Navigating ISU Student Directory Information: A Comprehensive Guide

Iowa State University (ISU) maintains a comprehensive directory of student information. This article aims to provide a structured overview of ISU student directory information, encompassing various aspects from accessibility and privacy to the types of data included and how students can manage their information. Your time at Iowa State is expected to be fun and exciting, but sometimes the college experience can become overwhelming. We are here for you.

Understanding Student Records at ISU

Iowa State University maintains various records concerning students, to document their academic progress as well as to record their interactions with university staff and officials. In order that their right to privacy be preserved and to conform with federal law, the university has established certain policies to govern the handling of student records. These records are managed with careful consideration for student privacy and in compliance with federal law.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The cornerstone of student data privacy is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA affords students certain rights with respect to their education records. FERPA grants students specific rights regarding their educational records, including the right to:

Inspect and review their education records
Request the amendment of records they believe are inaccurate or misleading
Control the disclosure of their personally identifiable information

If the University decides not to amend the record as requested, the University will notify the student in writing of the decision and the student’s right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the University to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

What Constitutes Directory Information?

At its discretion, Illinois State University may provide “directory information” in accordance with the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). Directory information is defined as that information which would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Iowa State University retains the discretion to disclose Directory and Confidential Information as indicated in Section 4 of Iowa State University's Notification of Rights Under FERPA.

Read also: Accessing the Cornell Directory

Examples of Directory Information

While the exact details may vary, directory information generally includes:

Student's name (The name included on the student’s ISU application (the student’s legal name) is the name used for directory information purposes.)
Address
Telephone number
Email address
Photograph
Date and place of birth
Major field of study
Dates of attendance
Class level (e.g., undergraduate or graduate, full-time or part-time)
Participation in officially recognized activities or sports
Weight or height of members of athletic teams
Target graduation date
Degrees, honors, and awards received
The most recent educational agency or institution attended

Important Considerations Regarding Directory Information

Please consider very carefully the consequences of a decision to withhold directory information. Illinois State University will honor your request to withhold directory information but cannot assume responsibility to contact you for subsequent permission to release this information. It is important to note that students can determine what information from the above items is displayed in the Online Public Directory. Online directory information and public information may be released to the public upon request, except in cases where the student has suppressed the release of their information.

Accessing and Managing Your Student Information

Students have the responsibility to notify the Office of the Registrar each time their information changes. Graduate Assistants and student employees must also report an address change to the office of University Human Resource Services.

Updating Information

Students can update the information when they move to a new location or change phone numbers through their BengalWeb account. To change your name for directory information purposes, you must change your legal name in the system. If a student has also entered a preferred name in the Campus Solutions and/or HR system, that preferred name will be used ONLY for specific internal University operations and will not be used as directory information.

Online Directory Privacy Settings

Students can set their Online Directory Privacy Settings via the Personal Information application, Additional Data tab in Workday. Students without electronic access can obtain the information from the Office of the Registrar, 214 Enrollment Services Center, 515-294-1840 or from the Office of Admissions, 100 Enrollment Services Center, 515-294-5836.

Read also: Student Directory Information

Requesting to Withhold Directory Information

Students have the right to request that their directory information not be released. A student memo sent out Nov. “The General Counsel Legal Office worked to send out FERPA information,” said McKenzie. “Please understand that placing a full Non-Disclosure hold on your student records will cause any and all future requests for contact information from ISU persons, on non-essential matters, and from non-institutional persons and organizations, including scholarship organizations, prospective employers, etc., to be denied,” read the memo.

Access to Student Records

Students have the right to review upon request any records that pertain directly to them. This provision does not apply to records to which the student has waived their right to review (e.g. Each type of student record is the responsibility of a designated university official, and only that person or the dean or director to whom that person reports has authority to release the record. A student should submit to the University Registrar a written request that identifies the record(s) the student wishes to inspect. The University official will make arrangements for access and notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected.

