Greetings!
This is the first edition of the new electronic version of Alberta's Atlas from the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Florida. Formerly entitled the Student Affairs Update, this newsletter showcased various programs in the Division of Student Affairs in its prior formats.
This revised newsletter, Alberta's Atlas, is aimed at a broader audience--those who work with students at the University of Florida. Research about our students, innovative programming, outcomes, and more can be shared with colleagues.
Did you know that 59% of the incoming freshman class is female? Facts like these help to guide us in our work with UF students. If you have something to share about our students, please consider submitting it to us.
Sincerely,
Dr. Patricia Telles-Irvin
Vice President for Student Affairs
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New UF Students Change Direction...a LOT  Between the time of applying to UF and Preview registration, 69% of new freshmen from 2005 changed their major and 41% changed not only their major, but also their college hosting the major.
38% of those students then changed their major between Preview and May 2006...and 62% changed their original major between Preview and May 2007.
To see a breakdown of the number of major changes by students for these freshmen entering UF in 2005, click here. |
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CIRP data: Choosing UF as First Choice
For the first time in 2006, UF participated in the national longitudinal study Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) conducted by the Higher Education Research institute at the University of California at Los Angeles. Data were collected during Preview 2006; the results were also broken down into the three main Preview groups of AIM students, Honors students, and the remaining UF freshmen. CIRP Results will be discussed in several future issues of this newsletter.
UF freshmen reported that UF was the first choice for 78.6% of its students and for 75.2% of students in the AIM program, but it was the first choice for only 60.8% of freshmen in the Honors Program. For students that preferred another college as their first choice, approximately 45% were not accepted at that institution.
To read more about what reasons students cited for choosing UF, click here. |
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Searching, Not Clicking... A UF study of undergraduates conducted in spring 2007 found that students get their academic information from the main UF website, www.ufl.edu, or ISIS at www.isis.ufl.edu. Specific websites with more detailed information, such as college websites or ones directly related to academic advising, are used much less frequently.
 More than half of the student respondents reported that they prefer to use UF websites to search for an answer to an academic question. The next preferred options were "go to see someone who works at UF" at 29% and "email the question to someone who works at UF" at 11%.
If you go to the UF website and search for your office, or popular search terms, do you get the correct pages? If not, your webmaster can change the tags on your sites to make the recent sites pop up.
Source: 2007 UF Academic Advising Survey |
 UF's Office of Institutional Planning and Research |
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Upcoming Presentations at UF 
Wednesday, November 7, 3-5 pm,
282 Reitz Union
Profiles In Leadership Speaker Series:
Dr. Phyllis Meek
"Using Leadership Positions to Advocate for Needed Change"
Wednesday, November 14, 3-5 pm, 349 Reitz Union
Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates: Dr. Gene Zdziarski and Dr. Jeanna Mastrodicasa.
Hear from two of the participants in the 2007 NASPA Exchange to the United Arab Emirates. They visited five universities in Dubai, Al Ain, and Sharjah. | |
If you have any comments, feedback, or are interested in submitting material to Alberta's Suitcase, please contact the editor Dr. Jeanna Mastrodicasa at jmastro@ufl.edu. |
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 Issues and Trends in Student Technology
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The mission of the Division of Student Affairs is to provide opportunities for student engagement, learning and discovery in a diverse environment that will optimize their university experience and prepare them to serve a global community. |
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Alberta's Passport: Educating Leaders to Serve in a Global Community
One of the Key Strategic Areas for the Division of Student Affairs is Global Understanding and Diversity. Each issue of Alberta's Atlas will showcase efforts related to international issues for students.
The world is changing rapidly-advancing technology, global communication and commerce, greater ethnic and gender diversity in the work force. Today's college graduates participate and compete in a global economy. The convergence of personal computers, fiber-optic cable, and work-flow software enable people all over the globe to collaborate on the same digital content. Today's graduates have more opportunity than ever to "act global" as individuals; they must think of themselves as individuals collaborating and competing with individuals all over the world.
UF's Career Resource Center has the GoinGlobal Career Guides, providing information about more than 10,000 resources for international employment in the U.S. or abroad. This includes information about employment opportunities and trends, work permits and visa regulations, finance and compensation information, and much more. See GoinGlobal for more details.
This video on YouTube demonstrates why the Division of Student Affairs thinks it is so important for students to be prepared for a global community:
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Alberta's Atlas