Student Union

Today I had a meeting with Olin's Associate Dean Jeff Cannon.  Dean Cannon is the head of the undergraduate program in Olin (BSBA's) and has been my liaison this term.  

Today we discussed 4 items: Course Evaluations, Curriculum Changes, International Programs and Olin Advising.

1) Course Evaluations Project

As I hope you recall, I have been working with Dean Cannon and other Olin administrators to revamp the Olin Course Evaluations system since this summer.  We have made great progress in bringing in both undergrad (BSBA) and graduate (MBA) opinions and have come to agreement on many questions and ideas that we want in the new Evaluation.

Right before the semester ends, I will (tentatively) be presenting this project and recommendations to a meeting of all of the Olin faculty and administration to gain their support.  If this is endorsed, the next step would likely be to implement the new Evals first on paper (hopefully for the SP2010 semester) and then eventually in an online format.

2) Curriculum Changes

Dean Cannon has constantly expressed his vision that Olin will be undergoing many changes over the next few years to better position our education as students seeking jobs in the marketplace, but also for us after we graduate by improving the brand of an Olin degree.

Some ideas they are considering down the line include having "industry knowledge" be a component of the undergraduate education through some series of "Mini Courses" (approximately 7 weeks in length) that will focus on various industries and the career implications.  Coupled with this, they are considering adding concentrations within each major - say Investment Banking and Corporate Finance within the Finance major - so that you have a better chance to focus your studies here.

On another note, the administration is very aware of the disconnect between faculty knowing what each other are teaching.  There have been some ideas floating to help combat this disconnect and better integrate all classes under the same vision.

3) International Programs

Dean Cannon is working tirelessly to introduce new programs as well as improve the already established programs.  The BSBA program is building relationships in Israel with IDC to create an internship-based semester program similar to the current London program that should be available next year.  Additionally, we will be having a semester program in Washington DC to build upon our relationships with the Brookings Institute.  Further, Olin will be looking to expand its Hong Kong program to include internships in the near future and create new programs in places like Singapore and Central and South America.

In addition to semester-long programs, Dean Cannon is planning on introducing new ~2 week, faculty-led trips after the end of the Spring semester to places like Turkey and Egypt to capitalize on our faculty's expertise and also provide opportunities for students to study abroad but also maintain their competitiveness for summer internships at home.

4) Olin Advising

The current system of Olin Advising is being looked at very critically, and looking for ways to improve the usefulness of the office.  First, available hopefully in Fall 2010, there will be a comprehensive Degree Audit online tool that will allow you to see what requirements, courses etc have been completed, and what you still need to do before you graduate.  Also, it should have a "What-If" tool to allow to you add majors or minors and re-evaluate what you would need to take in order to graduate.

Another option that Olin is looking into is having advisors specifically for Freshmen and Sophomores, and then also for Juniors and Seniors.  By splitting up the advising by year, the hope is that advisors will be able to have better knowledge of classes and programs based on your year - i.e. that upperclass advisors would be better suited to answer questions about upper-level electives, and underclass advisors would be better at the transition and core business classes.

Ultimately, the tone I received from Dean Cannon was a positive one, but also one that recognized the need for constant change and improvement.

If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments about anything posted above, or issues that were not covered here, please comment below or email me at novickj@wustl.edu

Thanks for reading and have a great Thanksgiving break!

-Jake Novick, novickj@wustl.edu

Hello everyone,

As a Liaison to Congress of the South 40, I receive the minutes from meetings of the Resident Student Advisory Board (RSAB).  RSAB is composed of the College Council Presidents, Hannah Bowling the Speaker of CS40, and Dean Justin Carroll - Associate Vice Chancellor for Students.  Similar to some Senate meetings, they bring in administrators to have conversations about issues facing students and their experience at WU.

This past Tuesday, RSAB met with Barb Braun, the Director of Student Technology Services (STS) to speak about the current state of technology and many of the issues we have been running into this year. Below are the minutes from this meeting courtesy of Hannah Bowling.  

For more information, please feel free to email Hannah cs40speaker@wustl.edu.

