By Pamela King

Students who are in danger of failing can now receive e-mail notification from their professors through the new Faculty-Advisor Communication Tool (FACT).

“We want to make sure students aren’t falling through the cracks,” said Stephen Lavenberg, Student Government Association vice president for academic affairs.

FACT allows professors to submit reports about students who are at risk of failing a class. Advisors can view the reports which help them get a clearer idea of a student’s needs.

When faculty members submit a report through FACT, the student then receives an e-mail notification. Nina LeDoyt, senior associate registrar, said the automatic e-mail is the most critical update of the Early Warning System, the program FACT has replaced.

“We used to mail notifications,” LeDoyt said. “There was as much as a two-week turn-around.”

The Early Warning System only included freshmen classes that had been categorized as exceptionally difficult. The creation of FACT has expanded the system to include all undergraduate day students in all classes. Additionally, teachers can submit reports on attendance issues and student athletes.

Athletic department faculty members want professors to submit reports on students regardless of their level of performance.

“We will request that faculty members submit a midterm progress report for student athletes,” said Lauren DeSantis, the director of Student Athlete Support Services. “We want to know about their successes also.”

LeDoyt said FACT is a way for faculty members and administrators to be “more focused on students’ success.”

Kostia Bergman, an associate professor and director of the biology department, said FACT will make academic advisors’ jobs much easier.

“I’ve been an advocate for many years for doing more of our work electronically,” he said.

Bergman said FACT will be a more efficient way for advisors in different departments to share students’ academic records.

Northeastern received a grant from the Davis Foundation to fund FACT. University administrators and faculty then brought in a team of consultants to create a well-developed academic warning system for students.

LeDoyt said the program is still in its “test term,” so administrators have not yet observed any problems.

In the future, administrators hope to include co-op advisors in the reporting process. They also want to help scholarship students meet their award requirements.

Lavenberg said it is important for students to know this resource is available. If they receive an e-mail saying they are in danger of failing, they should know they still have time to fix the problem, he said.

“We sort of dreamed about [this system] years ago,” Bergman said. “All of a sudden it’s here.”