Advisory program aiding students in civic engagement made permanent

The Directors for Academic Engagement advising program is now permanent.

After four years as a pilot program, previously known as Global Advising, DAE has now gained stable status and will be available to students year-round to help them combine their research and academic goals through civic and global engagement—providing advising to students at a level beyond that of standard academic advising.

"Being a permanent program will allow us to think more creatively about how we can work with students, since we can now set long-term goals instead of just short-term ones," Elizabeth Fox, director of Academic Advising Center and co-chair of Undergraduate Council on Early Undergraduate Engagement, wrote in an email Wednesday.

The program's shift to permanent status is accompanied by a staff expansion, going from three directors of academic engagement to five—one specializing in the humanities and one in the natural and quantitative sciences.

DAEs are meant to go beyond the role of pre-major and department academic advisers by serving as specialists in civic and global engagement. The advisers focus on connecting students to opportunities both through the conventional curricula in classrooms as well as Global Education, DukeEngage, student organizations and community service.

The DAE program differs from regular pre-major advising for freshmen and sophomores in that it has the time and resources to go more in-depth into the wide array of opportunities provided to undergraduates.

"We have more than 230 faculty and administrators who volunteer their time to advise first-year and sophomore students, but although they are really committed, after all, they volunteer," Fox wrote. "They have limited time to go out and learn in depth the overwhelming array of opportunities afforded to undergraduates."

Student reaction to the program has been largely positive, with several participants emphasizing the comprehensiveness of the advising provided.

“I really didn’t know about all of the various global education and civic engagement opportunities here at Duke. It was difficult to navigate," sophomore Adam Schutzman wrote in an email Thursday. "The DAE was incredible. My adviser assisted me in identifying which DukeEngage and Study Abroad programs fit not only my curriculum, but also my general interests. Even more so, they have provided me with constant advice on what course of action I need to take to become a more competitive applicant for these programs.”

Sophomore Gabriela Asturias said the advising she received was more personal than the generic advising provided to all students. Her DEA adviser has kept in touch and continued to send her more information about opportunities and professors who are working on what she’s interested in.

In addition to working with students, DAEs can serve as a resource for general academic advisers. For example, DAE Jules Odendahl-James curated a lunch series this semester in which faculty from all arts and humanities departments discussed their majors, minors, and certificates with each other so that they could better advise students about other options.

DAE meetings are voluntary, but approximately 25 percent of the class of 2015 has made an appointment with a DAE. Many of them returned for second and third appointments, Fox noted—with 99 percent of respondents to a student survey indicating that they will or have recommended that their peers meet with a DAE.

"I came to [DAE Sarah Russell] frantically trying to define my college career and life goals, and overall to find some sort of certainty in my life," junior Stephanie Colorado wrote in an email Thursday. "She really gave me the confidence in pursuing what interests me, and a perspective on all the resources Duke provides to get involved.?"