Get ready for Academic Advising Week
“We had a blast,” said Shaina McGill, the senior academic adviser in the Center for Student Success. “We have been really focused on outreach and we loved getting the chance to interact with them. We also know students are getting different information everywhere and some are getting none at all.”
The week’s events kicked off with the professional advising staff riding the campus shuttles. The shuttle rides gave the staff the opportunity to give the students general information about advisement. They made sure students were aware of holds, their individual advisers, the deadline to drop classes and how to find midterm grades.
There was also an “Advising 101″ event on Monday night in Parkhurst Hall and an advising week table on West Campus on Tuesday afternoon. They had a table in the library on Wednesday and Thursday and a table in the dining hall on Friday as well. The staff wanted to make sure they were available to as many students as possible.
“They helped me out a lot; before going to them I didn’t know what my options were on dropping my chemistry class. They told me about changing majors and other things that I had questions about,” freshman Mac McElveen said.
Freshmen are looking for information on advisement.
“I think that we should get more information on it because I don’t think a lot of freshmen have heard about it. We’ve mainly been told by our first year seminar teachers that we need to schedule an advisement meeting so that we can get our adviser holds off,” said first-year student Maggie Finch.
The advising staff also wanted students to be aware of the different resource centers on campus, such as the Student Learning Center and the Center for Student Success.
Each student received myCATS and DegreeWorks informational handouts and a schedule planning sheet. The key for the advisers was to provide as much information to students as possible and to let the students know they were there to help.
“All of the advisers were extremely friendly and made me feel like they would do anything in their power to help me out. They made me feel a lot more comfortable; now I know that I’m not alone in making decisions about my future,” McElveen said.
“We believe that the earlier students know about and make use of the available resources, the easier it will be for them to succeed in school,” McGill said.
The Center for Student Success has added more professional advisers in order to aid students in between majors or those who have not yet been accepted into a cohort. There are now professional advisers for pre-nursing, pre-mass communication, pre-business and pre-education.
The Center for Student Success staff thought up the idea of a week devoted to advising awareness in one of their monthly meetings. They did a little research and found out that there are not any schools with an official advising week. With the goal of outreach in mind, the staff decided to try something new.
“We think it was very successful, and we plan to do it again next fall,” McGill said.
The advising staff will continue to do smaller outreach events throughout the semester. They also plan to have a table at Midnight Madness.
If there are any more questions about advisement or general concerns about the process, visit the Center for Student Success on the second floor in Lanier Hall.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Oct 17 2008. Filed under News.
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