Registrar's Notes

February 6, 2006

Summer I and II

Students can view Summer I and II schedules through Self-serve. The printed schedule for Summer I/II is now being delivered across campus. Registration for Summer I and II will begin on February 20th. The priority schedule for registration is on the Registrar's website and also in the printed schedule.

Note that registration begins before spring break; although registration will be open during the break, no new groups will begin registration until classes resume.

Fall Scheduling

Fall 2006 schedules are available for final review; any changes or corrections are due back in this office by 5:00 pm this Friday, February 10th.

Please be aware that room assignments for fall may change - we are still in the process of scheduling classrooms for fall. As you know with Brown and part of Kohrman unavailable next year, the room situation is extremely tight. We are working very hard to ensure that all classes meet in the most appropriate and reasonable location, given the current constraints. However it is very likely that staff from this office will be contacting departments to request time changes in some courses. It is also imperative that our courses do follow the class scheduling rules so that we can maximize our room usage. These can be found on http://www.wmich.edu/registrar/staffservices.html , then scroll to the bottom of the page.

I appreciate all of your cooperation as WMU works to improve the overall classroom environment for our students and faculty through building renovation.

Student addresses

It is critical that WMU have accurate and current addresses for our students. Please do what you can to encourage students to keep their addresses updated through self-serve. It is especially important that we have emergency contact information. This information can be updated in the Personal Information section of self-serve, as can other addresses.

For your information, the types of addresses we keep, and their uses are listed below:

• Permanent Address - Address where mail should be sent prior to the first enrollment at WMU and the address where tuition/fees and residence hall invoices will go if there is no separate Billing/Mailing address on file. Finally, this is the address which Financial Aid will use for any paper notifications.
• Parent/Guardian - Alternative to the Permanent Address for a parent or guardian.
• Billing/Mailing - Address where tuition/fees and residence hall invoices AND refund checks will go. If there is no Billing/Mailing address on file, the invoices will go to the Permanent address and refund checks will go to the Current/Local Mailing address.
• Current/Local - Address where refund checks will go if there is no separate Billing/Mailing address on file.
• Diploma - Address used by the Registrar's office to send out diplomas. Once this address is put into the system, it must be changed in the Registrar's office and cannot be changed on-line.

This information is also listed on the update address page in the self-serve area.

Upgrades

You may have noticed that the portal was down on Saturday. Staff from OIT were implementing an upgrade to Luminis III.3.1. Our thanks to these staff for working from late Friday night, through the day Saturday to complete the upgrade and bring the portal back up! In part, this upgrade will support more users, necessary as more and more students, faculty and staff use the portal.

Cognos was also down this weekend to allow an ODS (Operational Data Store) upgrade.

Financial Aid

The Financial Aid office is now 'live' processing all 2006-07 financial aid applications in SIS. Come March, students will be able to see their financial aid information through self-serve. More information will be coming.

EUP visits

This semester my schedule includes visits to all the EUP regional sites. The week before last I enjoyed tours of both the Downtown and the Beltline campuses in Grand Rapids. These are beautiful facilities not only for our students but also for conferences and receptions, including weddings! The Grand Rapids Downtown primarily serves graduate students in CECP masters programs, and students in MBA and MSW programs. The Beltline site also provides classes and support for students in MBA and MSW programs, as well as some undergraduate programs in Elementary Education.

This past week, I visited the Southwest site, located on the campus of Lake Michigan College. This growing area emphasizes offerings in undergraduate Elementary Education and Business programs. Did you know that classes are now being offered at a South Haven location?

My thanks to all staff in both locations. The students they serve are WMU students in every way, although without the EUP regional sites, and without the able staff in these locations, these students would not be part of the WMU community. The programs offered by these regional sites are serving an important need in their areas.

Looking Ahead

• February 24 - Spirit Day - no classes
• February 27 - March 3 - Spring break - no classes
• March 13 - the last day to withdraw from Spring 2006 classes.
• March 18 - WMU Preview Day, an event aimed at high school juniors and their families, taking place in Miller Auditorium.
• March 27 - the start of registration for Fall 2006.
• April 24 -28 - Final Exam week
• April 29 - Commencement - in the University Arena.
• May 2 - Spring 2006 grades due by noon.
• May 8 - Summer 1, 2006 sessions begins.
• June 5 - the first Freshman Orientation program of the summer, with Orientation sessions continuing through much of June.
• June 9 - Transfer Orientation program.

Have a great week, and please let me know how this office can better assist you and our students!

Barbara

barbara.mckinney@wmich.edu