It's time for the advising system to get some advice.
The Arts and Sciences Council will vote today on a series of suggestions prepared by the executive committee-including both increased compensation and administrative support for directors of undergraduate studies and enhanced resources to encourage faculty mentoring.
The motions and the council's votes will then be forwarded to William Chafe, dean of Trinity College and the faculty of Arts and Sciences, for further review. He said he hopes to have some of these recommendations implemented by next fall.
"The overall goal is to make more efficient and student-oriented our advising system," Chafe said. "Generally speaking, I am in agreement with the resolutions the executive committee has proposed."
To further support the directors of undergraduate studies, the executive committee recommended that all directors receive compensation through a reduced course load and increased administrative support-incentives already offered by some departments.
"By essentially easing some of the administrative burdens, it would improve the advising process," said Steve Churchill, director of undergraduate studies for biological anthropology and anatomy.
These administrative tasks include helping students select courses and resolve scheduling conflicts. Churchill said that if these tasks could be performed by "dedicated administrative people," faculty members could advise students better.
Peter Wood, professor of history and an executive committee member, emphasized the directors' role in each department. "The buck stops with the director of undergraduate studies," he said. "[That position] is a very tough, very important job within each department."
In order to increase the overall effectiveness of academic advising, some faculty members have stressed the need to reshape students' and faculty members' attitudes regarding the advising process.
"We need a major change in faculty culture and student culture in order to improve advising at Duke," said John Richards, chair of the Academic Affairs committee and professor of history, at the Nov. 13 Arts and Sciences Council meeting.
After they declare their major, students' advising needs are met by their respective departments. Although the number of students assigned to each faculty adviser varies by department, faculty in public policy studies, for example, are each responsible for between 18 and 24 students.
As an adviser, a faculty member's responsibilities include ensuring that students are progressing successfully through their major and college requirements while handling other academic problems as well, said Joseph Lipscomb, director of undergraduate studies of public policy studies.
Although no concrete incentives exist for faculty members to advise students, Churchill said, it is simply an accepted part of their responsibilities. But as the prestige of the University increases, Wood noted, emphasis is placed on research and publishing rather than advising. "We can't expect everybody to be good advisers all the time," he said.
The only tangible way in which faculty advising could affect a faculty member would be in the arenas of tenure and promotion, Wood said. He added, however, that whether tenure and promotion committees actually take advising into account is the "million dollar question."
The executive committee's suggestions evolved through a lengthy process. Participants at the Nov. 13 Arts and Sciences Council meeting discussed two different sets of proposals. Subsequently, the executive committee used this input to draft the series of motions that will be addressed today.
Earlier proposals, which were dismissed by the committee, called for the creation of a new associate dean position and a formal peer advising system.
"There is always hesitancy on the part of teaching faculty to see expansion of the administrative apparatus at the University," Wood said.
The executive committee instead is calling for the creation of a liaison committee to coordinate advising, thus eliminating the need for an associate dean.
Faculty members also expressed their support of informal advising while pointing to the hidden problems and implementation difficulties inherent in a formalized system.
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