Advising guidelines put together at the University of Arkansas as the undergraduate program grew and developed. Presented at the 2012 SPIN-UP conference in Austin and the PhysTEC leadership meeting at the AAPT summer meeting in Edmonton.

Presented by Valerie Otero at the 2012 Colorado Learning Assistant Workshop at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Florida International University's (FIU's) Department of Physics has transformed its undergraduate program over the past 11 years, leading to a 1500% increase in the number of intended and declared majors as well as a 800% increase in the number of graduates (comparing current three-year averages to the early 1990's). FIU's undergraduate enrollment grew 180% in the same period. To achieve these results, the department has taken a systematic approach to reforming the undergraduate experience, targeting introductory course transformations, revising and expanding the undergraduate degree programs (including adding a new teacher preparation program), adding critical courses, promoting strong advising within the department, engaging local high school teachers and their students, and establishing a major Physics Education Research Group. Further, FIU is a Minority-Serving Institution in South Florida, and thus serves as a unique laboratory to investigate how to best support success of historically underrepresented groups including women. The session will include an overview of FIU's transformation as well as provide insight into replicating the practices at other institutions.

A Physics Department that was on the brink of extinction has been successfully resuscitated into a nationally recognized program at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The revitalization efforts included sweeping curricular reforms, aggressive recruitment and retention of students and faculty. The reforms include the introduction of new academic programs for the majors, new courses for non-majors, a Dual-Degree program in Physics and Engineering, and opportunities for undergraduate research. The success of the program in recruiting, retention, and career placement can be attributed to a combination of aggressive advising and flexible options designed to meet the needs and career goals of each student. The retention rate in the program is high due to one-on-one advising, involving students in undergraduate research at an early stage, and a very vibrant student society. The department uses several recruitment techniques which include contacting high school seniors in the region and outreach activities to attract students to the program. In order to sustain and enhance the quality of the program, the department has implemented comprehensive assessment of its programmatic goals on a regular basis. Due to these initiatives, the department has maintained its growth over the years and currently has 150 majors, and graduated 27 majors this academic year.