College encourages advisor connections

With the hope of eventually eliminating walk-in advising hours, the College of Arts and Sciences is encouraging students to develop personal relationships with their advisors. Students in all classes take advantage of the walk-in hours, where they have a 15-minute appointment with an assistant dean for advising. But because a student may meet with a different advisor each visit, it is difficult to foster a close relationship. Under the current system, sophomores who have yet to declare a major are often caught in the gap between freshman and major advising. As part of the new initiative, however, the College assistant deans have begun e-mailing sophomores to assure them priority over daily walk-ins and to remind them to see their assigned advisors before planning future course work, College Assistant Dean Eric Schneider said. The program comes in response to a January Undergraduate Assembly report on advising that recommended that students cultivate relationships with specific advisors, instead of discussing their University careers during brief walk-in appointments. The College office recommends that students meet with their advisors once a semester, but problems arise when students forget to make appointments and then expect to speak with their assigned advisors immediately, Director of Academic Advising Diane Frey said. While personal advising is the best approach, such a relationship is difficult to maintain, she added. But Student Committee on Undergraduate Education Chairperson Ari Silverman said technology -- rather than personal attention --Ewas the most important change to the advising system. "Technology is changing the face of advising," Silverman said. "You can look on the Web for General Requirement information, the course scanner for course information and then e-mail basic questions to advisors." But some students still report problems with the system. College senior Vatsal Doshi said he encountered too much bureaucracy in declaring an individualized major, and finally decided against it. But Silverman said "the problem is that students don't know how to navigate this University." "Lots of resources exist, but students feel overwhelmed and don't know where to go," he added. The two prevalent attitudes in advising are "the paternalistic approach and the developmental approach," Silverman explained. University advisors subscribe to the second philosophy, discussing problems and offering advice without taking away students' power to control their own educations, the SCUE chairperson said. "College advising fosters independent people," head peer advisor and College junior Rachel Goldfarb said. But limited interaction with advisors, coupled with long lines in the College office, often prevents some students from ever contacting their assigned advisors. Frey said such problems may not be totally preventable, however, because advisors at a large university don't have the time to meet with their students on a weekly basis or continuously check on their progress. And increasing the advising staff, though it might seem attractive, would not make a permanent solution, Silverman said. "I don't think hiring new advisors is like sprinkling fairy dust," he added. "The problem won't just magically go away." Goldfarb noted that assistant dean advising is intended as a supplement to faculty, peer and residential advising. "For the types of questions the College office is supposed to receive, it's a fine system," she said.

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