Approved by the Faculty Senate March 5, 2001
Approved by the President, April 2, 2001

A significant focus of the Faculty Senate Student Affairs Committee between Fall 1999 - Fall 2000 has been academic advising.  The current proposal is a synthesis of the work of the Student Affairs Committee, the work of the Strategic Change Work Group on Advising, and the Student Government Association, with some input from other students, faculty and staff with interest and knowledge in this area. To keep this document brief, names of the individuals involved are not listed.

CURRENT ADVISING SITUATION AT UVM. The Strategic Change Work Group Report of May 2000 articulated key observations about the current advising situation at UVM which were expressed in many Faculty Senate committee discussions as well.  They are summarized here as follows:

A.  Advising practices, resources and workloads vary widely from department to department, program to program, college to college, and advisor to advisor.

B.  Faculty and students often express or experience different expectations about advising.  While faculty often feel as though students make little or insufficient effort to seek quality advising, students often feel as though faculty are less than fully accessible for or engaged with their advising responsibilities.*

C.  Although it is clear to faculty that advising is a component of their professional duties, it is also widely thought that there is very little reward or incentive for putting a great deal of effort into academic advising.  Compared with research and teaching obligations, advising takes on much less importance.

D.  There is no systematic attempt to train faculty for advising duties, or to evaluate their advising performance, or to significantly reward them for excellent service as advisors.

E.  There is no systematic effort to educate students on appropriate advising expectations and their responsibility within the advisor-advisee relationship.

F.  Advising takes place in many different contexts, from the Residence Halls (with resident advisors) to departments (with faculty) to the career resource and study abroad centers and Dean's offices (with staff).  Advising information is highly decentralized.

G.  There is no universally accepted definition of advising, its nature and its aims at the University of Vermont.

*(The results from the Additional Questions on Advising from the College Student Experience Questionnaire (Spring 2000) show data to support student perceptions noted above. For a copy of the report contact the Office of Institutional Studies)
 

NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR ACADEMIC ADVISING. According to the Academic Advising Standards and Guidelines of the National Academic Advising Association:

The primary purpose of the academic advising program is to assist students in the development of meaningful educational plans that are compatible with their life goals.

The institution must have a clearly written statement of philosophy pertaining to academic advising which must include program goals and expectations of advisors and advisees.

The ultimate responsibility for making decisions about educational plans and life goals rests with the individual student. The academic advisor should assist by helping to identify and assess alternatives and the consequences of decisions.

Institutional goals for academic advising should include:

development of suitable educational plans; clarification of career and life goals; selection of appropriate courses and other educational experiences; interpretation of institutional requirements;  enhancement of student awareness about educational resources available (e.g., internships, study abroad, honors, and learning assistance programs); evaluation of student progress toward established goals; development of decision making skills; reinforcement of student self direction; referral to and use of institutional and community support services; and collection and distribution of data regarding student needs, preferences, and performance for use in making institutional decisions and policy.

PROPOSAL FOR ADOPTION BY FACULTY SENATE.

Preamble: Each academic unit must strive to provide high-quality academic advising, as defined in this document.  Each unit should decide whether it can best achieve this by having all its faculty do advising or by identifying a core of faculty with particular interest or talent (or both) to do all the advising for the unit. If the latter option is chosen, units should adjust other components of the advisors’ workloads to insure that overall loads of all faculty are equitable.

A. Adopt the following definition of Academic Advising:

Academic Advising is a process in which students seek and receive guidance with academic program planning, usually from a faculty advisor.  Meaningful educational planning is compatible with a student’s life goals, therefore academic advising encompasses discussion of life goals and assistance with the developmental process of life goals clarification. The ultimate responsibility for making decisions about educational plans and life goals rests with the individual student. Assistance with the clarification of life goals is not limited to the academic advising relationship, and may include staff in areas such as career development, residential life, and counseling.  For academic advisors, assisting students in the clarification of life goals means helping students explore and define their educational and career goals in an atmosphere of mutual respect and learning. Advising, while non-prescriptive, encourages students to think critically, seek out resources, and develop action steps.   The desired result is that students will feel a sense of connection with the advisor and a sense of guidance, while realizing personal responsibility for exploring options and making decisions.

Academic Advisors remain alert to any barriers to student academic performance and guide students to address these appropriately. The advisor needs to be able to refer students to appropriate academic and support services to enhance both their student experience and their academic success. Faculty advisors are expected to initiate contact with each advisee during a student's first two semesters on campus and when a new advisee is assigned to the advisor (includes newly declared majors and transfer students). After the first two semesters, maintaining regular contact with the advisor is the responsibility of the advisee.  The advisor will be prepared to meet with, and listen to, his/her advisees on a regular basis.  Advisor and advisee share responsibility equally for the success of the advising relationship.