Challenging Records

A student may challenge the accuracy of handling of records maintained by the university on grounds that the records are inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise violate the privacy or other rights of the student. The university has established the following procedures to provide an opportunity for the student to correct or delete inaccurate records, or to insert into the record a written explanation of the content.

Process for Challenging Records

Students who question their records should discuss the issue first with the individual staff person who established or maintains the records. Presumably most issues can be resolved at this level.
The department head will discuss the issue with the staff person and the student challenging the record.
If resolution cannot be reached after meeting with the department head, the student may submit the question to the dean or director to whom the department head is responsible.
If the record has not been reconciled through these measures, the student may direct a written request to the president of the university. The president will convene an Ad Hoc Hearing Panel of Access and Confidentiality of Educational Records, composed of two faculty members, two students, and one administrator, appointed by the president for a period of one year, with the president or a designee serving as nonvoting chairperson.

Understanding "Need to Know" and Legitimate Educational Interest

The University discloses education records without a student’s prior written consent under the FERPA exception for disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A university official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill their professional responsibility. A university official is a person employed by the university in administrative, supervisory, academic, research, or support staff position (including law enforcement unit personnel and health staff); graduate assistants; a person or company with whom the university has contracted; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting another university official in performing their tasks.

Specific Reports and Data Available

ISU provides various reports and data sets, often accessible to advisors and departments, to support student success and academic administration. Here are some examples of available reports:

Read also: Navigating Bethel

Grade Distribution Reports: Displays University/College, Department, and Course grade averages, counts, and percent's by term and grade. Use the tabs to navigate between the College, Department, and Course.
Gen Ed Course Enrollment: Identifies the number of students enrolled in each Gen Ed Course, by Academic Level. Filter by Primary Plan, Class Attribute Short Description (Gen Ed Category) and the Class Attribute Long Description (Gen Ed Sub Category).
Advisee Lists: All advisees assigned to the user as of current date.
Graduation Eligibility: Provides a list of students who are eligible to participate in Commencement for a given Term.
Degree Information: Degree and contact information of all students in the given academic career, completion term, and department. This will be available for the Term after Official Degrees are awarded, generally 20-30 days after the end of the semester. Can be run by Major or Minor Department. Available as soon as Degree Awarded is entered.
Graduation Application Status: Students who have applied to graduate during the selected term and their current evaluation status (within Degree Audit). Provides a drill through to open the Student Address report and display only those graduation applicant's addresses in the report.
Students on Academic Probation/Warning: All students who are on probation - selected by Advisor. All students who have an academic standing of Warning - selected by Advisor.
Advisor Caseload: Academic and contact information about students on a given Advisor’s case load. Requirements include a certain GPA, number of semesters at ISU and graduating within a certain timeframe.
Class Enrollment Details: Class enrollment details for all classes by Subject and Term. Displays class enrollment counts for the Terms select, broken out by student career.
Course and Class Information: Course and class information including the schedule of the classes for the user selected Term and Subject, College, Department, or Course Attribute. Displays course and class information for classes that are fully online. Includes the schedule, enrollment and descriptions. Users select term and subject, course college, or course department.
Class Grades: Academic information including class grade for students enrolled in a given class by Course/Class/Section.
Course Withdrawal Counts: Displays course withdrawal counts for the last five years, broken out by college, department, course, and student academic level by season and term. Can select courses by college, department, and subject.
Course Lists: Displays a list of all courses offered by the University. Displays a list of all courses offered by the University in PDF form.
Course Performance Statistics: Displays demographic data, plan information, term taken, and performance statistics for selected course(s) for active students. Displays demographic data, plan information, latest term , and performance statistics for active students who have not taken the selected course. Displays demographic data & plan information, latest term, and performance statistics for students who have taken selected courses, either at ISU, or via Test or Transfer Credit. Filtered by academic career, classes, grade and how many of the courses the student took out of the classes selected. Displays the counts by major of students who have taken courses for selected terms and departments.
Dean's List: Displays students who are included in the Dean’s List for the selected Term. Displays the Primary College, Primary Department, and Primary Major, as well as their hometown. Can be executed by College, Department or Plan.
Classroom Schedules: Used to identify Department's classroom schedules both physically and virtually. It pulls courses offered by selected Term and Subject, as well as displays the physical room's capacity vs.
World Language Performance: Displays students who for the first time took a world language course at ISU and received a C or better for the selected term. Display the ISU course taken and grade if C or higher. Displays Student Name, Plan, Level, and Grade (when completed). Filter by Term, Primary Plan, Class Attribute Short Description (Gen Ed Category) and the Class Attribute Long Description (Gen Ed Sub Category).
Program and Plan Information: Program and plan information for active students filtered by College, Department, Plan, Subplan or Student Group. Program, plan and major GPA information for active students filtered by College, Department, Plan, Plan/Subplan or Student Group. Program and plan information for enrolled students by College, Department, Plan, Subplan or Student Group. Displays Plan and Subplan information for active students.
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP): Identify students whose Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) is 80% or less and displays their SAP if they drop 3 or 6 hours. It includes their primary advisor, new start current SAP (Y or N), total hours earned, total transfer hours earned, current term attempted and dropped units, past terms attempted and dropped units and their SAP as of now, if they dropped 3 hours or 6 hours.
Course Withdrawals: Displays students who have dropped or withdrawn from a course in the Term selected.
Math Placement: Displays Math courses enrolled, Math ACT, and ALEKS placement scores by student in the Term selected.
Pass/No Pass Enrollment: Displays students who are enrolled in a course for a Pass/No Pass grade.
Enrollment Summary: A summary of student enrollment hours in a selected term by College, Department, Plan, or Subplan.
Student Groups: All students in a select Student Group, and also allows the user to limit the results with a Plan and/or Subplan. Displays student group active and inactive history and comments of students in user selected student groups. Also includes the student's admit term, academic career, college, department, plans, subplans and if they are currently enrolled.
Test Results: The report displays test results for AP, CLEP, and ALEKS for currently enrolled students.
Check Status: The user selects a date range and check status (reconciled, not reconciled, or all) and the first page returns checked cashed information from Campus Solutions and Colleague. The second page displays checked cashed information from Campus Solutions without a match from Colleague.
Non-Graduates: Displays students who were enrolled in the Term(s) selected who have not graduated.

