Archived Suggestions :: August 2008

Suggestion — 1110

Subject — UHV News

Forwarded to — Director, Marketing

Suggestion / Comment

Read the Advocate this morning about an upcoming press release/announcement about athletics. When will UHV employees get news prior to reading about it in the local paper?

Response

I’ll take responsibility for not informing the UHV family of the upcoming athletics announcement. Although in this situation I would not have been able to share the nature of the announcement, I will make it a priority to make sure there is some level of internal communication.

Thank you for the suggestion.

Suggestion — 1111

Subject — New UHV Website

Forwarded to — Director, Marketing

Suggestion / Comment

The new UHV website is simply awful. It's garish, particularly the banner and logo. The role-specific language comes across as silly. And it looks too much like the UH site--as if UHV has surrendered its autonomy and become a satellite. Please consider scrapping this design. Otherwise, in future when I refer colleagues to UHV, I'll bypass this site and refer them directly to the school sites.

Response

Thanks for sharing your opinion. We have received mixed reviews on the redesign. Some love the changes. While others, don’t care for it. We hope to use the feedback and make positive changes to the site. I hope you continue to check back in the upcoming weeks as we make adjustments.

Suggestion — 1112

Subject — New Student Information

Forwarded to — Registrar

Suggestion / Comment

For new students I think that should be more information about the steps to follow after you have been admitted such us letter of acceptance enrollment,waiting list etc

Response

Thank you for your suggestions, as we are always looking for better ways to communicate with our students. We already send acceptance letters to students, but we will look at updating the letters to provide better information/instructions.

Suggestion — 1113

Subject — Employee Training

Forwarded to — Coordinator, Training and Continuing Education

Suggestion / Comment

I'm concerned that many in our department will not be able to attend the FERPA training on a Monday morning. Please consider that many employees take vacation on Monday mornings and that many students have waited through the weekend for us to open Monday mroning to come to our offices or to call us or email us in the hopes of receiving a quick reply. Scheduling training on a Monday morning is inconsiderate. Please change the date for the FERPA training.

Response

I’m sorry the FERPA training on August 18, is not convenient for your work group because it is on a Monday when you are shorthanded and with a large number of student requests to handle. We tried to reach as many people as possible placing a session in the morning and another in the afternoon as well as two classes at our other campuses, but that still does not aid you with your issue.

We placed the training on Monday to meet the scheduling demands of the trainer and our busy training calendar for the rest of August. Unfortunately, we will not be able to move the courses to help you because we have more than twenty people already enrolled in Victoria. It could cause them a lot of inconvenience if we moved the course at this time.

This FERPA training offered on August 18 is not the mandatory training we will offer on the subject in October. The training this month is to meet the needs of those wanting to know more about FERPA updates and to have the opportunity to ask questions.

When we schedule the next session in the spring, we will make sure to have multiple sessions including ITV sessions to Sugar Land and Cinco Ranch and we won’t schedule the training on a Monday. Until then, Trudy Wortham, our registrar, says she will gladly help you with specific questions or concerns you may have.

Thanks for making us aware of the problems associated with training offered on Mondays.

Suggestion — 1114

Subject — Children’s Discovery Museum

Forwarded to — Executive Assistant to the President

Suggestion / Comment

UHV is listed as a sponsor of the Children's Discovery Museum. I recently visited the museum with my granddaughter. The museum is beautifully decorated, but very little discovery learning can take place in the different theme areas. There were some out of town visitors there that day. They were discussing some to the same things I noted. If UHV is going to put in name on museum, there should be some quality control to make sure it is a good experience for all visitors. Some of the major things that need attention are: Medical area- Dolls were very dirty, equipment is broken; Oil and gas area-equipment with parts missing and does not work properly; Puppet area-nice puppets but the stage is not set up for hand puppets; Stage area- very few costumes or props and no music available to dance to; Ranch area - few props other than some old boots and saddles; Transportation and space area -lots of missing pieces. Please, see what can be done to make the museum something that will make visitors want to return.

Response

Thank you for expressing your concerns about the Children’s Discovery Museum and the relation of UHV to the museum. I recently attended an open house there and could see that much effort has gone into creating a warm learning environment for children. I know that the Executive Director of the museum, Cathy Williams Lowe (361-485-9140), would welcome your feedback and suggestions for improvement, as this type of venture is always a work in progress. I will pass on this information, as well.

