Tuesday, August 2, 2016

ACA July 2016 General Meeting

Obligatory breakfast pic! - everything was SO good.
Thank you to Athletic Student Services for sponsoring this meeting and providing us with a delicious breakfast.




Our hosts provided many useful updates in reference to UT student-athletes and how we can help those students break the "Athletics bubble."

Kat Hastings, Associate Athletics Director for Student Services, discussed the steps being made to help new student-athletes transition to UT Austin. Athletics is expecting 135 new student-athletes this year. Only 12 attended summer orientation (many were participating in U.S. Olympic Trials!) and the rest will attend the August 19 orientation. Athletics Student Services teamed up with New Student Services (NSS), Student Conduct and Accountability, and various other offices to provide important programming for the new student-athletes geared to enhance understanding of college and academic life including programming with UTPD, Voices Against Violence, and CMHC. Some presentations will be offered for all student-athletes, not just new students.

Other useful updates from Kat:
  • Monday, August 22: Dean of Students Student Organization fair in the North End Zone- there will be 50-70 student organizations for student-athletes, but the fair will be open to all students on campus. 
  • More to come: Advising Night will be held in the fall so students can talk to an advisor from their college.
Dr. Marnie Binfield and Alanna Bitzel provided updates on the Academic Mentors, Tutoring and Writing programs available for UT student-athletes and staffed by UT graduate and undergraduate students with content expertise.
Academic Mentors help student-athletes during study hall, a time designed to instill good study habits. Academic Mentors must have a Bachelor's degree and are usually UT graduate students. Academic Tutors are content-focused guides who explain concepts in-depth at an individual student's pace. Undergraduate students may apply but must have at least two long semesters enrolled at UT. Athletics Student Services is still looking to fill both positions; follow the Academic Mentors and Academic Tutors links for position descriptions.

Blake Barlow, Assistant Athletics Director of Risk Management and Compliance Services, recommended reaching out with questions, comments and concerns regarding NCAA compliance for student-athletes. He briefly described new NCAA academic misconduct legislation. This legislation defers to the university process for student conduct. Here's the helpful handout he provided to depict the process: NCAA Flow Chart



Next up: AlcoholEdu updates from Shannon Hanby, Health Promotions Coordinator with University Health Services

AlcoholEdu is an online educational program all incoming students must complete (freshmen and transfer students under 21- if a transfer student did it at another school, they will have to do it again). Through interactive and personalized course content, the program teaches college students risk reduction in the areas of alcohol and drugs. There is also a companion module called Haven that addresses sexual assault and healthy relationship promotion.

AlcoholEdu consists of 2 parts. Part 1 was sent out August 1st and takes about 2 hours to complete (1 hour for each module- the AlcoholEdu and Haven). Students have from August 1st to August 23rd to complete Part 1. Part 2 should be completed by October 28. Students who fail to complete either Part 1 or Part 2 of the AlcoholEdu program by November 4 will not be able to see their grades online for that semester. You may see students at the end of the semester requesting to see their grades. Please direct students to the Health Promotion Resource Center (HPRC) to get that bar cleared, 512-475-8252.


ACA Treasurer Updates from Josh Barham

In one of his final duties as ACA Treasurer, Josh updated the association on the the 2015-2016 ACA budget. Profit for the year was $951.52; down slightly from last year. Josh explained that PDD came with additional expenses that were unforeseen (hidden fees are the worst). The executive board and PDD committee used extra funds from 2014-2015 year to cover the cost.




ACA Advising Awards presented by Awards and Recognition Committee

· Dedication to Students Award was awarded to Mark-Anthony Zuniga for his tremendous work with Theatre and Dance students this year

· Taking Initiative and Creating Positive Change was awarded to Yvanna Corella for her Family Orientation Packet


Thank you to both of you for being such stellar academic advisors! UT is a better community because of professionals like you.


Kudos - there were 23 this month!!! Kudos have a new home on The ACA Argosy blog: http://theargosy.blogspot.com/p/kudos. Please take a moment to see who was recognized!

Can we beat 23 in September?! #IHopeSo


A special thank you to the outgoing ACA Executive Committee for all your hard work - another successful year in the books!

ACA Executive Committee for 2015-2016
Sarah McKay – President
Kayla Ford – President Elect
Amanda Golden & Lexi Losch – Co-Vice Presidents/Program Chairs
Josh Barham – Treasurer
Yesenia Sanchez – Secretary
Kelsey Thompson – Historian
Blake Wilms – Communications Coordinator