UB Academic-Review Web-Site Solution Places Second in National Contest

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Amherst resident Frank D'Arrigo, assistant vice provost and director of undergraduate information services at the University at Buffalo, has been named first runner-up for "Best Web Site Solution" in the national 1999 Visual FoxPro Excellence Awards contest for a site he designed that ultimately could improve student retention at UB.

Using the new Academic Review Web Site designed by D'Arrigo, UB staff can, in about 25 minutes, complete a task that previously took 3,200 hours, or six weeks, of work, freeing up academic advisors to concentrate on working with students.

The secure site allows administrators to request a review of students who may be facing academic problems and the information automatically is sent to them via email. Relevant information is provided to academic departments and financial-aid officers. NCAA-eligibility reports also are available through the site.

"At the end of the processing, one of the several results is that an email is mailed automatically to each school and department to alert them to those students who are on academic probation or are not making timely progress toward their degree," said Susan Eck, assistant vice provost and coordinator of student services information technology.

"With the advisement center and the academic-department advisors able to rapidly intervene with students who find themselves in this situation, we hope to improve our retention of students," Eck added.

UB's Web-site solution was one of only three selected from hundreds of entries to be named finalists in the prestigious contest, sponsored by Microsoft Corp. and FOXPRO ADVISOR magazine. Finalists were chosen for "their outstanding achievements in developing database solutions with visual FoxPro and the amazing array of business solutions their users and clients depend on every day."

This is the second consecutive year Web solutions developed at UB have been named finalists in the Visual FoxPro contest. In 1998, UB's Articulation Reporting Information Evaluation System (ARIES) also was named first runner-up for "Best Web Site Solution." ARIES is an online program that helps students determine if credits they have earned at another university will transfer to UB.