Student
Success Programs
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Nominated by Rosemary
Carr
Beginning with an informal audit
of the advising process and continuing with the prioritization
and recommendations of the Faculty Senate Academic Advisement
Committee, the student Success Center and several key faculty
members have labored over a six semester period to bring about
a major change in the structure and delivery of academic advising.
Faculty at Embry-Riddle have traditionally
provided academic advice. Prompted by and informal audit in August of 1995,
the Academic Advisement Committee conducted a review of the advising
process on campus. Given a measure of student dissatisfaction
with the current system and an indication that several faculty
were expressing their reservations about continuing as advisors,
the committee recommended that the advising program undergo a
major renovation. A plan to restructure academic advising
and strengthen the role of student success programs was developed
and presented to the Faculty Senate in December 1995. The
revised plan has focused on freshman advising, new student advising,
advisor training and training of instructors of the College Success
course.
The campus has embraced the restructuring. Faculty and
administration celebrate demonstrated improvements in advising,
both in terms of increased student satisfaction with advising
and increased student retention. The Center continues to
act as a clearing house of academic concerns, and most recently,
the faculty handbook was amended (by faculty vote) to secure
the Director of Students Success Programs as a permanent member
of the Academic Advisement Committee.
College
of Letters and Sciences
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Nominated by Debra
Heiber
In 1994, the College of Letters
and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater developed
new initiatives to support and enhance its de-centralized faculty
advising program. These
initiatives aim at 1) improving the information resources for
faculty, 2) creating a communication network, 3) increasing
support for advising as a function of teaching and learning,
and 4) reaffirming the positive values of faculty advising.
To achieve these goals, the College
incorporated a 3/4 time position for a Coordinator of Advising. The coordinator also holds
a 1/4 time academic staff faculty position. In addition
to developing a program for undeclared students, the coordinator
also provides information and training/development for faculty
advisors. This appointment has resulted in materials and
services to assist faculty advisers in an effort to meet the
goal of improving information services.
The key to meeting the last three
goals is the formation of the Master Advisers group. This group provides an advising expert
for each department in the College of Letters and Sciences who
can share information and be an advocate for advising within their
departments. The groups made major strides in providing
workshops for training and development, establishing an advising
award, integrating advising in promotion and tenure structures,
and evaluating the college advising program. The initiatives
of the Master Advisers have assisted faculty advisers to have
more confidence in their advising abilities and to take a greater
interest in establishing advising relationships with their students.
Liberty University
College of General Studies
Nominated by: John M. Borek
The establishment of the Advisor
of the Year at Liberty University was conceived as a result
of the Academic Advising Summer Institute of 1989. Although
Liberty had a faculty advising system since its inception,
prior to 1989 no recognition was given to faculty providing
exemplary academic advising services.
The purpose of the program is
not only to recognize quality advising, but to promote advising
within Liberty University. Each year all full-time faculty
are given an opportunity of nominating colleagues for the Advisor
of the Year. Nominees are required to submit an application
portfolio. An ad-hoc committee, comprised of faculty advisors
representing all the schools and colleges, review the documents
and choose the Advisor of the Year.
The Advisor of the Year is given
the following recognition:
- A 5X7 Plaque is inscribed and presented to the advisor during
the Academic Awards Convocation.
- A news release is made.
- The advisor's picture is displayed in the College of General
Studies Hall of Outstanding Advisors
The program has been met with enthusiasm
by the faculty and this recognition of outstanding faculty has
promoted advising. It is unique in that it provides a creative
way of addressing a faculty advisor award system, costs little
in the way of finances and has impacted faculty advising. The features
of this program are easily adapted to all types of institutions
of higher learning.
Linfield College
Faculty Involvement and Innovation: Keys to a Successful First-Year
Advising Program
Nominated by: Deborah
Olsen
The advising program
at Linfield College was established to improve the retention of
first-year students. As directed by the Faculty Assembly, the
Instuction Committee developed a proposal to create an advising
program for entering new students. The resulting program, adopted
by the Faculty Assembly in 1987, was Freshman
Collloquium, a one-credit, fall semester, paracurricular
course required of all freshmen. Consistent with the college's
mission of "creating a supportive, caring environment based on a close
association between faculty and student," twenty faculty advisors
were able to work with groups of freshmen advisees in their anticipated
areas of concentration. In addition to its focus upon academic
advising (encompassing issues of general education and major requirements,
registration and academic planning), students would explore such
topics as the history and traditions of the college, career counseling,
study skills, time management, stress reduction, and campus resources.
Faculty advisors were expected to undergo training before the
arrival of the new students, and they would receive a "modest
honorarium" for their service.
The original goal of the program
was to increase student retention by 2% a year. Implicit was
the objective that students, during the course of Colloquium,
would develop close ties with one professor. Since its establishment,
seventy-two faculty advisors from twenty departments (over
70% of all full-time faculty) have served as Colloquium advisors,
twenty-six of these for three or more years. A brief history
of the changes within the program illustrates the importance
of the faculty's role in advising and the need for creative,
innovative response to challenges.
