Helping students transition to the university at SOAR

SOAR (Student Orientation, Advising and Registration) is one of the first ways students transition to UW–Madison. Hosted by the Center for First-Year Experience (CFYE), several offices across campus help with the transition process as consultants while students begin learning about academic advising, degree requirements, enrollment, and campus resources. The RO helped students, faculty and staff again this year by acting as consultants. While SOAR was in-person for domestic freshmen and virtual for all transfer students and international freshmen, RO consulting was provided virtually. A SOAR MS Teams Channel, with many sub-channels, allowed for quick communication across campus areas to get students the answers they needed. The RO was involved in both a RO sub-channel and a CES (credit evaluation services) sub-channel. There were numerous team members dedicated to these two channels throughout each day, all summer long, and sometimes when it wasn’t even their responsibility to consult.  This level of commitment demands acknowledgement of those who contributed as consultants and those who helped out while the university ushered in the largest class size ever and handled several technical difficulties outside of their purview or control. 
“The RO consultants were helpful even when the question directed their way was not a “RO” question; it often felt like there wasn’t a problem they couldn’t solve or a question they couldn’t answer!” – Diana Maki, Associate Director for Academic Affairs, Office of Undergraduate Advising and Office of the Registrar. 
SOAR is an office-wide initiative and priority in the summer, with many areas of the office participating. Katie Paar was the RO consultant coordinator and liaison between the RO and SOAR, and was instrumental in coordinating this high-level collaboration. Various team members from across the Student Services and Curricular Services also supported this important work as RO Consultants: Ally Bartelme, Dani Creasey, Chuck Dvorak, Brittany Elandt, Katie Gagliano, Nick Hunter, Kate Kurek, and Katie Paar. The CES team was kept busy throughout the summer both working to complete credit evaluations and serve as SOAR CES consultants: My Linh Do, Anna Dunn, Margo Ptacek, Jacob Smallegan, Sarah Duford, and Tracy Mores. Developers and members of the ADTS team were quick to prioritize/help resolve technical issues that arose. Members of the Degree Audit Academic Programs (DAAP) team also contributed and jumped in to assist, especially for DARS and requisite questions. 
“Our Office of Registrar SOAR consultants do an impeccable job providing superior service throughout the duration of the summer, while balancing their array of day-to-day work responsibilities. Their presence (virtually), responsiveness, and commitment is a real-life example of how the RO strives to support students and our campus partners. With the intensity, scale, and scope of SOAR, the excitement of our new students, and the incredible responsibility our advisors have, it is extremely reassuring to know our team steps up to support them!” – Scott Owczarek, Associate Vice Provost and University Registrar. 
Like Scott said, the intensity of SOAR produced a larger responsibility on all included. As a campus community, everyone worked together to provide the best for students. RO consultants were consistently quick to respond, thorough, and did above and beyond work to support colleagues to get our incoming class enrolled. There were steady inquiries in both the CES Teams sub-channel and the regular RO sub-channel throughout each day, with peaks when freshmen were onsite.
“The RO and CES consultant channels were two of the most utilized consultant channels during SOAR. Hundreds of questions came through these channels from advisors about transfer credits, enrollment times, student groups, CS&E and more. When questions were submitted, the RO teams were quick to respond, and very communicative throughout the entire process. Advisors very much appreciated the RO’s knowledge sharing and collaborative spirit that came through this virtual platform. On behalf of the SOAR Advising community, thank you for your hard work in supporting SOAR students and advisors!”  – Jen Walsh, Assistant Director of Summer Advising Initiatives.