Suggestion — 1115

Subject — Graduation Application

Forwarded to — Registrar

Suggestion / Comment

Provide a link to the graduation application in the "Important Dates and Deadlines" deadline to apply for Fall Graduation September 19

Response

Thank you for your suggestion and we will look into adding the link. We are currently working on the online graduation application that will be available to students in the Student Self-Service. We expect to have this available beginning with the Spring 2009 semester. Thanks again for your suggestion.

Suggestion — 1116

Subject — UHV Catalog

Forwarded to — Director, Marketing

Suggestion / Comment

Please provide a link to the Catalog in your drop-down box for Future Students.

Response

Thanks for the excellent suggestion. The catalog is currently being updated and should be completed in the next few weeks. Upon completion, it will be part of the popular links for future students.

Suggestion — 1117

Subject — MBA Program

Forwarded to — SOBA Director of Programs

Suggestion / Comment

I have heard that you are considering a pilot study of day MBA courses at either Sugar Land or Cinco Ranch campus from fall or spring. Any updates on this?

Response

Yes, there is an update. We opted to pilot daytime courses at the University of Houston System at Cinco Ranch first. This fall, we are teaching two daytime courses at Cinco Ranch: ECO 6351 on Thursday mornings, and MGT 6377 on Wednesday mornings. Enrollment in ECO 6351 has been encouraging, and I anticipate that we will offer at least two more daytime courses at Cinco Ranch in the spring.

Piloting daytime MBA courses at the University of Houston System at Sugar Land remains under discussion. If you would like to receive timely updates on this, feel free to visit the SoBA website and subscribe to our newsletter.

Suggestion — 1118

Subject — Bursar’s Office Contact Info

Forwarded to — Bursar

Suggestion / Comment

How do you expect students to contact the Bursars office if they cannot find a phone number or email for them?

Response

Our University web pages, as we hope you’ve noticed, are being revamped and updated. And you’re right…our contact information for the Bursar’s Office is hard to find. We are working to have this fixed very soon. Presently, you can find Bursar Office contact information in the on-line catalog at http://www.uhv.edu/catalog/Billing_Financial.asp#Tuition_and_Fees

With the implementation of our Student Solutions program, commonly asked questions will be answered by the Student Solutions staff. If they are unable to assist, the call will be forwarded to the appropriate office…. whether that be Admissions and Records, Financial Aid, or the Bursar Office. Student Solutions contact information will eventually replace the contact information currently published for the individual offices.

Student Solutions contact information follows:
E-mail : studentsolutions@uhv.edu
Phone: (361) 573-0000
Toll-Free Number: 1-800-687-3738

Suggestion — 1119

Subject — New UHV Website

Forwarded to — Director, Marketing

Suggestion / Comment

Do not. I repeat - do not- ever tell anyone to look for anything in you website. It is impossible to find anything there. I could not find the forms that I was needing to fill out. I called solutions and they told me where to go. It took 6 clicks - hello is anyone out there - 6 clicks!! to find them. Why have a website if you're going to hide everything. your site is useless!!! I can only assume that your employees are too.

Response

Thank you for making us aware of the challenges you were having accessing forms. I agree that six clicks is too many to find information on the UHV website. We are looking at several options to help students find forms more quickly. One obvious option is to add forms to the menu items in popular links. In addition, we will be adding a link to the steps that are outlined on the Future Students page. Student Solutions will also be helping students get to the forms they need. When a student calls, Student Solution will immediately email students a link to the specific form.

Suggestion — 1120

Subject — UHV System Centers Staff

Forwarded to — Registrar

Suggestion / Comment

Why doesn't UHV hire Admissions staff based at the Cinco Ranch and Sugar Land centers so they could scan and evaluate transcripts upon receipt from the student. Surely that would be more efficient and save transcripts from being lost or unmatched and speed the admissions timeline, especially during peak times.

Response

Thank you for your suggestions. The replacement for the Student/Academic Support Services position began working today at Sugar Land. Students can go to this person if they need assistance and/or to collect documents to send to appropriate office(s) here in Victoria. We will look at what our options are on scanning the documents before they are sent to UHV.

