As sophomores begin to look to their advisers for counsel in declaring a major and as seniors seek help in determining post-graduation plans, members of the Arts and Sciences Council discussed the future of undergraduate advising at its meeting yesterday afternoon.
The discussion followed a report by the Executive Committee on the status of undergraduate advising. The report had been in response to the academic affairs committee's earlier review of the system and its subsequent recommendations for improvement.
Current recommendations include increased support for departmental advising and a reorganization of the Pre-Major Advising Center to recognize the different advising needs of freshmen and sophomores.
The Executive Committee disagreed with findings by the academic affairs committee that called for the creation of a senior associate dean position to coordinate all advising services and the formation of a formal peer advising system. Faculty members at the meeting expressed reservations about the role of a senior associate dean, questioning what functions the new administrator would perform that are not currently fulfilled.
History Professor John Richards, chair of the academic affairs committee, however, said that the new position is necessary. "We need to have someone who [is] paying attention to the whole system."
Council members also considered the role of peer advising in response to the findings of the academic affairs committee's report. Acknowledging that there is already an informal peer review network in place, Norman Keul, assistant dean of Trinity College and director of the PMAC, said one of the largest challenges to formal peer advising is the training such a system would entail.
"Someone has to be pretty much dedicated to seeing these people and training them," Keul explained.
The council also discussed the lack of incentives for faculty to act as advisers. Keul said that with the new surveys about their pre-major adviser that sophomores fill out as they declare a major, the PMAC will have the data needed to recognize good advisers and use them more effectively.
Some faculty members said professors view advising as an obligation that interrupts their research. "I think that to really do this right, I need to spend a lot more time with these students," said Claudia Strauss, assistant professor in the department of cultural anthropology.
Despite the recommended changes to the advising system, some members of the council said the atmosphere that surrounds the advising process must also improve.
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