Official title!

The new title for the QEP is "GPS for Success: Teaching and Learning through Academic Advising."

The QEP Development Committee feels that this title speaks to the collaborative, developmental process of advising and the need for planning for academic success.

Updated draft of academic advising mission statement

We've had lots of great comments on the draft of the academic advising mission statement from various college units. Here is a revision:

The purpose of academic advising is to help students identify the educational paths to develop and accomplish their personal, academic, and career goals. Through academic advising, NOVA students will build the on-going relationships with faculty, counselors, and staff necessary to forge those paths.

What is Academic Advising?

The QEP Development Committee is working on a draft of an advising philosophy statement for NOVA:

The purpose of Academic Advising is to provide NOVA students with diverse services which will foster the building of on-going relationships between students, faculty and counselors through assorted and engaging activities including guided discussions, the use of analytical and evaluative tools, workshops and student development courses (SDV) to ultimately help students identify and/or develop stated personal, academic and career goals. Furthermore, the purpose of advising is to help students identify their educational paths and needs in response to their academic/personal goals.

Does this fit your concept of academic advising?

Appointment of QEP Development Committee

The members of the QEP Development Committee have been appointed. These members were nominated and selected based on their commitment and dedication to academic advising. Each campus is represented by at least one teaching faculty member and at least one counselor. In addition, there is representation from Achieving the Dream, First Year Experience, Pathway to the Baccalaureate, and ELI.

For further information, please visit the QEP page on NOVA's reaffirmation website at http://www.nvcc.edu/about-nova/sacsaccreditation/qep/index.html

Partners in Students' Success

Many thanks to the college units, student groups, and faculty groups for the submission of excellent proposals and valuable discussions.
It is clear that we want our students to make informed academic, personal, and career decisions. Faculty play a key role as partners in helping students achieve success.

In the year ahead, the QEP Development Committee will research best practices, identify resources, and assemble an action plan and an assessment strategy.

And the QEP is...

As you know, we have spent the last academic year researching what NOVA’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) topic should be. After much discussion and deliberation, the topic of Enhanced Academic Advising has been selected as NOVA’s QEP. By creating connections between the students, faculty, and counselors, the QEP will have a transformative effect on student learning.


In order to prepare for our Reaffirmation of Accreditation by SACS COC in June 2012, we now move into the development phase of the QEP. This must be a college-wide effort and requires dedication by thoughtful faculty and staff.

Committee members will work together on a regular basis to develop the implementation plan for the QEP, which is due to SACS COC in October 2011. The members of the committee will also be your campus’ QEP representatives. The nominees should be passionate about the topic and improving student learning. Nominations will be taken under consideration in order to form a cohesive team.


Each provost to nominate at least two members from each campus to be part of the QEP Development Committee. Please let your provost know if you would like to take advantage of this opportunity to make a significant impact on student learning.

The top 4 have been selected!

Thank you for your thoughtful comments regarding the QEP proposals. The NOVA SACS Steering Committee reviewed the proposals carefully and decided to send four of them on for approval. Recall that NOVA will have one topic as the focus of the QEP. This topic must address student learning or the environment that supports student learning.

The four proposals are Citizenship Across the Curriculum, Early Academic Engagement, Enhanced Academic Advising, and Increasing Math and Science Literacy for Non-Majors. Here is a summary of the proposals. Your comments are always welcome.

Once the topic has been selected, a QEP development committee will be formed to investigate best practices and detail how NOVA will enhance student learning through the QEP.

If you have any questions about the proposals or the QEP process, please e-mail QEP@nvcc.edu.

Thank you for your input and suggestions!

Early Academic Engagement Program

The Achieving the Dream team used your feedback and re-tooled their proposal. Here is a link to the revised proposal: Early Academic Engagement Program

Revised Proposals

Many thanks for your comments, which have contributed to the revisions of several of the proposals. Please click on the titles to review the revised proposals. Your comments are valuable!

Enhanced Academic Advising (revised March 2010)
Citizenship Across the Curriculum (revised March 2010)
Increasing Math and Science Literacy for Non-Majors (revised March 2010)
Experiential Learning

New proposal: Increasing Math and Science Literacy for Non-Majors

Many thanks to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Faculty Learning Community for this proposal.

Increasing Math and Science Literacy for Non-Majors

Revised Enhanced Academic Advising Proposal

Many thanks to everyone who contributed comments to refine the Academic Advising Proposal. Here is the "new and improved" proposal: Enhanced Academic Advising (Revised)

First Year Experience

Here is a new proposal, submitted by NOVA's Achieving the Dream team. It addresses the many needs of incoming students. Click on the link below.

First Year Experience

Preliminary Proposals

Here are some preliminary proposals for you to consider. Remember, there can only be one QEP. How do you feel that NOVA should enhance student learning? Click on the links below and post your comments.

Improving College Readiness
Enhanced Academic Advising
Experiential Learning
Citizenship Across the Curriculum
Getting Back on Track through Early Warning
Enhanced Faculty-Student Collaboration

QEP video

Click on the link to view a video introduction to the QEP: http://www.nvcc.edu/depts/tac2/qep/previewqep/