November 26, 2007

Keep an eye on your mailbox...

Keep an eye on your mailbox as The Friends of the Cofrin Library organization is offering chances at a grand prize $500.00 gift card in its annual fundraising raffle beginning November 21st. The gift card may be used on any item in the Phoenix Bookstore, including new and used textbooks, clothing, gifts, school supplies and anything in the store! Additional prizes include a $300 and $100 gift card.

Tickets will be mailed to the permanent addresses of students the week of November 20th. Chances are $2 each, or six for $10, with the proceeds helping purchase equipment, furniture, resources and other Library needs.

The winners will be selected Thursday, January 3. Have questions? Contact Deb Anderson of the Cofrin Library at 920.465.2539.

November 5, 2007

UWGB goes to paperless billing system

Heads-up to parents (and future parents) of University of Wisconsin-Green Bay students. Beginning with the spring 2008 semester, the university is moving to a paperless billing system, called “ebilling.”

One last paper bill will be sent in December 2007, for spring 2008 charges. After that no paper bills will be sent, only the email notification via campus e-mail if a student has a balance due. They will be directed to the finances section of the Student Information System (SIS).

Beginning November 6, 2007, students will be able to grant “SIS Guest Access” to their financial account to parents or others, who will then be able to see charges and make payments directly online or print out account information for payment by mail or in person.

“The move was made for increased accuracy, efficiency, and, it’s environmentally friendly as well,” said Bursar Dick Anderson.

For more information see the student billing Web site, or contact Student Billing at 920-465-2224.

October 19, 2007

Nothing to do on campus?

Are you hearing complaints that life on campus is dead? There’s nothing to do, and your son or daughter is bored out of their mind?

Have your student check out the Stuff2Do vlog to get some ideas.

October 9, 2007

Birthday Wishes and More...

Can’t be with your UWGB student or friend to celebrate a birthday, success or just cheer them up?

Why not send them a cake, chocolate chip cookies or balloon bouquet?

Prices:

* 9” x 13” frosted and decorated cake, chocolate or white cake and choice of chocolate or white frosting $8.00
* 1 dozen chocolate chip cookies $4.00
* 5 Balloon Bouquet, 4 latex, 1 foil of your choice) $7.00
* 7 Balloon Bouquet, 5 latex, 2 foil of your choice) $10.00

Click here to get the details

September 6, 2007

Want to visit your student on campus?

If you’d like to visit your student who is living on campus, there are just a few things to remember.

Get a parking pass and avoid a ticket.
You can get one at the Parking Office located on Main Entrance Drive (number 34 of this map). The Parking Office will also be able to help direct you to the housing area.

Arrange the trip with your student.

Parents are not given access to dorms, so let your student know you’re stopping by to see them. The Community Center (located in the center of the housing area) has a nice TV, internet access and some comfy couches if you’d like to wait there.

When are visiting hours?
There are no set hours for visiting your student, campus is open to parents 24/7.

UW-Green Bay starts year with strong demand, diverse student body

(provided by University Communications)

view of campus skyline

GREEN BAY (4 September 2007) - The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay kicked off the 2007-08 academic year today with an enrollment exceeding 5,800 students, including more than 1,000 new freshmen and a record 681 transfers.

UW-Green Bay's fall enrollment also includes a record number of new students of color, including 64 new freshmen and 67 transfers. Overall, 396 students of color are enrolled this fall.

The enrollment of 5,807 combines students enrolled in on-campus programs and those served through the University's Adult Degree Programs.

Sue Keihn, associate provost for student affairs/dean of students, said the enrollment figures reflect a continuing strong demand for a UW-Green Bay education.

"This is a place where students want to be," Keihn said. "They want to take advantage of what UW-Green Bay has to offer in the classroom and in activities all across campus."

The students come from 71 of Wisconsin's 72 counties, 37 other states and 26 other countries.

First-day enrollment figures are a snapshot of UW-Green Bay's enrollment. The University educated 7,326 students from Sept. 1, 2006 through Aug. 31, 2007.

UW-Green Bay graduated a record 1,046 students in 2006-07, the first time a graduating class has exceeded 1,000 students.

The profile of the freshman class shows that freshmen come to UW-Green Bay with strong academic and leadership records. They enter college with an average high school grade-point average of 3.34 (on a 4.0 scale). About 75 percent were involved in high school athletics, 57 percent in performing or visual arts activities, 51 percent in academic honor societies or clubs, 38 percent in religious youth groups, 27 percent in school publications and 24 percent in student government.

Other facts and figures about UW-Green Bay's fall 2007 student body include:

• Students are graduates of 788 different high schools. The high school producing the most UW-Green Bay students is nearby Green Bay Preble High School with 287 students.

• The number of military veterans attending UW-Green Bay is on the rise, with 192 veterans enrolled for fall 2007. That's up 13 percent from a year ago.

• Nearly 2,000 students will live in on-campus residence halls, including 730 new freshmen.

