MSCHE Self Study April 2021

research, the investigator must provide a justification for consideration by the VPSA. If granted access by the VPSA, the investigator must sign a confidentiality agreement form and be trained on FERPA regulations concerning handling of records. While the admissions office is not covered under FERPA, the staff is expected to meet these same standards as if covered. College work ‐ study students may enter inquiries into the admissions module of the student information system. Work ‐ study students are given FERPA basic training and are also required to sign a confidentiality agreement form. They are assigned a password that provides access to only the inquiries screen on the system. Transfer of Records from Admissions to Registrar Records are electronically transferred from the admissions module to the registration module. The registrar physically moves all paper records from the admission’s file cabinet to the registrar’s fireproof file cabinet in the registrar’s office. This room is kept locked as is the file cabinet containing student records. Medical and registration forms may be copied and hand delivered to Clinical Administration for their files. Registration forms may also be submitted to the Alumni Office. This procedure applies to both the optometry and graduate programs. Grades At the conclusion of a term, faculty are instructed to enter grades in the mysunyopt portal. After grades have been entered into the system, all current student records are recalculated to update their term and cum gpa. The registrar will flag students in academic difficulty and provide the information to the Committee on Course and Standing (a faculty committee that reviews student progress each term) and the vice president for academic affairs. All committee members are required to return copies of grades to the registrar at the end of the meeting to be purged. The vice president for academic affairs maintains a copy for his office file. Electronic Records Back Up The student information server (Jenzabar) is currently housed in the Information Technology (IT) Department data center. The Office of Information Technology is responsible for backing up the system on a daily basis. Tapes are placed in a secure locked box. On a weekly basis, tapes are stored offsite with Iron Mountain Company. The IT department maintains (using a date and time stamp) a log of tape pickups. In the event of an emergency, only the IT staff has authorization to request the backup tapes. There is also a contingency plan in place in case the IT department is not able to retrieve the tapes. Recent Examples of Improvements in the Student Experience Resulting From Assessment  Every year, the office of admissions surveys students who were accepted but did not enroll at the College. The results of this survey are used to further refine the admissions process, from recruitment strategies to interview day. In 2016, survey results revealed that some students chose not to attend SUNY Optometry based on their campus

56