Division of Student Affairs Annual Report 2009-2010
Student Governance & Organizations Coversheet
How many student positions did you employ this fiscal year
(2009–2010)?
__15___
What was the total amount that you project will have been spent on student compensation at the end of this fiscal year?
$ __82,074____Wages/Stipend$ __30,000___Scholarship
Apart from students who are compensated through stipend or scholarship, how many will have regularly served as nonpaid volunteer or interns in your department?
______Volunteer Workers____1_____ Interns (Unpaid/Graduate)
How much money was raised in revenue from programs or services provided?
$ _11,585____
How much money was raised for charitable or philanthropic causes?
$ _500.00____
How many volunteers and volunteer hours did your department contribute through its programs and services?
Hours Clocked: __250 est.___Volunteer Total: __60 est.__
Please list any notable student or staff awards or accolades received by those in your department:
Molly Alfers, Vanessa Balderrama, Carter Bedford – EXCEL certificate of Appreciation
Kent Long – Wayne Duke Student Leadership Award
Jennifer Fox, Jeff Hazelrigs – Outstanding Student Leadership Recognition
Student Governance & Organizations
Annual Report 2009-2010
Unit Profile/Introduction to Major Goals/Initiatives
The Office of Student Governance & Organizations provides students with campus involvement opportunities. We emphasize and support the philosophy of maximizing student learning through active participation. In addition our activities support the concept of the university community by involving students in determining the university/community environment. Student Governance’s goal is to increase student interaction on a variety of levels to enhance the co-curricular experience.
Program Service Areas
Student Congress
Student Congress continued the new Student Governance program of Wings, Wieners, and Water to welcome students to UT Arlington for the Fall 2009 semester. The Mav Connection telephone directory, the apartment guide, and the Mav Discount program are continued services offered to the University community. New initiatives such as the Senator Outreach program and use of campus Opinion boards helped to keep Senators in touch with the student body. Student Congress also considered over 35 resolutions and spearheaded 4 early voting sites for Tarrant County residents.
UTA Ambassadors
The introduction of MavCamp to welcome new Mavericks and help them understand what has contributed to making UT Arlington what it is today. Also the Ambassadors introduced Spirit Friday to instill campus pride to students. In addition to this programming, Ambassadors reached out to over 40 registered student organizations teaching members unique aspects of our campus.
Graduate Student Senate
The Graduate Student Senate, in collaboration with the Office of Graduate Studies, continued to offer the TAGSS Travel Award for students conducting or presenting research. This year $16,000 was allocated to help students further their research as well as the reputation of UT Arlington.
UTA HOSTS Peer Mentoring Program
The UTA HOSTS! Program continued the tradition of students helping other students. During the 2009-2010 academic year over 1,000 students participated in the program. UTA-HOSTS! added 6 academically based drop-in sessions to increase mentor numbers and encourage program feedback.
Freshman Leaders on Campus
FLOC continued a tradition of involvement and collaboration throughout 2009-2010. Traditional programs such as Holiday Extravaganza, Paint Your Ride with Pride, and the Freshman mixer continue to engage a large number of participants. In terms of collaboration FLOC partnered with 10 (ten) university departments, 5 (five) local businesses, and students for their Food Sustainability project. Four hundred plus of the university community attended the Food, Inc. documentary showing, and who could forget Frenchie and the 2 week Palo Duro/Gallery displays aimed at helping educate the campus community about food consumption.
Student Organizations
Over 280 students organizations with reported 8000 plus students offer a wide range of campus programming to various constituents. Organizations continue to comply with state mandated Risk Management training. Student organizations at UT Arlington are responsible for over 1,500 campus events.
Challenges
Student Governance does face the challenge of working around the complex lives of our students. Many students are involved but are pulled in many directions. Student Involvement, academic responsibilities, and off campus employment continue to divide the time and attention of our students. Many of our students are juggling multiple items of equal importance at all times. Space continues to be a concern for our area. Student Organizations are looking for centralized private meeting space, storage, and technology (computers, copiers, faxes). This will be a continued concern for our area as we look to provide better services to our student organizations.