• Female students in the freshman class outnumber male students by a margin of 65 percent to 35 percent.

August 30, 2007

Move In Day 2007

There's a video of Move In Day '07 on the FOCUS site. How did your move go? Let us know, click on the "COMMENTS" link.

August 28, 2007

FOCUS - Orientation Schedule

Orientation Schedule

Welcome to the Family

Sue Keihn, Dean of Students As the parent of a UW-Green Bay student, you are now an official "Phoenix Folk": a valued member of our campus community, and an important contributor to your student’s college experience. We celebrate the opportunity to work with you to assure that your son or daughter has a satisfying and enriching educational experience!

-Sue Keihn, Dean of Students

Move In Day 2007

students and parents moving in to res halls

If your student is living on-campus, you know that move-in day is fast approaching! Here’s some important information to help make the move go smoothly. As always, if you have any questions about housing, please call the Office of Residence Life at 920-465-2040, or visit the Residence Life Web site. Good luck packing, and we’ll see you soon!

• On-campus students who are participating in the Focus Orientation may move into their rooms on the morning of August 30th starting at 8:30am. There will be lots of help available during this time and you can meet members of the campus community and perhaps the Phoenix Mascot. All University offices and the Phoenix Bookstore will be open at this time. University Dining will also be open for lunch.

• Your student should already have received a room assignment/roommate letter. Encourage your son or daughter to contact roommates prior to arriving on campus. It’s a great way to ease the anxiety of getting to know a new roommate, and a chance to find out who will be bringing what. It’s also a great time to begin discussing sleep and study habits, cleaning preferences, etc.

• Things to bring: extra-long twin size sheets, bed and bath linens, toilet paper and toiletries, laundry and cleaning supplies, telephone, alarm clock, flashlight and batteries, poster putty, food items, and pictures from home.

• Things not to bring: candles, incense, halogen lamps, open-coil cooking appliances, fireworks, weapons, lofts, or pets.

• Cables or cords you may need: High-speed Internet service and 60-channel television service are provided in all residence hall rooms and apartment suites as part of the Housing Contract. Residents must provide their own computer and television hookup cables. For your student’s computer you will need a CAT-5E cable (or CAT-6). For the television, your student will need a RG-6 cable (with F-style thread-on type connectors). The Phoenix Bookstore carries both cables.

What is FERPA?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords students certain rights with respect to their education records.

To learn more, visit the Dean of Students site.

August 3, 2007

July 13, 2007

Subscribe Now!

Do you use a news/feed reader - My Yahoo!, Newsgator, Bloglines, Google? If you do, subscribe to Phoenix Folks so you can see updates as they happen. Click here to subscribe.

Have no idea what I'm talking about? Learn more about making your online world simpler.

June 21, 2007

FYI - Parents Chat - WED. JULY 11

Parents Chat hosted by the UW-Green Bay Admissions Office.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Noon-1:00PM CT
Click on the PHOENIX CHAT link (in the left column)

Want to network with other parents?

parent map

Add yourself to the UWGB Parents Map:

1- Choose UWGB Class Year of your student (ex. Class of 09)
2- Insert your Name (real or alias)
3- Add your E-mail address
4- Upload a Photo (real or alias) :)
5- Add a Shoutout (say something if you wish)
6- Click "Add Me"
7- Then move your pin on the map by entering an address (ex. Green Bay, WI)

Click here to get started

Not sure how this is going to work out, but it did work out quite well for students last spring: Stuff2Do map (nearly 1800 members)

June 14, 2007

FOCUS PowerPoint now online

Did you suffer from information overload at Registration and Resources?

FOCUS Parent Session PowerPoint

May 31, 2007

Important Dates 2007-08

When can your student move in? When does winter break start? When does the spring semester begin?

Find your answers on the Dean of Students site.

May 21, 2007

A look at college life at UWGB

Got Questions? Get Answers.

Parents Chat hosted by the UW-Green Bay Admissions Office.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Noon-1:00PM CT
Click on the PHOENIX CHAT link (in the left column)

April 9, 2007

Time to FOCUS

students at focus r and r

Registration and Resources

This is your students first official visit to campus as a University of Wisconsin-Green Bay student. During this one-day program, they’ll take care of business – registering for fall classes and getting that important University ID card. They’ll also meet faculty, staff, and returning students. They’ll have questions, and they’ll get answers. Parents are welcome, too. In fact some sessions are designed just for parents.

Visit the For Parents page on the FOCUS site for more info.

March 5, 2007

A wrap up – Family Weekend ‘07

Nearly 150 families took part in Family Weekend.
Almost 200 showed up for the Lunch with Comedy City on Saturday.
The Mini-Sessions were a hit and well attended.
Basketball looked like it went well, too. We had about 325 requests for men's basketball tickets.
Had a crowd of over 50 for Pancakes and Porkies on Sunday morning.

Did you go to Family Weekend? Share your thoughts by adding a comment.

