A proposal for an Academic Advising Model at the East Georgia State College Statesboro Campus

History of Advising at EGSC

For the majority of the college’s existence, East Georgia State College operated on a faculty advisor method of advising students for classes. Faculty were to meet with students regularly to determine each student’s goals, assess which classes had been taken and which were still necessary to guide the student in achieving his or her academic goals.

This faculty advisor method was in accordance with University System of Georgia/Board of Regents policy that states:

Each institution shall have a program for the advisement of its students. Academic advisement is the primary responsibility of the faculty and should be integrally related to the education process. Effective advisement

shall (be) credited toward retention, tenure, and promotion. It shall be a specific topic of faculty evaluation (Board of Regents Minutes, 1980-81, P. 85).

In August 2012, as part of Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s Complete College Georgia initiative, the College took the first steps toward professional advisors in the hiring of a Director of Academic Advisement to be on the Swainsboro campus and an Assistant Director of Academic Advisement on the Statesboro Campus to be under the Academic Center for Excellence umbrella. In October of that year, three part-time advisors were hired with two working in Statesboro and one in Swainsboro. By the following summer, it became evident that if the College was going to utilize a professional advisor model then the staff needed to be in place to adequately meet the needs of the students. In July 2013, the part-time advisors were transitioned to full-time academic advisors.

The primary focus of the Academic Advising Staff was on those students with Learning Support requirements. Students who entered school with Learning Support requirements were assigned to the ACE Advisors until they satisfied their Learning Support requirements. Then students were reassigned to a faculty advisor for the remainder of their time at East Georgia State College. This is the model that is currently in place on the Swainsboro and Statesboro Campuses.

Statesboro Campus

Statesboro is currently where the Assistant Director of Academic Advisement and two full-time academic advisors work. While they are assigned students with Learning Support, they regularly see students who are assigned to faculty advisors for a variety of reasons. Among those reasons are a familiarity with the advisor (particularly if the student formerly had Learning Support requirements), unable to meet at the time their faculty advisor is available, or simple convenience. In Spring 2016, ACE Statesboro advisors accounted for approximately 73% of the Statesboro Summer and Fall 2016 registrations during the registration period (as of 5/5/16). See Appendix 1 for details.

Proposal for Academic Advising on the Statesboro Campus

While the graduation rate for EGSC-Statesboro has increased since the arrival of full-time academic advisors, there are still too many cases of students taking classes they do not need to achieve their academic goals. This can be due to a multitude of factors and while no single policy would be able to address all of them, this proposed policy aims to address the issues of students who self-advise and register without consulting with either a full-time or faculty advisor prior to selecting courses.

The proposed changes would ensure that each student, regardless of credit hours earned, would meet with an advisor to ensure they were given the appropriate information regarding the necessary courses. It would also prepare EGSC-Statesboro students who then transfer to Georgia Southern, as this proposal is similar to Georgia Southern in terms of Registration Access Numbers (Advisor Holds) and meeting with an advisor each semester prior to being able to register. In addition, these proposed policies will aid students in developing meaningful academic and mentoring relationships with faculty advisors as well as full-time academic advisors.

The only clear guidelines for academic advising come from the Board of Regents. Those guidelines are 35 years old and the academic advising culture on college campuses has changed drastically over that time. See Policies of Supervising Agents, Appendix 2. Therefore, it is proposed that the following policies be implemented for the East Georgia State College – Statesboro campus.

ACE Advisors will continue to advise students with Learning Support Requirements.

When the Advising Center was created, it was determined that students with Learning Support Requirements were most at risk for not completing college and were therefore in the most need of additional assistance. There has been nothing to indicate that has changed and thus no changes are needed for those students.

EGSC-Statesboro Faculty will advise students without Learning Support Requirements from 0-30 hours while full-time academic advisors would advise students who have completed more than 30 hours.

The first 30 hours of a student’s academic career are primarily core requirements. Once past 30 hours, students at EGSC-Statesboro typically either transfer to another institution or begin to focus on earning their Associate degree. It is at this point students need more specialized advising to determine what classes they would need to earn their degree or to set themselves up in the best possible position to earn a degree through the reverse transfer process. It would best utilize the skills and training of full-time academic advisors to handle this segment of the student population.

By removing the students with 30 or more hours from the faculty’s advising load and allowing them to advise students with less than 30 hours (often less complicated and time consuming) faculty would be able to work on developing more academic and mentoring relationships with students and utilizing their office hours to assist students with academic and career questions rather than on curriculum based advising and transfer questions. This change would also allow for the full-time academic advisors to develop advising

relationships with students who would come to them for assistance on matters pertaining to course selection, transferring and other areas where full-time academic advisors are trained.

A survey of Statesboro faculty members conducted in August 2016, found that 70% of respondents were in favor of this proposed change. See Appendix 1.