Additional Resources and Support

Academic Coaching

Academic coaching is the one-on-one process of helping a student examine academic concerns and perceived barriers to success.

Student Counseling Services

Student Counseling Services offers a variety of counseling services rooted in a short-term therapy model. The majority of the therapy is brief individual or group therapy, but crisis interventions and career counseling also is available. Call Student Counseling Services to make an initial appointment for assessment and recommendations of services.

Student Accessibility Services

Student Accessibility Services promotes the advancement of equity, access, and inclusion by coordinating accommodations for students with disabilities and collaborating with campus partners.

SafeRide

SafeRide is available throughout central campus and other university areas, including ISU-leased residence apartments, Greek parking lots and the basketball practice facility.

Informal Support

Need a less formal atmosphere to discuss specific problems? You won’t have to run to campus, because you’re already here, part of the Cyclone community with staff available to support you.

ISUCard Office

Each student is assigned a random university identification number on entry to the university. This number appears on the ISUCard that is provided to each student at the time of first registration. Loss of an ISUCard should be reported immediately to the ISUCard Office, where the lost card will be invalidated and replaced for a charge.

Social Security Numbers

Social security numbers are collected from prospective and current students, for administrative coordination and record identification purposes only. Although procedures have been established by the registrar for assignment of an alternative number upon request, students who wish to be employed on campus, desire to claim federal educational tax benefits, or are applying to receive financial aid, are required by law to provide their social security numbers for administrative use.

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