RSAB Minutes

Meeting with Barb Braun –Student Technology Services

November 16, 2009 

Attending: Steven Perlberg (WGE), Maanasa Bandla (RuSoFo), Julia Greenberger (HIGE), Lindsey Zhang (Brookings), Paul Dohmen (JKL), Nicole Adesman (Wayman Crow), Diana Chu (Park/Mudd), Tricia Yeh (Lee Beau), Mark Bigg (LK), Chrystal Okonta (NSA), Hannah Bowling (Speaker), Dean Carroll

 STS Overview:

Current Major Project:

I)     Printingà waste reduction

A)   Costly in terms of both financial and environmental resources

B)   Goal to make people more aware and more accountable for their usage

II)   Last week’s printing (81,000 sheets)

A)   Last year: full semester: 250,000 sheets used total

B)   Currently an increase in printing

C)   Can access how much saved through Paper Cut System

a)    Must actually release the printing at a station by the printer

b)   Saved 3500 sheets last week

D)   Next step:

a)    Possible contact ‘heavy printers’ – can see the top 10 printers

(1) Not a punishment, but to raise their awareness 

Student Technology Advisory Committee

I)     Born last April  

A)   Takes the place of an old SU group  

B)   8 members: 4 at large members who apply, 4 appointed by various student groups (CS40, SU, NSA, Greeks)  

II)   Goal: ‘technology done with you rather than for you”  

A)   Current student e-mail pilot project 

a)    Live@edu: Microsoft Project

Wireless Issues

I)     Survey Results

A)   Problems were ‘everywhere’ on the 40

B)   Almost 900 students responded-largest response to a STC survey ever

C)   Reports supported ad hoc comments about issues mostly occurring after 5 pm

a)    Contact STS if you’re in a corner suite with dead spots-tell Building/Floor/nearest closet/nearest door/time of issue

D)   Some of the issues come from the massive increase in students with smartphones like blackberries or iphones----they pull on WUFI

a)    Previously: around 4000 registered devices, now around 12,000

b)   Idea about there being more freshmen that are using the wireless and causing the issues: false!

II)   Actually controlled by “Network Services”

III) 2 weeks ago: “opened up the bandwidth”

A)   Previously: at all times half the bandwidth went to Danforth Campus, half to STS users

a)    Now: after 5 pm, all bandwidth (except that being used by university researchers) will be directed to residential areas

B)   Recent contract for more that will “very substantially” increase available bandwidth

a)    Likely contracts will be signed by 2^nd semester, aren’t yet allowed to tell how much will be added

IV) Library

A)   Have recently added more Access Points 

Suggestions/Final Comments:

I)     Residents paying for printing in the future

A)   Undetermined, isn’t under STS’s job description

B)   Eads decision is under ArtSci’s purview

II)   Suggestion

A)   Make students able to see the number of pages they’ve printed this year and what that means in terms of carbon output.

Again, if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below or email myself (novickj@wustl.edu) or Hannah Bowling (cs40speaker@wustl.edu).

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

As I mentioned in my post in April, one of my personal projects for Senate has been to help create a revamped Course Evaluations system for Olin Business School courses. 

I have been working a lot over the summer with Dean Cannon and Dean King, the dean of Faculty in Olin on this project.  There is definitely consensus that the current system is not optimal, and that changes should be proposed.

Over the summer, I sent out a survey (please feel free to take it) to my Senate Constituents regarding their views on the current system, and opinions on some proposed ideas for a new system.  This feedback was taken very seriously, and now we are moving forward.

How You Can Help

I will be holding a couple meetings with a focus group of Olin students over the next month to further narrow down the logistics of the Evaluations (how they are taken, viewed etc) as well as the actual questions that are asked.  If you are interested in joining this group, please email me at novickj@wustl.edu for more information.

My hope is to have a proposal for a new Course Evaluations system endorsed by Olin undergraduates and graduates as well as the Olin administration, sent upstairs for approval by October.

Please leave comments about what you would like to see in new Course Evals, where you’d like to see them, or any other questions or concerns, I’d love to hear them.

Thanks for reading!

Hi, I’m Jake Novick, one of your Olin Senators this term.  Last week I met with my SU Liaison, Dean Jeff Cannon from the Olin Business School.  Among the things we spoke about were the progress of Management 150 over the past year, instituting new evals for courses, and creating a new program to initiate more connection between students and faculty in Olin.  Please read on!

Management 150: The Olin Experience