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Ted Hoef

By the time you are reading this newsletter, your son or daughter will be well into the 2nd half of their first semester of college. Time sure does go by quickly. Thanksgiving will be here shortly. Soon, students will be preparing for those end-of-the-term projects and studying for final exams.

It is during the second half of the semester when new students start experiencing higher levels of stress. All of the projects, papers, and presentations start to really pile up in their courses and they sometimes find themselves struggling to keep up with the work load. It may also be the time when they get a lower-than-expected grade on an assignment. This is especially true for writing assignments and oral presentations because this is where many students find the greatest difference from what was expected in high school. You can help by being supportive and encouraging your son or daughter to use the resources at the University, especially the Academic Resource Center and Writing Center.

When you read The Campus Link articles that are part of this issue, you will find a story about students keeping abreast of world news. Webster’s Student Government sponsors a readership program on campus that provides free copies of USA Today and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to students every day. Students can pick up a paper at one of many newspaper racks around campus.

Student Advocacy

Approximately 65 student leaders from the Student Government Association and student organizations attended a session called Setting the Delegates’ Agenda, held during the Officers’ Summit on September 19 and generated a list of items that they would like to see improved at the University. They then voted for the top seven (7) items that they wanted to see discussed at the September 30 session with key university administrators. I facilitated the agenda-setting session.

These student leaders, joined by Student Government Association (SGA) and other student leaders (45 total), then met with the following administrators and discussed the highest priority topics. The discussion was facilitated by Heather Sweeney, president of SGA.

Administrators in Attendance

Neil George, president
Jim Staley, vice president for academic affairs
Dave Garafola, vice president for finance and administration
Deborah Dey, vice president for students and enrollment management
Larry Haffner, vice president for information technology
Faith Maddy, vice president for development and alumni programs
Karen Luebbert, vice president and executive assistant to the president

Heather Sweeney began by briefly reviewing progress on the top items from last semester, including renovation of the Visual Arts Studio, subsidizing metro passes, recycling, campus signage, and student technology improvements.

During the Officer’s Summit on September 19, two students volunteered to present each of the seven topics at the discussion session on September 30. These students coordinated the research on each topic and developed PowerPoint presentations. These student leaders spent many hours on these presentations.

The top seven items and the presenters included:

1. Double Majors on the Diploma: Crystal Lewis and Jordan Franks made a presentation about student interest in printing double majors on their diploma. The University made a commitment to make this change, hopefully to be implemented by May 2009.
2. Extended Hours for the Library: Tyler Holman and Danielle (Dee) Martin made a presentation on student interest in keeping the full library open 24 hours a day. The University made a commitment to keep the library open until 3:00 a.m. during midterm and finals weeks on a trial basis.
3. Textbook Rental: Lydia Schulte and Matt Grant made a presentation on student interest in a textbook rental program. The University asked the students to make this presentation to the Faculty Senate and obtain faculty feedback on their proposal.
4. Expanding the Use of the ID Card: Kevin McWilliams and Nick Dunne made a presentation about student interest in expanding the use of the student ID card. More research on costs will have to be explored by two of the University vice presidents before decisions can be made on the priority to be assigned to the establishment of a “one-card” system at Webster.
5. International Student Health Insurance: Michelle Overington and Daniella Olivares made a presentation about the requirement that international students enroll in the University’s student health insurance plan. The University committed to improvements in the way that we make students aware of the insurance and how it can be used.
6. Academic Honors: Erin King and Hannah Ingram made a presentation about student interest in changing the criteria for the dean’s list. The University asked the students to make this presentation to the Faculty Senate to obtain feedback from faculty on their proposal. The University will also study the impact of changing the criteria from the top 10% to a flat 3.7 GPA requirement.
7. Course Evaluations: Brooke Benbenek and Alyssa Hammonds made a presentation about student interest in improving the course evaluation system. Their original goal was to make this an on-line process to cut down on time and waste of paper resources. They now understand that this is already in the works. Their new goal is that they want to be able to see results of past evaluations to help students make a choice about professors. The University asked the students to make this presentation to the Faculty Senate to obtain feedback from faculty on their proposal. The University is concerned about making the results of the evaluation public due to the fact that this information is used to make personnel decisions.

The student presenters did a great job in making a case for their proposals. The University administrators in attendance were all extremely impressed with the professionalism that the students displayed in researching and presenting their topics.

This Delegates’ Agenda program, held once per semester, is a great example of Webster’s commitment to being student-centered. Student leaders have done an excellent job of bringing important issues to light over the years, and this has helped Webster to continue to improve.

Many of you responded to a survey that assisted some of the students with their presentation. The results of this quick survey of parents of first-year students are shown here:

106 parents responded

• 90.6% said their student would be interested in using the student ID card to make purchases on-campus for vending, copying, or laundry.
• 83.7% would likely put money into a student ID card account so their student could use it to make purchases on-campus for vending, copying, or laundry.
• 72.4%-said their student would be interested in using the student ID card to make purchases at off-campus restaurants or for delivery (e.g., pizza delivery).
• 62.5% would likely put money into a student ID card account so their student could use the ID to make purchases at off-campus restaurants or for delivery (e.g., pizza delivery).

Student Leadership Development

We will be sponsoring an Emerging Leaders retreat on January 24-25, 2009. If your son or daughter is an aspiring student leader at Webster encourage them to apply for this excellent opportunity. They can contact associate dean John Buck at buckjh@webster.edu or the Webster LEADS student assistants at leads@webster.edu for more information.

We hope to have another newsletter out to you in December. We’d love to get your suggestions for future articles.

Sincerely,

Comments and Suggestions

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future newsletters, please send them to hoeftl@webster.edu. We look forward to your comments and suggestions.

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