Engineering students seem to think there is a problem with the school's advising system. But according to that system's chief officer, they are mistaken.
Director of Engineering Advising John Keenan says that the School of Engineering an Applied Science's advising program is not only good, it goes above and beyond what is needed.
"Every student has [access to] a staff person, faculty advisor and the Academic Programs office," Keenan notes. Moreover, he argues that "there are more than enough resources for them to use."
This, in the face of student complaints about the accessibility of advisors and those advisors' competence to guide in courses of study outside of their departments, is irresponsible.
Freshman, who are not yet acclimated to life at Penn, need help in choosing courses and finding a major that suits them. But even if this sort of assistance was available to Engineering students, many say that they did not know about it.
The quality of undergraduate advising is a perennial problem at Penn, and student dissatisfaction is not limited to the Engineering School.
For years, College of Arts and Sciences students complained that the school's advising system was confusing, convoluted and failed to provide them with the direction they needed.
But whereas the College has taken steps to solve the problems students identified, the Engineering School seems to be in denial about the problem that exists. Far from addressing complaints, Keenan and his program do not even recognize that the system is unsatisfactory.
College Dean Richard Beeman's work to make the school's once fragmented and confusing system more cohesive has had mixed results. But at the very least, the College understood that something needed to be done and sought a solution. The same cannot be said of the Engineering School.
We recognize that the College and Engineering are very different schools and that identical advising programs would not necessarily be suitable.
Still, the Engineering School would be wise to take this page from the College's book: If there is a problem with the system, do something about it.
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