Breakfast was so excellent that I was too busy eating to even take pictures of it. A mistake I won't make again! But there was a wonderful spread of Tacodeli tacos, fruit, and several jugs of coffee. Even decaf coffee!

After breakfast, our esteemed president, Sarah McKay, took to the stage, welcoming us all to the new academic year. I loved the quotes she mentioned. Remembering that "everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't" is an important way for me to think about approaching students and colleagues.

Unfortunately, I didn't snap to my duty of taking pictures as historian until several minutes into the meeting so there isn't a picture of Sarah. I hope that Bill Nye will stand in her place.

Bill Nye 

After Sarah welcomed us to the new year, we got to hear from our speakers. First, we heard from faculty members and students from UTeach Urban Teachers. Dr. Cinthia Salinas, Dr. Allison Skerrett, Dr. Randy Bomer,  and Dr. Anthony Brown spoke to us about the UTUT undergraduate and graduate programs.

Q&A with Dr. Salinas 

We also had several student speakers who were a joy to hear from. Their excitement for and engagement with the UTUT program was great to see!

Next up was Caitlin James with Admissions.

Admissions Information! 

All the way from John Hargis Hall!

John Hargis Hall

as far away as the moon!

Caitlin spoke about the admissions process that students go through and gave some updates on scholarships such as Texas Advance and Presidential Scholars.

She recommended that when prospective students have questions to direct them to their assigned admissions counselor.

Our President-Elect, Kayla Ford, came up next to give us some updates from advisory council.

She discussed how advisory council is both proactive and reactive in regards to making recommendations on advising trends as well as responding to ongoing items such as the campus carry legislation.

Finally, we ended with kudos and announcements. Several new folks were introduced. Welcome to ACA for all the new members!

In case you missed the kudos I announced, I've included them all below. Thanks for participating in kudos! 

From: Manny Gonzalez

“To Andrea Chytil Gonzalez for being a wonderfully, supportive resource and role model for first-year students, FIG mentors, and our daughter Layla.”

From: Sarah McKay

“Big huge enormous shout out to Jess Hust, who has been a rock star in helping me transition to the EVS program in the last week. She's taken so much time out of her busy days to help me get set up and start to understand my new work challenges. I would've crumbled without her wisdom, support, and patience with my incessant questions. Thanks, lady!!”

From: Rose

“Thanks, Tisha Monsey, for helping me and one of our shared students out at the 11th hour on the 12th class day. Much appreciated!”

From: Margo Cousins

“Kudos to Chase Dawkins!

In the past few years, his detailed proactive approach to registration advising has prevented most last-minute add/drop emergencies for biomedical engineering students at the beginning of the semester. His hard work is so appreciated by the students!

Well done Chase!”

See you next meeting on October 21st at the SAC Legislative Assembly Room!