By Bailey Elise McBride
Although the different colleges on campus handle academic advising separately, officials from all departments agree that advising – which is open to students now – is a key element of a successful college experience.
According to the mission of the Academic Advising Council, “Academic advising is an active, ongoing partnership between the advisers and students grounded in teaching and learning” and is “based on students gaining accurate and appropriate information and direction to help make their educational experience relevant, coherent and meaningful.”
For students, advisers assist in developing an educational plan based on their interests and refer them to appropriate resources on campus. They also help students select classes for each semester of study.
Alice S. Griffin, the coordinator of advising and retention for the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, said the advising model used in Bumpers is designed to be more personal for their students.“We have a faculty model. From the beginning, students are assigned a faculty mentor in the summer at orientation,” Griffin said. “Research show that students who have more interaction with faculty in and out of the classroom are more likely achieve their academic goals in the designated amount of time.”
Photo By Stephen Ironside
The advising process in Bumpers is different from advising in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, where students visit a central advising center as freshmen and sophomores.
“It’s building that relationship from day one,” Griffin said. “Research shows that the most valuable relationships students make will develop during their college experience, so it’s important they start with their adviser at first, instead of just for two years, and are able to network early on within their profession.”
Department heads and advisers from Fulbright and the Sam M. Walton College of Business were unavailable for comment about advising practices in their colleges.
The Academic Advising Council maintains that “quality academic advising is essential to achieving the university’s vision for a student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world.”
But not all students find their academic advisers to be so helpful.
“It helped to see what all I needed to get done, but they kind of just told me to pick and choose classes instead of saying, ‘Oh, hey, this would really help you with this,’” freshman Jordan Hanson said.
And Bailey Boyd, a senior journalism major, said she questions why the advising process is considered mandatory for underclassmen at all.
“Advising is good for students in a career sense, but it shouldn’t be necessary,” Boyd said. “We are adults, aren’t we?”
However, Boyd did have a positive experience with the adviser she worked with through her First Year Experience program, and she credits her ability to graduate early entirely to him.
The UA Academic Advising Council awards those advisers who provide excellent guidance to their students. In 2008-09, Larry Aslin from the College of Education and Health Professions was named the outstanding faculty adviser and Bill Ragan from the College of Business was named the outstanding professional adviser.
The recipients were selected for “their overwhelming evidence of qualities and practices that distinguished them as outstanding advisers” and received $2,500.
They are recognized at a reception during the fall semester and are nominated for the National Academic Association advising awards.