Suggestion — 1121

Subject — New UHV Website

Forwarded to — Director, Marketing

Suggestion / Comment

I think the new UHV website should be changed to be more user friendly. How would students know that in order to get to Admissions and Records and their forms, they need to go to Academic Information first? This is a very difficult website to navigate. Please correct this!! I know of several students who have had to take time off to be able to navigate and find information. The previous website was more useful. This is totally a useless website.

Response

We are continuing to take user feedback to help improve the UHV Web site. Your suggestion regarding access to forms is the second we have received. We plan on addressing this issue by giving users access to forms under the popular links feature. In addition, we will be adding access to forms in the steps that are outlined on the future students and current students pages.

The recent redesign to the UHV Web site was mostly an aesthetic change. The home page received the most significant change in terms of initial navigation. However, the secondary pages have the same organization structure as it did prior to the redesign. We will address and correct the problem so that students will be able to locate forms in a couple of clicks.

Suggestion — 1122

Subject — UHV School Colors

Forwarded to — Director, Marketing

Suggestion / Comment

What happen to the purple. I take pride in the fact that I am a UHV student. However, over the past month I have noticed that UHV is abandoning the UHV purple and adopting the main campus Red color. Please tell me that this was done because Main Campus wants it done. I can not believe that UHV would willingly paint red over the entire website for no reason. As a side note, I did not like the previous website, however, the new one is even worse. I can not find anything, and the webct page is RED. What is up with the red everywhere. Red banners, borders, links, text, red, red, red, red. I know that we used to purple.... I guess our legacy does not mean that much if we are willing to throw it away.

Response

Main campus had nothing to do with the decision to incorporate red on the UHV Web site. The color palette we have incorporated into the Web site redesign is our very own UHV Jaguars colors. At this time, we have an expanded color palette that still includes purple. Prior to rolling out the new Web site redesign, we did some extensive testing with students on design and functionality. Specific to the design, we e-mailed 3,475 students a link to a survey. Over 10 percent, or 357 students, responded. Nearly 70 percent either Strongly Agreed or Agreed that the present design (color palette, layout) was visually appealing. About half of the students who responded to the survey submitted additional comments. A few voiced concerns with the use of the color red, but we received nearly as many praises for incorporating the color.

We continue to make improvements to the site based on user feedback. It would be helpful if you could tell me what you are having trouble finding. Feel free to e-mail me with this information at ellisj@uhv.edu.

Thanks for sharing your concern.

Suggestion — 1123

Subject — UHV School Colors

Forwarded to — Director, Marketing

Suggestion / Comment

I picked up a academic calendar the other day and say that it too is now red like the website. What happen to purple. I thought UHV was purple and the school icon was the flame. Now the school color is red and the icon is some airplane wing? What a joke. If UHV wants credibility, it should choose a direction and stick with it.

Response

Although red has always been part of our school colors at UHV, the introduction of athletics has allowed us to take the use of red to a new level. The colors on our Web site and the academic calendar are inspired by our very own UHV Jaguars. Purple is still part of our school colors and appears on both our Web site and the academic calendar. The purple V-flame icon still will appear on stationary and existing signage. However, all other marketing materials will incorporate a more dominant use of the color red and the new UHV logo.

Thanks for sharing your concern.

Suggestion — 1124

Subject — Promoting UHV

Forwarded to — Director, Marketing

Suggestion / Comment

Why does the Victoria Advocate site still have a banner ad promoting UHV and summer enrollment? The fall semester is already underway. Shouldn't the Marketing department be paying closer attention to the promotional efforts that it's responsible for? I mean, it seems like that would be what they are there for, but are not following through with it.

Response

In May, we lost a key member of the Marketing department that was originally responsible for updating and maintaining the banner ad on the Victoria Advocate Web site. We have since replaced this staff member. Unfortunately, the task of updating the banner ad with our fall campaign slipped under our radar. However, thanks to your keen eye, this important task is on the department’s calendar and will not be overlooked again.

Thanks for your input.

