Looking through the windows of the Davis Center’s newest space, you might guess it’s a study lounge, or the headquarters of a Catamount coffee drinking club. In truth, this office is the Advising Center, where students answer other students’ questions about UVM, and it can’t be described as just one thing.
That’s the whole point, says program director Heidi Parker. From the small meeting tables to the coffee station to the flexible, no appointment needed approach, the center was designed to make any student who walks in the door feel comfortable. “We wanted students to have a place to get different kinds of advice, not just academic,” says Parker.
It started as a Student Government Association (SGA) initiative, but thanks to positive response, it became an official program under UVM’s Center for Academic Success (it will still be partially funded by SGA for four years). The Advising Center opened in fall 2016 just across the hall from FeelGood Grilled Cheese; in the first week of classes alone, the 20 advisors met with nearly 80 of their peers.
What kinds of questions do advisors get? “About a third are related to a degree, a third are academic but not degree-related, like tutoring, and a third are totally unrelated to academics, like finding community or university navigation,” says Parker. The center also saw a spike in students coming through the doors around class registration time.
Although there are lots of places to get advising on campus, convenience was a big reason the center was created, says coordinator Isora Lithgow. “We’re different because we’re drop in. If you’re having lunch with a friend in the Davis Center, you can walk downstairs, ask a question, and have it answered in five or ten minutes.”
The other big difference: no question is off-limits. “We’re giving you our first-hand experience, on everything from where to get the best pizza to where to buy boots to our favorite professors,” says Lithgow, who works closely with the advisors. “No one knows UVM more than the students.”
Those student advisors are mostly juniors and seniors who are involved on campus and have leadership experience. They’re trained as generalists, but come from a mix of backgrounds and majors. Take, for example, Katarina Fielding (pictured above, right), a junior who’s pre-vet majoring in animal science and minoring in Italian and zoology. Her areas of expertise? “ResLife, athletics, fraternity and sorority life, and the best allergy-friendly food in Burlington,” says Fielding.
Another advisor, Félix Torres, a junior from North Kingstown, Rhode Island studying neuroscience and statistics, has very different specialties: time management tips, undergraduate research, and the “top sunset views in the area.”
Senior Nicole Reber, a zoology major and anthropology minor, says it’s not just the students seeking advice who get something out of the equation. “I think the best part about working here is that I learn something new from every student who walks through those doors. They come in with their questions, but in the process I get to learn something about each one of them, and on a larger scale I get to see the faces that make up UVM, the students who call this place their home.”
The Advising Center is located on the first floor of the Davis Center, no appointment (or particular question) necessary.