Whether or not the Faculty Senate approves the creation of a new University College, student advising at WSU needs to be, and will be, revamped. Although President Elson S. Floyd has said the cost of adding new advisers could be as much as $1 million annually, in the current budget climate that money is not available, so immediate changes would be less expensive.
Those were two key points that Provost Warwick Bayly made in addressing the Faculty Senate Thursday at the beginning of its regular meeting. With no quorum, the Faculty Senate did not address action items, but creation of the University College was the main discussion item.
Bayly said he attended the meeting to emphasize that the creation of the University College was a separate issue from advising. Staff, faculty and students have been discussing problems with advising for a long time, he said, and those issues must be worked out over time and in discussion with stakeholders across campus.
In contrast, he said, creating a University College is about giving a new name to a set of student services – including advising – that already exist and have been grouped together under one administrative and budgetary unit.
“The University College will help us become more student centered,” he said. Structurally the pieces are in place, he said, but the name change is important for symbolic reasons: to make it clear to students and their parents that even before they certify into a particular college, they have an academic home.
At the meeting Bayly announced that he and President Elson S. Floyd have requested an all-day retreat to discuss changes to academic advising on Dec. 2 in the CUB. Advisors and anyone interested in student advising are welcome to attend. RSVPs should be made by Nov. 25 to cindyw@wsu.edu.
Margaret Young, associate professor and undergraduate program adviser for human development, said faculty in her department feel strongly that they should be able to continue advising students who know they plan to major in HD, even if those students have not yet certified.
“The students’ department is their academic home,” she said. While some units might have advising problems, Young said, other units to a very good job of advising students and they shouldn’t be penalized. In her experience, she said, students who get advising at the department level are more likely to progress toward their degree without delays.
Cathy Claussen, professor of sports management, agreed, saying that sports management students who come to the department as freshmen tend to do better.
“They progress through without having snags in the way,” she said, “so I would recommend at least having that choice.”
“All the issues on advising remain to be resolved,” Bayly said. “That’s a work in progress.”
He said the impetus behind the University College was to create a more student-centered university and to improve student retention rates and engagement.
Several senators commented on supporting material indicating that in 2006 about 2,500 undergraduate students didn’t return to WSU the following year.
“That’s a phenomenal loss,” said Stacey Hust, assistant professor in the Murrow College. “I had no idea it was that high.”
According to Susan Poch, associate vice provost for the Office of Student Achievement, WSU ranks 16th of 22 peer institutions in student retention rates. WSU isn’t the bottom, she said, but clearly has room for improvement.
A name change by itself won’t solve the problem, Bayly said, “but it is our considered opinion that creating a University College will help.”
According to Poch, because of a structural change that the Provost’s Office made in July, the university now has an opportunity that it didn’t have in the past.
In July, based on recommendations of the Academic Affairs Program Prioritization (A2P2) process, the Provost’s Office moved several additional units out of the Division of Student Affairs, Equity and Diversity and under the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. The new unit includes General Education, Undergraduate Research, the WSU Writing Program and Learning Communities, as well as the Center for Advising and Career Development, the Office of Student Achievement and New Student Programs, and Pathways to Academic Success Seminar (PASS) (formerly Freshman Seminar).
“We’re now a cohesive unit,” Poch said. “We can say to students, ‘This is the University College. This is where you belong.’”
According to Michael Swan, chair of the Faculty Senate, the University College proposal will be voted on at the next Faculty Senate meeting on Nov. 12.
