1. AGSC/STARS POINTS OF CONTACT
2019 SUMMER UPDATE PRESENTATION
THANK YOU FOR SERVING AND PARTICIPATING!

2. PURPOSE BEHIND THIS ONLINE PRESENATION
In lieu of a face-to-face meeting (which is nearly impossible to set up with 75 people), I thought I would record the presentation and each of you could watch it in your free-time (since I know you all are not very busy! Ha Ha!).
I wanted to take a few minutes to bring each of you up-to-date on various actions and activities that are taking place through AGSC/STARS (last year and what we will be working on throughout the remainder of 2019 and into 2020).
After you have watched the video presentation, please feel free to contact me if you have further questions, comments or suggestions.
Thank you for serving as a POC for AGSC/STARS!

3. WHAT IS THE AGSC?
AGSC = Alabama Articulation & General Studies Committee
Established by law in 1994
The AGSC was created to simplify the transfer of course credit between public institutions of higher education. To accomplish this task, the AGSC has developed and has implemented a statewide general studies and articulation program that facilitates the transferability of coursework among all Alabama public colleges and universities.
The AGSC continues to serve as a monitoring committee for the articulation program. They oversee and maintain the program on an on-going basis. Finally, the AGSC works to resolve any student appeals related to transfer of coursework as it relates to the articulation program.
CURRENT MEMBERSHIP LISTING - Link

4. WHAT IS STARS?
STARS stands for Statewide Transfer & Articulation Reporting System. STARS is a web-accessible database system which provides guidance and direction for prospective transfer students in the State of Alabama.
The STARS System allows public two-year students in Alabama to obtain a Transfer Guide/Agreement for the major of their choice. This guide/agreement, if used correctly, guides the student through their first two years of coursework and prevents loss of credit hours upon transfer to the appropriate public four-year university in Alabama. Although transfer guides/agreements can only be printed for two-year to four-year transfers, the STARS system can still provide guidance and direction to transfer students who have a different transfer situation.
The Alabama Articulation and General Studies Committee (AGSC) is responsible for the oversight and monitoring of the STARS System. The information that students receive from the STARS System has been approved by the AGSC.
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND - Link

5. WHAT ARE STARS TRANSFER GUIDES?
The STARS System allows public two-year students in Alabama to obtain a Transfer Guide/Agreement for the major of their choice.
This guide/agreement, if used correctly, guides the student through their first two years of coursework (approx hours) and prevents loss of credit hours upon transfer to the appropriate public four-year university in Alabama.
Although transfer guides/agreements can only be printed for two-year to four-year transfers, the STARS system can still provide guidance and direction to transfer students who have a different transfer situation.
OVER 1.3 MILLION OBTIANED SINCE 1998!!

6. WHAT ARE POINTS OF CONTACT (POCs)?
When trying to manage a statewide transfer program, the only way to effectively communicate across the state is through designated contact administrators/faculty who work at each of the public two-year and four- year institutions of higher education in our state. To fulfill this role, the AGSC has establish institutional Points of Contact (POCs). These administrators and their assistants have been selected by their institution's president or chancellor to provide maintenance and support on their campuses for the AGSC/STARS program.
The program's impact and overall effectiveness can be directly tied back to the on-going work of this group. The AGSC and the STARS staff are grateful for the POCs and the service they provide to their students and to our state. These administrators are the "glue" of the AGSC/STARS Program. A full listing of the POCs and their roles/responsibilities are provided below. Please use the buttons below to navigate to the various POC groups.

7. WHO ARE THE POINTS OF CONTACT (POCs)?
2-YR Points of Contact –
LINK TO MEMBERS / ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
4-YR Points of Contact –
Appointments to POC positions
The president at each two-year and four-year public institution of higher education appoints one individual to serve as the central AGSC Institutional Point of Contact and one individual to serve as their alternate. Both of these individuals will receive correspondence from the AGSC/STARS Office.

8. LET’S TALK ABOUT…
STARS USAGE REPORTS

9. MONTHLY USAGE REPORTS - Update
Each month we send out institution specific usage reports to the 4 year institutions. (Note: We can generate usage reports for 2-YR institutions upon request.)
These reports come to the 4-YR POC s in different formats (most common – CSV or Excel Spreadsheet file)
What do these reports tell the institution?
Student information from those who obtained STARS Transfer Guides that month and selected your institution as their first or second transfer destination – WE SEND YOU THE FOLLOWING…
Name, Address, Phone Number, Address
2-YR Institution that they are currently attending
Major they are interested in pursuing
FREE RECRUITING INFORMATION!!! - Please forward to recruiters, admissions, and departments and colleges!!!
LINK TO OTHER MONTHLY USAGE REPORTS

10. ANNUAL USAGE REPORTS - Update
Each summer, around the middle of July, we post ANNUAL USAGE Reports in various formats.
Annual Reports can be obtained at this LINK.
This will give you some idea of how STARS was used each year (…all the way back to 1998!)
2-YR POCs may want to check out the ANNUAL CAPs RERORT that we have published - LINK

11. NEED A CUSTOMIZED REPORT FOR YOUR INSTITUTION? COLLEGE?
If you need to obtain a specific report for your institution or maybe for a college or department, we can provide those as well.
Say you want to know… “How many students obtained STARS Guides in GEOMATICS over the last two semesters??”
You want to send out a new recruitment piece (text, , printed ad) about your GEOMATICS major!
We can give you that information!
Simply contact us through this LINK and we will have your report ready in less than 24 hours in the format you request.