Suggestion — 1125

Subject — UHV Staff Training

Forwarded to — Coordinator, Training & Continuing Education

Suggestion / Comment

Concerning our Training and CE Department's upcoming "Decorating for the Holidays"...your're kidding right? What in the world are you thinking? How is this going to help me in my JOB? How about some real business related training that I can use at work? Like Windows programs and Adobe? Stop wasting money on "fluff".

Response

I’m sorry the Brown Bag meetings offend you. These courses are offered during lunch breaks for employees to access during their time away from the job. No employees should be taking time away from their job to attend the Brown Bag courses.

The university is not paying for the presentations or any materials. Participants also bring their own lunches to the meetings so we are not incurring any expense for food either. The presenters are kindly volunteering their time and materials to the university. You will find one or two Brown Bag meetings per month to enhance your life here at the university as well as your life away from campus. Presentations such as these allow us to build a sense of community within the organization.

We are working through the IT department to get more computer training offered here, as you suggested. We should have more Windows, Adobe and other training available soon through main campus trainers. You can be assured our IT department has been working to make sure more computer training will take place here.

Suggestion — 1126

Subject — UHV Hours of Operation

Forwarded to — Vice President for Administration and Finance

Suggestion / Comment

Since so many employees are off on Friday because of flex hours why doesn't UHV just close on Friday and let everyone work 4 10 hour days. When I need answers from different offices on Fridays many times only a skeleton crew is working and they don't have the answers that I need because the ones who know the answers are off. They might have a student worker and one other employee. The offices may as well be closed. The number of employees who are off on Fridays should be looked at and adjustments made or the university should be closed on Fridays.

Response

Thank you for the suggestion. A four day work week would be considered if it were system wide. UHV studied closing the buildings several years ago and discovered they were being utilized by the faculty and students; computer labs open, faculty in their offices, custodial doing work not easy to do during the week, organizations utilizing the space, testing, etc. Because of the usage, the buildings would need to remain open and savings on utilities would not be realized.

Suggestion — 1127

Subject — Financial Aid Disbursement

Forwarded to — Director, Financial Aid

Suggestion / Comment

I'm angered and frustrated by the process of your financial aid - it certainly does not benefit the student - the ultimate end-user and the entity responsible to pay the loan back. And let's be clear about that - I am the one responsible to pay these loans back. Therefore, the funds are mine. Here is my frustration: I am counting on these loans to buy books, pay for my apartment and to get food. The funds are released after school starts and many of us have ended summer employment, are between jobs and NEED these funds to pay for these necessities. UHV are holding these funds or have a Rube Goldberg quality about the process that has these funds somewhere in Limbo. In the meantime, I will be charged for late rent, late bills, have little food, etc. I am also waiting for my books because I didn't have the funds to pay for them so am behind in my studies - my books are finally on there way from the sellers. But not receiving any funds until the first day of class is just backwards. It's hideous! I can see no reason behind holding this money except that the process has always been this way and so why change it? It seems to me that with all these new fangled computing machines I hear tell about that the delay is due to antiquated systems and thinking more than anything else. I cannot believe that there is no better way to do this. I bet if you got a few of those professors together to think about what are the best practices to follow, I bet one of them could come up with something.

Response

The University of Houston-Victoria announces in advance when the first possible day of disbursement will be. Pending that the following items are met by the first class day:

all paperwork has been submitted,
2. the actual enrollment matches the anticipated enrollment reported on the FAFSA,
3. awarded aid has been accepted in PeopleSoft,
4. the lender has a valid signed Master Promissory Note on file,
5. and the student's account is not in an over award status due to additional educational resources being added to a student's file (waivers or third party contracts).
6. the funds will disburse in a timely manner, usually the first class day.

If the above are not met, your name will be placed on a Authorization Failure Report. Each student must be reviewed and adjustments made according to the student's new status before the aid is credited to the student account.

Loan funds must be applied to a student's account or returned within 3 business days of receipt from the lender. In this students case, the funds were released within one day of receipt.

The student's grant was disbursed on the 1st class day (the 1st possible disbursement date).

Since UHV offers two 8 week sessions within the 16 week fall and spring terms, we are unable to disburse the aid up to 10 days prior to the first day of class since PeopleSoft looks at current hours. Current hours do not show up until the 1st day of classes.

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