Staffing became a concern this year with the loss of Jaime Williams and the vacancy of the Director position. Her departure in August still provides adjustment issues for the department. Additional pressures and responsibilities were placed on an already thinly staffed area.
The loss of the departmental free balance was also a challenge. Some unbudgeted programs were threatened and may not be continued this upcoming year. For example our budget does not support 3 FLOC advisors as well as the Volunteer Leader scholarships that are distributed each semester.
Milestones/Year in Review
- August – Wings, Wieners, & Water for incoming and returning UT Arlington students. Over 200 students took part in this welcome week event.
- September-LACC Underclassmen Workshop: Various offices on campus participated on the panel. They addressed what they do on campus and how they can help the students.
- September – NCC Successful Sophomores starts here: Upperclassmen held a workshop for underclassmen. Workshop consisted of activities such as mock interviews, test prep, and course descriptions.
- September-UTA Ambassadors Mav Camp. MavCamp is re-imagined by the UTA Ambassadors. Over 50 registered first semester students participated in this program.
- October-FLOC Networking 101 Presentation by Counseling Office Staff/ Get the Scoop. Freshman program designed to help members of FLOC make the most of all their resources.
- October-UTA Ambassadors Spirit Friday. The UTA Ambassadors organize to impart school spirit into the campus. Over 10 student organizations participate in the first event with Freshman Leaders on Campus winning the competition.
- November – Science Constituency Council Open House: Over 20 Graduate Schools came to campus so our College of Science students could get information about graduate school. Several hundred students participate receiving information on possible careers and graduate programs.
- November-FLOC’s Food Sustainability Project, Food, Inc. film screening. FLOC’s OneBook co curricular program with over 400 students, faculty and staff in attendance. The Honors College Council holds a discussion forum in addition to this screening.
- November-Campus Elections featuring participation from over 1600 students in the election process.
- January-Activity Fair Day has over 150 student organizations registered and over a thousand students in attendance. Also 20 local businesses showcase their products.
- February – JCEO/ESC Engineers Week. An office collaboration with the College of Engineering with a variety of events for engineering students. Highlight event is an Engineering Job fair that brings in over 30 potential employers and graduate programs.
- February-Homecoming Activities. SGO components assist in Homecoming with various events including Paint Your Ride with Pride, Mav Swap, Mav Trivia, Golf Cart Parade, and volunteering efforts at other major events.
- April-Campus Elections featuring participation from over 2200 students in the election process.
- April – LACC Golladay Awards: Allan Saxe won the Award for Excellence in Teaching. Karel Carpenter received Outstanding Adjunct Teaching Award. Election numbers had a total of 966 voters out of 4200 students. An increase in student participation from previous years.
- April-FLOC’s continued programming for the OneBook. Programs this month feature a Palo Duro/Gallery display, Sustaniability Discussion/Tasting and Food for Thought (Faculty Appreciation) with over 30 faculty members in attendance.
- May-JCCA’s annual Burger Burn. Over 70 faculty and staff participate in a mixer for students. The Burn also serves as a wrap up of the academic year.
Throughout the year….HOSTS Drop Ins (6), TAGSS Awards ($16,000), Program Assistance Funds ($10,000), Spirit Fridays (6), Student Organization Risk Management Sessions
Feature Story “Keeping the ‘Student’ in Student Congress”
The Maverick Opinion Boards solicited opinions from the university community on three major issues. The issues were cost of tuition and textbooks, the closing of Ransom Hall Computing facility for the establishment of University College, the Tobacco Initiative, and miscellaneous issues. The boards were placed in high traffic areas over a 3 day period to gather the most interest and feedback. These areas, the UC Mall, Library Mall, and the Maverick Activities Center garnered over 2,000 opinions from the student body. Students expressed their feelings in depth on the closing of Ransom Hall’s 24 hour computer lab and the Tobacco Free Initiative. A Shorthorn article was quoted saying, “When people above you are making decisions that affect you, its important that they get your feedback and how you feel about it.” Overall students appreciated the opportunity to provide feedback on campus initiatives and a similar program for students from Student Congress will be looked at in the future.