12. THE RECENT RESTRUCTURING OF THE AGSC ACADEMIC COMMITTEES
LET’S TALK ABOUT…
THE RECENT RESTRUCTURING OF THE AGSC ACADEMIC COMMITTEES

13. ACADEMIC COMMITTEES - from 1994 TO 2018
GSACs General Studies Academic Committees
PACs Professional Academic Committees
COMMITTEES
OVER
21 DIFFERENT GENERAL STUDIES ACADEMIC COMMITTEES (GSACs)
Over 367 Faculty Members
17 DIFFERENT PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC COMMITTEES (PACs)
Over 175 Faculty Members
FACULTY

14. ACADEMIC COMMITTEES - from 1994 TO 2018
IMPOSSIBLE TO MANAGE EFFECTIVELY!!!
OVER
FACULTY

15. ACADEMIC COMMITTEES – MOVING FORWARD…
PACs -- KEEP PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC COMMITTEES (PACs) AS THEY ARE…
17 DIFFERENT PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC COMMITTEES (PACs)
Over 175 Faculty Members

16. ACADEMIC COMMITTEES – MOVING FORWARD…
GSACs – BIG CHANGES…???

17. AREA ACADEMIC COMMITTEES – CREATED TO REPLACE GSACs

20. REASON FOR THE RESTRUCTURE
It is much easier to mange, train, and direct 20 committees rather than 38.
These new AREA Committees focus more on their broad general studies area rather than a specific discipline.
More/Consistent work for AREA Committees to do than specific discipline groups
We have just set them up in last 6 months so we will be evaluating the success of this restructure over the next few years….
LINK TO AREA ACADEMIC COMMITTESS
LINK TO PRE-PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC COMMITTEES

21. LET’S TALK ABOUT…
AREA V Pages

22. WHAT ARE AREA V PAGES? What are AREA V pages?
AREA V Pages are web pages maintained by each individual public four- year institution in Alabama. The primary purpose of AREA V pages is to provide transfer students with additional information about transfer coursework that can be taken at the two-year institutions to complete the AREA V requirements not covered on the official STARS Transfer Guide. Four-year institutions can also use these pages to provide information to transfer students about specific admission criteria and requirements for specific academic programs. In addition, four-year institutions can make strong recommendations in AREAS I-IV as long as they do not limit choices by transfer students in those areas.
LINK TO AREA V PAGES

23. GOAL OVER LAST FEW YEARS – IMPROVE AREA V PAGES
The problem…
Over the years institutions would adjust and re-design these pages. Some institutions would not update their pages at all (so they became dated).
Addressing the problem…
A few years ago an AGSC Task Force (sub-committee) was established to create a common set of guidelines (a template for AREA V pages).
The POCs were asked to work on re-designing their pages.
The majority of the institutions have updated their pages to meet the new guidelines for AREA V pages.

24. WHO HAS COMPLETE THEIR AREA V PAGE UPDATES?
The following institutions have recently completed their updates to their AREA V pages…
Alabama A&M University
Auburn University
Auburn University at Montgomery
Jacksonville State University
Troy University
The University of Alabama
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama in Huntsville
University of Montevallo
University of North Alabama
University of South Alabama
University of West Alabama
The following institutions have NOT completed their updates to their AREA V pages… (in progress)
Alabama State University
Athens State University

25. AGSC/STARS Website Re-Design…
LET’S TALK ABOUT…
AGSC/STARS Website Re-Design…

26. AGSC/STARS WEBSITE RE-DESIGN
Last re-design was in 2013…
Since then, technology has changed
Our site is not mobile friendly
We want to re-design the site so that is can be easily used on a
Desktop
Smart Phone
Think Pad
WE WANT TO CONVERT THE SITE FROM A STATIC HTML WEBPAGE TO A “RESPONSIVE” WEBSITE – Adjusts automatically depending on the device being used to access the site.

27. AGSC/STARS WEBSITE RE-DESIGN – GOAL
Goal – Have new site up and running during (within the next 18 months)
We have purchased new web design software (Progress – Sitefinity) and will be redesigning each page over the course of the next year or so.
GOAL – Complete by end of 2020!
Please be patient with us… our staff is limited.
We will still maintain the old site while we are building the new site.
Hopefully there will be no down-time.
We plan to re-design with “the student in mind!”

28. “ACHIEVE” CONFERENCES
2019
2020
The 2019 Achieve Conference was a tremendous success!!!
Thank you to each of you who attended and participated.
We want to invite you to next year’s conference…
ACHIEVE 2020 – SAVE THE DATE – March 5-6
Bryant Conference Center – UA Campus – Tuscaloosa, AL
Please make plans to attend!
Registration Website – Coming Soon!!

29. WELL THAT IS ABOUT ALL WE HAVE TODAY…
THANK YOU FOR SERVING AS A POINT OF CONTACT FOR YOUR INSTITUTION!

30. EMAIL ME YOUR QUESTIONS CLICK HERE
QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, OR SUGGESTIONS!
ME YOUR QUESTIONS CLICK HERE
POINTS OF CONTACT
THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO WATCH THIS PRESENTATION!

31. www.gettheguide.net or stars.troy.edu
CONTACT US
MAILING ADDRESS AGSC & STARS Office 1101 South Brundidge Street - Suite 107 Troy University ELC Building Troy, AL PHONE NUMBERS (Main Office)
(Keith Sessions) ext (Toll Free) (Fax)
or stars.troy.edu
PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU HAVE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS