Star Staff for April 

Teresa Torres
Loan Administrator,
Financial Aid

VIPs - Very Important Ponies 

Some of our VIPs this month are:
Laura Phelps - a customer write, "My diploma just got to my desk -- without one crease!!  Many thanks, Laura, for your help, and for your wonderful customer-focus!  I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the extra effort you put into this.  It means a lot to me.  You are a real credit to SMU!"

Donna Rodriguez/Anna Gomez - On Friday, March 22 - Scholar Day, Donna and Anna took it upon themselves to cleanup the women's restroom on the first floor of Perkins Administration Building so that it would look nice for our families visiting on that day.

Kelly McMillan - walked a student from her area to the literature rack and handed him a transfer application.

Ernie Calderon - assisted a student in retrieving a refund for an internal error.  He made sure the student received what he was entitled to. Thank you Ernie for giving good customer service.

Mike Holt - took responsibility for a large project and completed it well before deadline.

Laura Del Rio - In the middle of a busy day, (and we all have many things to do) Laura offered to stop and help me with some issues and problems.  She also offered to work on a Saturday, if I needed, to help me catch-up!  This attitude is a very important start to great customer service and DES cross area team work.

Innovation in Registrar's Area
Grade Lapsing - Student Records is pleased to announce the implementation of Grade Lapsing for undergraduate students beginning with the Spring 2002 grades .  This automatic process replaces Records' manual tracking of Incomplete Agreements and Records' manual changes of grades of Incomplete to grades of F or an alternate grade specified by the instructor on the Incomplete Agreement required by University policy. At predetermined dates, specified by the setup on the Academic Program table, the Grade Lapse process is run and "lapses" all grades of Incomplete to grades of F or the specified alternate grades by term.  (The alternate grade specified by the instructor on the Incomplete Agreement is entered manually into the Student Incomplete panel by Records - takes only seconds to enter!)  The Incomplete Agreements are imaged on a daily basis versus the old system of filing and tracking.  According to University policy, the maximum period of time to clear the grade of Incomplete for an undergraduate course is 12 months.  Grade Lapsing is sure to be a hit with the Student Records team

Requisite checking - Fall 2002 Continuing Student Enrollment brings with it many new and exciting changes.  One of the less visible ones is requisite checking.  Undergraduate Cox School of Business agreed to be our pilot school in implementing this new functionality.  Prior to Fall 2002, departments monitored enrollment in their classes by placing restrictions on them.  The restriction could be anything from a student's major or minor, minimum required GPA, University Honors, and the list goes on.  Departments will now be given the option to control enrollment based on the required courses they define in the Course Catalog.  What is a required course?  Required courses are those that a student must have to fulfill degree requirements having earned a grade of C- or better.  Completion of a required course usually precludes enrollment in a higher level course or, core courses.  For example, a student wishing to enroll in ACCT 2311 is required to have completed and passed, or be currently enrolled in ECO 1311, 1312 and either MATH 1309 or 1337.  The requisite checking functionality checks the student's enrollment record for these courses as completed at SMU, or Test Credit or Transfer Credit, and allows the student to enroll in the course if all requirements are satisfied without any other intervention from the department, such as issuing a stamp, or granting Student Permission.  These requirements can range from very complex, to very simple.  We work with the department to tailor fit the requisites to what they need.  Many thanks goes to Bert Greynolds, Betsy Bayer and the rest of UG Cox for their spirit of volunteerism and working so closely with us in this effort!!  We look forward to rolling this out to the other schools and departments for Spring 2003 enrollment!

Division Highlights

OnLine Registration
Click below for the photo show.

Important Dates and Things:
Financial Aid Awarding - 
New First Years - March 15
Summer 2002 - April 1
Continuing UG - April 15
Graduate Students - May 1
Transfer Students - May 15

Mustang Days - April 11 & 12, April 19 & 20

Last Day for Regular Admission Tour - April 25

Deposit Deadline - May 1

May Commencement
Time is running out --  mark your calendars for May Commencement 2002 which will be held Saturday, May 18 at 9:30 a.m. in Moody Coliseum. 
If you are interested in volunteering at any of the academic ceremonies please contact Erin O’Neil at 8-2037 or eoneil@mail.smu.edu.

Quotation of the Month
Yes, I am a dreamer.  For a dreamer is one who can find his way by moonlight, and see the dawn before the rest of the world
Oscar Wilde