Subject: "What do you or your advisors do to encourage students to take responsibility for their degree progress? (March 2005)

Comment from the Commission Chair/Editor: I find it interesting that there was only one contributor to this subject that you will read below. It seems to indicate to me that maybe we really don't know what to do to encourage student responsibility for their degree progress or are we absorbed by the "mechanics" of just doing the job? For example, do we use our catalogs when advising students and teach them where they can find the information for the "next time"? Do we teach them how to use the automated degree audit program (if available at your institution) and then encourage them to explore it on their own? Do we teach them about using their strengths to determine career or course options? Do we expect them to know who we are and to seek us out when needed? Well, those are just my thoughts on the subject.

• One of the ways we encourage students to take responsibility for their degree progress is by tracking the students who opt to "no show" for appointments. We consider anyone who shows up 15 minutes or later to an appointment, a "no show". Students in this category are asked to reschedule their appointment about 1 to 2 weeks from their initial appointment date so that other students, who do arrive on time, are not punished by having their appointments scheduled later than usual. Students who are considerate and call, on the front-end of their appointment, are given every opportunity to reschedule as soon as possible. Word has quickly gotten around campus that you had better show up on time to the Urban Affairs Advising Center , otherwise you will be inconvenienced, just like the advisors who have prepared for an appointment which never occurs.
  

  Contributor: Adam Sikula, Director of the Student Advising Center, Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, University of Nevada-Las Vegas; asikula@ccmail.nevada.edu