January 11, 2007

Have You Registered for Family Weekend?

Lambeau Field tour, Packer Hall of Fame, ballroom dance lessons, improv comedy show, UWGB music and theatre productions, Green Bay Gamblers hockey, bookstore discounts, men's and women's basketball games, Sunday brunch, and much more...

Complete Schedule of Events

Register Online Now!

January 5, 2007

Financial Aid Chat

Wednesday, January 17, 2007
8:00-10:00PM CT
Click on the PHOENIX CHAT link

January 3, 2007

First Semester Academic Performance: It’s All Relative

Fall semester 2006 grades are all posted now, and many parents, particularly the parents of new freshmen, are certainly curious about how their son or daughter handled the academic challenges of the first semester of college. Some students may have already shared their grades in great detail, and other students may be reluctant to discuss their performance except in the most general terms. It is important to respect student privacy in this matter. (Remember, don’t call us! The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protects the confidentiality of student records, and prevents us from sharing a student’s grades with anyone, including parents, without the student’s explicit consent.) But if a good pattern of communication with your son or daughter has already been established, they will certainly be willing, if not anxious, to let you know how they did.

One of questions that parents, and even students, often ask is: So what does it mean? Is that a good GPA? How does this first semester performance compare? My response to that question is usually; “compared to what?” because first semester academic performance is truly relative: relative to high school performance, relative to other freshmen, relative to expectations and relative to future plans.

First, some basics of grade point average math. There are three things that are critical to understanding college grade point averages. First, unlike high school where all class grades usually counted the same, in college, different courses are offered for different numbers of credits. Therefore, the grade in a four credit class impacts the GPA four times as much as the grade in a one credit class. Second, each semester, a student receives two grade point averages—a term GPA (based only on that semester’s courses and grades) and a cumulative GPA (based on the grades of all courses taken at the university). Generally, the cumulative GPA is more important, since most academic actions, program admissions decisions and honors are based on it. (For a new freshman, the term and cumulative GPA are the same.) Finally, a student’s cumulative GPA gets more and more "solidified" as they accumulate more credits, because each successive grade contributes proportionately less to the total GPA. For example, for a student taking 15 credits in their first semester, their performance in one 3 credit class contributes fully 20% to the cumulative grade point average. Now move ahead 3 more semesters. Assuming 15 credits in each of those semesters, the student now has accumulated 60 credits. So performance in any single 3 credit class in their fourth semester contributes a mere 5% to the cumulative GPA. Therefore, it gets harder and harder to nudge the cumulative GPA upward (but on the plus side, a poor performance later on won't damage it as much, either).

So, to return to the original question, consider a first term GPA of 2.75 and ask—is that good? It depends on what you compare it to. On average, first semester college GPA’s are lower than high school GPA’s by anywhere from .5 to 1.0. Therefore, a college GPA that is the same as or just slightly lower than your son or daughter’s high school GPA is generally good, because the academic demands of college are so much higher than they were in high school. Relative to all new freshmen, a 2.75 is slightly above the average of 2.63. Relative to your or your student’s expectations, however, a 2.75 (less than a “B” average) might feel a bit disappointing. And relative to his or her ambitious future plans (graduate school, med school, etc) it might feel like the end of the world.

In my opinion, any conversation you might have with your son or daughter about their academic performance should focus on next semester. The second semester is critical to establishing a solid first year GPA. Rather than dwell on past performance, it might be more productive to discuss plans for the future, lessons learned in the fall semester, and what kind of study ethic, living arrangement, co-curricular commitments, work schedule, etc is going to be needed in the spring term to realize those plans. I have always found it easiest to discuss this with students fairly dispassionately and objectively, just using the numbers. Of course, that is a lot harder to do when the discussion is with your own child! There is this great little tool on the Academic Advising website that can be quite helpful, however-- a GPA calculator. The link to it is below.

www.uwgb.edu/advising/gpa_calculator

To see how it works, at very the bottom of this web form, type in your son or daughter’s current GPA and the total number of credits earned in the first semester. In the spaces above, type in anticipated grades and credits for four or five classes (FYI- most classes are 3 credits). Then hit the “calculate cumulative” button (the bottom “calculate” button), and a pop up window gives the new cumulative GPA. It can be a humbling experience to see what kinds of grades will be needed to bring up an average or below average GPA, but it certainly makes the choices pretty clear.....

It seems to me that the best outcome of any discussion about fall academic performance is to have the student have the insights and arrive at the right conclusions on their own. But you can coax them in the right direction by providing them with clear, objective information (i.e. the GPA calculator, graduate school admissions requirements, etc).

If there is any solace in this, I have a petition on my desk to deal with today from a freshman who, no kidding, earned a GPA of 0.00 in their first semester, and who wants to appeal her suspension. As I said, it’s all relative….


Mike Stearney
Assistant Dean, Dean of Students Office
920-465-2236
stearnem@uwgb.edu