The Solution:

Activate cross-divisional change and empower employees to reduce 
institutional scheduling barriers

As a part of a campus strategic initiative, Sami Monsur, Associate Vice President for Academic Business & Strategic Operations, and Provost Vincent Del Casino advocated for the better use of its campus technology solutions to improve strategic scheduling at SJSU. 

Sami, who has a strong background in change management, provided oversight for the implementation of Ad Astra software. Armed with data from Ad Astra, SJSU could now begin planning and generating timely recommendations. Users across the institution could see what was occurring cross-departmentally to better respond to evolving student and department needs. 

The strategic scheduling effort also included the creation of the Academic Strategic Scheduling, Space, and Enrollment Team (ASSSET). The group includes contributions from Deans, Associate Deans, Directors of Resource and Operations, Department Chairs, departmental administrative staff, Strategic Enrollment Management, Undergraduate Advising and Success, and Academic Scheduling user groups. The work of ASSSET has been instrumental in deploying and engaging change managers and teams by working directly with those individuals doing the scheduling work. 

Schraeder Cisneros spearheaded training for the Ad Astra system, creating demos for key partners. With the Ad Astra solution in place, users could begin to dig into the ‘why’ behind bottlenecked classes, post-registration and post-publication cancellations, and scheduling overlaps to create better scheduling plans.

“We are constantly talking about how an Ad Astra report can help us answer these questions,” Schraeder Cisneros said. “By embedding data into this process, it permits us to bring issues to the forefront while including people in the solution.”

Sami’s team, Academic Business and Strategic Operations, also created the SJSU Academic Affairs Resource Hub, a centralized intranet to promote communication across campus divisions. The suite of resources includes Ad Astra academic planning tools, quick start guides, and supplemental Ad Astra resources that Sarah Cisneros created. 

Members of ASSSET continue to gain momentum as they support a multi-year strategic scheduling plan to match class offerings with plans through the 2026-2027 Academic Year. As a part of the larger timeline of change, SJSU has a goal of making the schedule available earlier to further improve the advising process and to move the needle in how the institution supports its students.

“Beyond onboarding you with the technology, Ad Astra also engages you in strategic conversions of how to implement the tool and how to gain implementation from your users,” Schraeder Cisneros concluded. “It’s a strategic partnership, not just the provision of a software tool.”