SOAR: A roaring success of collaboration
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, international and transfer students had the option to attend virtually or in person. 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 another large first year class.
SOAR is an office-wide initiative and priority in the summer, with many areas of the office participating. Kate Kurek was the RO consultant coordinator and Paul Oshefsky acted as liaison between the RO and OAT (Orientation Advising Team) Committee, and both were instrumental in coordinating this high-level collaboration. Various team members from across Student Services and Curricular Services also supported this important work as RO Consultants: Jessi Arnfelt, Ally Bartelme, Dani Creasey, Brittany Elandt, Katie Gagliano, Kate Kurek, Jackie McHugh, Paul Oshefsky, Katie Paar, Tony Pietsch, and Erynn Zweifel. 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, Sarah Duford, Jack Hadlich, and Tracy Mores. Developers and members of the ADTS team were quick to prioritize/help resolve technical issues that arose, and members of the office (such as the Degree Audit and Academic Programs team) answered questions in their areas of expertise as they arose.
The intensity of SOAR produced a large 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.