DES NEWSLETTER

The Division of Enrollment Services Newsletter
Southern Methodist University
An Electronic Newsletter of
Undergraduate Admission, Financial Aid, Student Financial Services, and the University Registrar

Volume III, Issue VIII October 2004

STAR ACHIEVEMENTS

Collected over $21million

CONGRATULATIONS
Diana Russell - received the Rising Star Award given to 4 young Admission professionals at the annual meeting of NACAC.

June Hagler - elected to a two year term on the Board of Directors of TASFAA.

STAFF LEAVING
Lauren Hanson - Student Account Specialist

Christina Alexander - Loan Specialist

ANNIVERSARIES
Laura Del Rio - 12 Yrs!

Chris Salone - 6 years

Cara Hendricks - 2 years

Mary Eddison - 2 years

BIRTHDAYS
Barbara Waters - Oct. 10

Alison Odom - Oct. 14

Stan Eddy - Oct. 15

Diana Russell - Oct. 23

Sharla Roderick - Oct. 26

Marc Peterson - Oct. 31

If you are not on the list and should be, this is produced from the Employee Roster on the V drive. Let Kathy know if there is an error.

VIPs - Very Important Ponies

Some of our VIPs this month are:

Stephanie Nonnemacher - really came through for me with one of our students with a loan problem. She went the whole nine yards to clear up the problem and the student went away happy. Thanks, Stephanie.

Karen Sammons - This morning I helped out processing one of the FedEx requests for a Transcript. After processing it, I had to leave before putting the notes into imaging. Karen was then processing request and noticed, by cross referencing the imaging system, that the hardcopy of the request was missing. She not only processed the request but followed up until she located the hardcopy so that the student would not be charged twice for transcript and shipping. She also made sure the FedEx going out had the correct FedEx label on the envelop because they had already contacted the student to give him the tracking number. Way to follow up, Karen.

Cheryl Moore - you win the prize for the most helpful and patient person I ever deal with. I am starting my 9th year at SMU and appreciate so much your rare, excellent customer service. Although I attend ACCESS. SMU classes, I use it so seldom, I am clumsy and/or lost when I try to find something, as you fully know. Again I appreciate your help and I am positive I can say the same for Dr. Caswell.

Southern Methodist University along with the University of North Texas will host the Texas Bursars and University Cashiers Association (Texas BUC$) conference on Sunday, October 17^th through Wednesday, October 20^th. The theme of this year’s conference is, “Change, Change, Change” and will offer a number of dynamic sessions including: Challenges of the Student Business Office, Building a Collaborative Relationship with other Enrollment Service Departments and Effective Training Methods for New Employees in the Bursar's Office. Our DES Directors and staff members will participate in several presentations at the conference.

We are proud to announce that the number of colleges and universities registered to attend the conference has dramatically increased from last year. There has also been an increase in participation from area community colleges. Over 100 attendees and over 30 vendors are scheduled to attend the 4-day event.

SMU will host a fajita dinner Sunday night. Attendees will also tour the Blanton Student Services Building. On the final night of the conference the President’s dinner will be held at the famous Gilley’s in Downtown Dallas.

New Wait List Option

The Registrar’s office is beginning a pilot program using new ACCESS.SMU enrollment functionality. During Spring 2005 enrollment, students will be able to waitlist select classes. Students can add themselves to the ACCESS.SMU waitlist once a class has reached its enrollment capacity. If seats in the waitlisted class become available, students on the waitlist will automatically be added to the class according to their position on the waitlist. For more information on the classes that are part of the waitlist pilot program and for waitlist guidelines, please view the sections on wait listing under the Enrollment Information portion of the Student Tutorial, http://www.smu.edu/help/access/tutorial/student/

DON'T FORGET
VOTE - November 2
It's a responsibility as well as a right.

DIVISION MEETINGS
Next Division Staff Meeting
November 3 - 8:30am

Division Highlights

Important Dates and Things:
Nov 1 - Spring Enrollment Begins
Oct 29 – SF Month End
Nov 3 - Last day to drop a class
Nov 5-7 - Homecoming
Nov 22 – Last Day to Withdraw
Nov 24 - no classes
Nov 25-26 – University Holiday
Dec 2 – Last day of Instruction
Dec 3-4 – Reading Days
Dec 6-11 - Examinations
Dec 11 – December Graduation
Dec 12 - Residence Halls Close
Dec 20-24 – University Holiday
Dec 31 - University Holiday
Jan 5 - Residence Halls Open
Jan 12 - First Day of Class

Quotation of the Month

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Seneca

SMU Trivia

Question
How many faculty members did each department have when SMU opened it's doors in 1915?

Answer
Each department had one faculty member except English and History -- which each had two. John H. McGinnis was the original faculty member, coming to SMU with President Hyer.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Below are links to material developed or collected at Professional Conference, Workshop, Seminars, Professional Journals, etc. Click on the title of the item in which you are interested. Material is formatted so that you may print a copy.