Advisor Holds for all students

It is proposed that all students have an Advisor hold to ensure that either a faculty advisor or full-time academic advisor meets with a student prior to registering for classes. Advisor holds for all students would ensure each student meets with an advisor prior to registering so that they are given the proper guidance and advice prior to registration. Once advised, the Advisor hold would be removed and the student would be able to register at his/her convenience. This would eliminate “self-advising” for students and they would be given the information needed to make a sound choice for their academic career. Exception to this policy would be those students with learning support and/or CPC requirements, less than a 2.0 GPA and less than 15 earned credit hours.

This would be similar to how Georgia Southern approaches advising and provide students with preparation for changes they will encounter should they transfer to Georgia Southern.

Responding Statesboro faculty members are in favor of this policy, 60% to 40%. See Appendix 1.

Mandatory annual academic advising training for faculty and full-time academic advisors with updated training throughout the year should the need arise.

The University System of Georgia guidelines call for “training sessions associated with academic advising such that faculty advisors are aware of the rules and regulations associated with the core curriculum, academic transfer, student status and grading policies.” While the guidelines do not say how many or how often these sessions are to be held, it is clear that it is expected to be more than one training session. It is proposed that annual, mandatory training be implemented so that all faculty and full-time academic advisors are provided with the most recent information on policy and curriculum changes. These trainings will aid in ensuring students are provided with accurate information by all advisors.

Official Faculty Mentor Referral System

To aid in creating more mentoring opportunities for faculty, it is proposed that an official faculty mentor referral system be established. We understand that faculty do serve as mentors to students looking to pursue a career in a specific disciplinary field and that this mentoring process is crucial to the development of students. When full-time academic advisors meet with a student who indicates an interest in a certain field of study, the student would be referred to and strongly encouraged to meet with a faculty member from that discipline. Advisors would then create a referral form directing the student to the appropriate faculty member or members for mentoring and would inform the faculty member(s) that a student has been referred to them. See Appendix 4 for the mentor referral form.

Utilizing the proposed model would allow students to develop mentoring and academic relationships with faculty as well as full-time academic advisors. Increasing the number of relationships a student has with faculty and full-time academic advisors will only help with the institution’s goal of increasing student retention, progression and graduation rates.

Ninety percent of responding Statesboro faculty members believed this proposal would increase their mentoring opportunities. See Appendix 1.

Budget

There would not be any budgetary costs for these proposed changes, only changes in policies and processes are needed.

Appendix 1

Spring 2016 ACE Statesboro Advisement Report as of 5/5/16

SU 2016 Registrations by Statesboro ACE advisors

286118 = ACE advisees

168 = Non-ACESU 2016 Total

Statesboro registrations393

286/393 = 72.7% of registrations

FA 2016 Registrations by Statesboro ACE advisors

439 191= ACE advisees

248 = Non-ACE

FA 16 TotalStatesboro Registrations

604439/604 = 72.6 % of registrations

SU/FA 16 Total Registrations by Statesboro ACE advisors

725309 = ACE advisees

416 = Non-ACESU/FA 16 Total

Statesboro Registrations997

725/997 = 72.7% of registrations

Students Assigned to ACE 300(excludes 103 students that were not registered for SP 2016)

Total ACE advisees registered 217/300 = 72.3%

Appendix 2

Policies of supervising agencies

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has nothing specifically listed about Academic Advising in the SACS Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement catalog.

It’s possible it could fall under 3.4.9 “Academic Support Services” but offers no guidelines for how advising is to take place or who is to do the advising.

It could also fall under 3.9 “Student Affairs and Services,” but again, there are no specific details regarding academic advising.

Several schools use academic advising as part of their Quality Enhancement Program but SACS offers no guidelines for how academic advising is to look.

CAS is the Council for Advancement in Standards in Higher Education

From the CAS

“Academic advising personnel may be full-time or part-time professionals for whom advising is a primary or secondary function; they also may be faculty members whose responsibilities include advising. Paraprofessionals (e.g., graduate students, interns, or assistants) and peer advisors may assist advisors.”

This is the only instance where faculty are mentioned in CAS as it relates to advising. The only other mention is of Academic Advising Programs or advisors being knowledgeable and trained in emergency procedures, crisis response, and prevention efforts. Prevention efforts must address identification of threatening conduct or behavior of students, faculty and staff members, and others and must incorporate a system for responding and reporting.

EGSC Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)

On the most recent Quality Enhancement Plan on the EGSC website, the phrase “academic advising” is not found in the 66 page document. The word “advisors” appears once in reference to faculty advisors meeting with student groups to create “an environment of critical thinking activities and initiatives” and does not refer to academic advising. That said, the entire document is dedicated to implementing Critical Thinking into the curriculum at EGSC and, therefore, it is understandable that Academic Advising was not in the document.