B. Create a UVM website for advisors and for advisees, accessible from the Registrar's Web Page, and possibly also from the UVM Homepage. This page should, among other things, provide easy access to the offices of various student services, as well as academic units. It should be updated as needed. Those charged with creating this site should study the structure of sites elsewhere, adapting what they learn to the uniqueness of UVM.  Some model sites include: http://salc.wsu.edu/advising, http://www.ksu.edu/nacada.  The representative from the Provost’s office (see Item H) will coordinate this effort. Timeline: Website to be ready for Fall 2001.

Some topics the website might address include: 1) Definition of Academic Advising, 2) Benefits of Effective Academic Advising, 3) Components of a successful student/advisor interaction with guidelines for faculty and student, 4) Responsibilities of the advisor and advisee including what documents and information to have available at meetings, 5) Useful questions to ask, 6) Web Links to resources and referral sources for the advisor and for the advisee (campus services,  handbooks and directories, specific college, school, and departmental advising materials, national advising association (NACADA) information), 7) How students can change advisors, and 8) How advisors can handle special situations (advisees who don’t respond to contact, first year and transfer concerns, undecided majors, diverse student populations, disabilities, international students, angry or crying students).

C.  Develop an "Advising Handbook," corresponding with the web site, and update it as needed.  In addition, key information from, and reference to, the web site and handbook should be listed in UVM resource materials like the Cat’s Tale, UVM Catalogue, Orientation Packets, and Workshops on Advising.  Develop a one-page sheet that contains the definition of advising, outlines the expectations of advisor and advisee and provides key resource information (i.e. WEB address).  Incorporate discussion of this into both the summer orientation and fall connections programs.  The representative from the Provost’s office will coordinate this effort.  Timeline: Publications to be ready for Fall 2001.

D.   Establish a professional development program: Establish advising workshops, perhaps through the sponsorship of the Center for Teaching and Learning.  Target new faculty with an advising seminar as part of their orientation.  The training program should be mandatory for all new faculty and staff advisors and should be offered to all current faculty and staff.  The University Training and Development Office or the Center for Teaching and Learning should create an effective program in consultation with the Representative from the Provost’s office.  The timeline for the first training session is Fall 2001.

E. Strengthen rewards for advising in faculty review process.  Section 223.2 of the Officer’s Handbook says “teaching and academic advising must be evaluated regularly and the results of such evaluation must be presented systematically and considered in reappointment, promotion, and tenure decisions.” Charge the Senate Faculty Affairs Committee in conjunction with the Unit Deans to develop a process that insures that faculty advising is appropriately weighted in the Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure process, as well as the annual Merit raise system.  Faculty shall present documentation of advising effectiveness along with data on teaching effectiveness for review. This process will commence immediately following approval of this document, with implementation ready for Fall 2001.

F.   Create advising award program. In order to enhance the visibility and importance of advising in faculty work, implement an annual Advising Award in each academic unit.  A monetary prize is recommended. The criteria for the award will be developed by a combined faculty, staff and student group, chaired by a member of the Faculty Senate Student Affairs Committee.   Timeline for implementation of the first awards is Fall of 2001.

G.  Evaluate the advising system regularly. Section 223.2 of the Officer’s Handbook says “academic advising must be evaluated regularly and the results of such evaluation must be presented systematically.” A combined faculty, staff and student group will plan evaluation tools and determine the frequency and timing of their use.  This group will be chaired by a member of the Faculty Senate Student Affairs Committee and will include representation from the Office of Institutional Studies and the Student Government Association.  Surveys should poll both advisors and advisees on their academic advising experiences and satisfaction. All stakeholders will use results to develop goals for improving advising effectiveness.  Timeline for completion is May 2001 for implementation in AY 2001-2002.  The Office of Institutional Studies will have responsibility for generating the system wide data.  The Provost’s office representative will have responsibility for interpretation of the data.

In the interim, add the following sample questions to the existing 12 questions on the College Student Experiences Questionnaire’s page of UVM’s questions regarding Advising: (For more information on CSEQ, contact the Office of Institutional Studies).

1) Your current academic advisor is knowledgeable about University services available to students. (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree).

2) Your current academic advisor is knowledgeable about University policies and procedures for students. (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree).

3) How many times have you and your advisor met during the current academic year? (0,1,2,3 or more)

4) How many times per semester have you met with your advisor on average? (0,1,2,3 or more)

5) How many official advisors have you had at the University? (1,2,3 or more)

6) How many times per semester have you initiated contact with your advisor? (0,1,2,3 or more)

7) How many times per semester has your advisor initiated contact with you? (0,1,2,3 or more)

H.  Delegate campus wide advising coordination.  Establish a budget to fund the activities described in this proposal. Charge a single individual with oversight responsibilities for this comprehensive advising program. The person will seek student input and coordinate efforts that involve faculty and staff responsible for both undergraduate and graduate academic advising. This will require involvement from the Graduate College, in addition to the Provost's Office. The Provost’s Office should assign this responsibility no later than two weeks after this proposal is approved by the Faculty Senate.   --end

 (Comments can be directed to Monika Baege, e-mail: monika.baege@uvm.edu, fax: 802/223-6500.)
 

Last modified February 05 2002 01:08 PM