Streamlining Academic Management

Joe Glover, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Mary Parker, Vice President for Enrollment Management

We’re writing to announce the launch of a university wide initiative to ensure that UF students find the classes they need, advance efficiently through their degree programs, and graduate on time — all much more seamlessly than is possible today.

At the heart of the Streamlining Academic Management (SAM) initiative: The implementation of new software that will combine and automate the functions of older systems that were created and operate independently, don’t “talk” to one another, and are increasingly obsolete.

These include the curriculum management system that is used to add or change courses and programs, the degree audit system that tracks students’ academic progress toward degrees, and the course catalog system that students use to find courses and plan their schedules.

Today, students have to pull up and toggle between at least three different platform windows to view available courses or programs, assess how they contribute to their progress, build their course schedules for the semester ahead, register for classes, and more.

With SAM, using the Coursedog and Stellic software platforms, all of these elements will be brought together. The system will also enable students to “personalize” their schedules by syncing their academic programs with their extracurricular activities, work or research obligations.

From an administrative standpoint, we anticipate SAM will ease the academic planning and coordination burdens that colleges and academic advisers now face. For example, we expect the system will make it far easier for colleges to forecast how many sections should be offered for each class — ensuring that the classes students need are available when they need them. The goal:  Free up colleges and advisors to advise and support students rather than wrestle with outdated and disparate platforms.

Because the work of academic management extends across central administration and the colleges, designing, testing and implementing SAM will require careful planning and coordination.

Dr. Parker and Glenn Good, dean of the College of Education, are co-chairing a steering committee to oversee the process. The committee has formed working groups composed of representatives and stakeholders from across the campus community to focus on different key elements.

We appreciate your support, engagement and input as this initiative ramps up. Please visit the SAM website to find out more. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to share them via the Contact Us form on the website.