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Welcome to January! Hopefully you are feeling refreshed after the holiday break. The Winter 2016 edition of "Advising Matters" is chock-full of staff news, interesting articles and PD opportunities.

Have content for a future newsletter? Please email Elaine Beaton (beaton@utsc.utoronto.ca) or Jen Tigno (jtigno@utsc.utoronto.ca).
Staff News and Updates

We are happy to welcome Panayiota Ioannides to the AA&CC where she will be serving as an Academic & Learning Strategist!  She is serving in this role while Esther Chung is fulfilling a secondment on the Career Development team. Prior to coming to UTSC, Panayiota served as a career counsellor in the UTM Career Centre since 2007. While completing her M.Ed in Counselling Psychology at OISE, she completed an internship in the AA&CC. We are happy Panayiota is joining us and also glad that Esther hasn't gone too far.
March will be Choosing your Program Month at UTSC

March will be here before we know it and March is the month for Choosing Your Program events. Please let the AA&CC know what events your department will be doing and we will go from there to coordinate the details and promote the events.  You will want to reflect on your department’s needs and spread the word to others to assess in what ways you will want to participate.

This will be the perfect opportunity for your department to reach out to students and let them in on all your area of study has to offer.  These targeted events aim to streamline the communication between the departments and students and to get the word out on any exciting changes or “need to know” information. We look forward to working in with all of you this term to make Choosing Your Program a success!
Article of Interest:
 

Helping first-generation students find their way!


A little well-timed support can smooth the transition for first-time university students. Check out this article that features UTSC's Emzhei Chen and the Get Started Program.
http://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/first-gen-students-find-their-way/
Book Review: "Facilitating with Ease!"

Facilitation is a core leadership competency. Great facilitation is about empowering each and every member of the group to lead with their own ideas, speak honestly and respectfully, and take the lead on innovative solutions generated in a facilitative environment. 

Facilitation with Ease! By Ingrid Bens (2005) is an excellent book if you want to hone your skills on facilitation for effective meetings and workshops. It is a repertoire of tools and strategies to help implement excellent facilitation tailored to the needs of your group.  It begins with raising awareness about “best and worst facilitator practices”. This list can be used as a “pair & share” where participants are asked to reflect on their strengths and weakness, and it can increase mindfulness around facilitation.

This book is complete as it empowers the facilitator with personal awareness and a variety of effective strategies to understand and encourage group participation through targeted norms, talk circuit, tossed salad and pass the envelop. I am particularly impressed with its process tools such as visioning, multi-voting and written brainstorming. With conflict management, survey techniques and worksheets for process design this is a must-have book for highly effective teams.

By Shehna Javeed

Focus on "The Department of Philosophy"


Meet the Staff:
Jason completed his M.A. in Philosophy at the University of Toronto in 2010, and started working at UTSC that same year. Originally appointed to both English and Philosophy, he now works exclusively in Philosophy as the Departmental Administrator, serving as the departmental 
assistant,undergraduate advisor and assistant to the chair. Jason’s office 
is located in Portable 102, alternatively known as Philosophy Hall. It’s nicer than you think – really!
 
Ashfak completed his B.Comm and LL.B. in 1993 and 1996 respectively, earning both degrees from South Gujarat University in India. Ashfak joined UTSC from the Centre for Ethics in 2010, and he now serves as the Business Officer across three departments: Philosophy, English and the Centre for French and Linguistics. Ashfak’s office is located in the H-Wing, where the views are scenic and the students boisterous.
 
Academic Programming Highlight:
PHLB09: Biomedical Ethics was recently expanded and will now be offered annually in both the fall and winter term. This course has strong interdisciplinary appeal, especially among students registered in the mental health studies program. More generally, it serves as an accessible introduction to philosophy for students registered in the science stream - with no prerequisites!

Upcoming Campus Events:
The UTSC Association of Philosophy Students (APS) organizes an annual Undergraduate Philosophy Conference on the UTSC campus, typically held on a weekend in March. The tentative theme for this year's conference will be Philosophy and Technology, featuring international undergraduate presenters and Dr. Angela Mendelovici (UWO) as the keynote speaker. Stay tuned for further details! 
In each newsletter we will focus on a different department. If you would like to be focused in an upcoming issue, please feel free to email your information to Jen Tigno.
Upcoming Winter Conferences

Ontario Universities Registrars Association
February 10 -12, 2016 | Toronto, ON

HEQCO's 6th Annual Conference: Transitions, Learning Across Borders, Sectors & Silos
March 23 & 24, 2016 | Toronto, ON

6th Annual Summit on Education Technology Strategies for Colleges, Universities & K-12 Schools
April 5 & 6, 2016 | Toronto, ON

NACADA Region 5 Conference 
April 6 - 8, 2016 | Toronto,ON

University of Toronto's 10th Teaching & Learning Symposium
May 2016 | Toronto, ON 

CACUSS National Conference
June 19 - 22, 2016, Winnipeg, MAN
Theme: Muddy Waters, Blue Skies

Ontario Academic Advising Professionals - 2016 – no dates for 2016 yet

NACADA National 2016
October 5 - 8, 2016
Atlanta Marriott Marquis | Atlanta, GA
WellTrack is an online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) tool for all coping with anxiety, depression, and phobia available FREE to all UTSC members. It also provides a mental wellness assessment and a companion app, MoodCheck, that is available FREE in the app store and play store.

Visit the WellTrack service and register with the code: UTSCHWC to begin improving your mental health. This service is completely confidential and your private info will not be monitored.

For more mental health information and services be sure to check out the Health & Wellness Centre.
Web resources

Academica: Research and Consulting for Higher Education 


Academic Impressions
Features Webcasts, Articles, and events of interest to student advisors.


CACUSS: The Canadian Association of College and University Student Services 


NACADA: The National Academic Advising Association  
             
                                    
University Affairs
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Important Dates

Jan 4: Classes begin in the S courses and resume in Y courses. 
Jan 10: Last day for students writing deferred examinations in April to adjust their current course load (on ROSI only)
Jan 17: Last day to add S courses
Feb 15: Last day to drop Y courses and add/remove CR/NCR on Y courses
Feb 15 - 20: Family Day and Reading week 
March 20: Last day to drop S courses and add/remove CR/NCR on S courses
March 25: Good Friday - University Closed
April 5 - 7: Study Break
April 7: Last day to drop S and Y courses with LWD on transcript
April 8 - 22: Final exams in S and Y courses

Check the Registrar's Office for full details.

Office Hours
 
Monday                          9:00am - 5:00pm
 
Tuesday                       10:00am - 5:00pm

Wednesday                    9:00am - 6:45pm

Thursday                        9:00am - 6:45pm

Friday                             9:00am - 3:00pm

Drop-in Hours

Monday to Thursday     1:00pm - 4:00pm

Friday                              10am - 11:30pm
                                        1:00pm - 2:30pm
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Academic Advising & Career Centre
University of Toronto Scarborough
Academic Resource Centre, Room AC213
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