In the college’s most recent strategic plan on page 13, there is a plan to “provide training for faculty Academic Advisors” on an on-going basis to enable better assessment of student success. The completion date for this tactic was to be August 16, 2013 with a satisfaction survey at the end of the presentation to be used as the assessment measure.

Other mentions of advisors in the strategic plan involve training on DegreeWorks and encouraging advisors to guide students who do not need MATH 1111 for their programs to follow an alternate route. Neither of those directly refers to faculty advisors, though it can be assumed it referred to both full-time academic advisors and faculty advisors.

Board of Regents

In the BoR Policy Manual (3.9), it says “Each institution shall have a program for the advisement of its students. Academic advisement is the primary responsibility of the faculty and should be integrally related to the education process. Effective advisement shall (be) credited toward retention, tenure, and promotion. It shall be a specific topic of faculty evaluation (BoR Minutes, 1980-81, P. 85).”

This statement comes from the minutes of a 1980-1981 meeting. This was implemented before professional academic advisors became commonplace. Also, it is not unreasonable to read this section as saying that advisement is primarily the responsibility of the faculty with full-time academic advisors on hand only to assist when their advising load becomes burdensome, not that a primary responsibility of faculty is to advise as opposed to teaching and/or research depending on the institution. Further clarification from the Board of Regents would be helpful in determining their intent.

University System of Georgia

In the USG Academic and Student Affairs handbook (Section 2.7 – Academic Advisement), it gives guidelines for establishing academic advising programs. They are as follows:

Each institution shall establish academic advising procedures within the academic units that comprise the college or university.

These academic advising procedures shall have baseline minimal uniformity in application and simultaneously be tailored to the specific needs of individual students.

Each institution shall establish training sessions associated with academic advising such that faculty advisors are aware of the rules and regulations associated with the core curriculum, academic transfer, student status, and grading policies.

Institutions that have advising units outside of academic units will be responsible for keeping abreast of changes in academic curricula and requirements as stipulated by the institution and individual academic units.

Student appeals concerning academic advising will follow the institutional appeals process.

Nowhere listed does it say faculty are required to be involved, though the third bullet point makes clear that faculty should be trained. An alternate reading of this bullet point could be that faculty advisors are not required, but if a college or university chooses to utilize faculty advisors then they are to be trained effectively.

Appendix 3 – Faculty Survey:

Question 1 - The Statesboro Academic Advising Team is proposing changes to the advising model used on the Statesboro Campus. The proposal would have Academic Advisors still handling all students with learning support requirements and would advise students with more than 30 credit hours. Faculty members would advise students without learning support who have earned fewer than 30 credit hours. Are you in favor of such a proposal?

Yes

No

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

14

6

Yes = 70% No = 30%

Question 2 - If the proposal were enacted, it would also include a plan in which advisors would refer students interested in a particular field of study to a professor in that area. Would you be in favor of the described referral system for mentoring?

Yes

No

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

18

2

Yes = 90% No = 10%

Question 3 - How do you think the proposed changes would impact your opportunities to mentor students in your field of study?

More Opportunities

Fewer Opportunities

No Change

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

14

2

4

More Opportunities = 70%

Fewer Opportunities = 10% No change in Opportunities = 20%

Question 4 - Another aspect of the proposal would be to place advisor holds on all students that would only be lifted once a student met with his/her advisor in an attempt to limit self-advising errors. The proposal includes:      * Advisor Holds would be removed for students after they met with their assigned advisor      * Students would be allowed to register themselves after their advisor meeting      * Exception: Students with learning support requirements and/or less than a 2.0 GPA would still be registered by an advisor Would you be in favor of such a change?

Yes

No

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

12

8

Yes = 60% No = 40%

Question 5 - In what school is your discipline?

Humanities

Math/Science

Social Science

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

6

6

8

Social Science = 40% Math/Science = 30% Humanities = 30%

Appendix 4

East Georgia State College-Statesboro

THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF GEORGIA10449 U.S. Highway 301 South

Statesboro, Georgia 30458912-623-2400www.ega.edu

Mentorship Referral

Student Mentee InformationFirst Name: Click here to enter text. Last Name: Click here to enter text.

ID Number: Click here to enter text. Advisor: Click here to enter text.

Email: Click here to enter text.@ega.edu Phone Number: Click here to enter text.

Transfer Pathway: Choose an item.

Future Education / Career Plans: Click here to enter text.

Institution planning to attend after EGSC: Click here to enter text.

Earned Hours: Click here to enter text. Current GPA: Click here to enter text.

Faculty Mentor InformationFirst Name: Click here to enter text. Last Name: Click here to enter text.

Office Number: Click here to enter text. Email: Click here to enter text.@ega.edu

Area(s) of Expertise: Click here to enter text.

Referred ByFirst Name: Click here to enter text. Last Name: Click here to enter text.

Date: Click here to enter text. Email: Click here to enter text.@ega.edu

Comments: Click here to enter text.

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION INSTITUTION