Advising task force formed
Task Force to ensure trained advisors help in class selection
By Jessica Sanders
Staff Reporter

Complaints from students that more training is needed for academic advisors have encouraged the Student Government Association to form an academic advising task force, David Reese, task force chairman, said Tuesday.

Reese said the first solutions the task force will consider are faculty training, an advising network and improving the freshman advising process.

SGA President Brad Thompson said he established the idea, at the beginning of the semester, for an academic advising task force in order to make the process more consistent between departments.

“My goal is to see if we can create a network of dedicated trained advisors who can advise all across the campus,” Thompson said. “If (the advisor) doesn’t know the answer, they will be connected to someone who knows the answer.”

Advisor and sociology professor Jean Giles-Sims said she is not sure about the details of the potential formal advising system, but that the informal advising network professors already have works well.

“We know a lot of the faculty and can say to a student, ‘I know that one teaches a good class,’” Giles-Sims said.

The members of the task force also plan to educate professors on the advising process and keep them current on curriculum requirements, Reese said.

Junior biology major Marna Jane Williams said she had to go to the premed advisor because her assigned advisor was unsure of how to help her prepare
for physical therapy school.

“Freshman year I went to my advisor and all he could do was hand me a sheet and tell me this is what you need to get a B.S. in biology,” Williams said. “When what I needed was someone to say, ‘If you are going into physical therapy, these are the things you need to be looking at.’”

Gary Ferguson, a biology professor and advisor, said mandatory advising and a uniform advising system could make things easier for professors and students.

“I wouldn’t mind having a professional advisor,” Ferguson said. “Someone who is trained in advising and trained in the subject because sometimes (professors) have trouble keeping up with changes.”

Ryan Eloe, a senior international economics major, said he has not really used the advising in his own department.

“I can look in the book and figure it out myself,” Eloe said.

Task force member Andrea Heitz, an advancement research officer, said some students may be able to successfully advise themselves.

“If they are doing it and it’s working, more power to them,” Heitz said. “But there are students for whom it isn’t working and we’ve had a few of them come to (task force) meetings and tell us in some detail how they got messed up and were here for six years.”

Ryan Burns, a task force member and speech communication professor, said some professors are not willing to be trained in advising because they believe it is the students’ responsibility.

Senior English major Tricia Ajello said it is difficult for students without a major to plan their own schedules.

“For those who don’t have a direction, academic advising won’t do any good,” Ajello said. “They won’t point you in the right direction unless you go to the career center.”

Reese said many students have had difficult experiences with advising at orientation.

“A lot of problems we find stem from orientation, from the day you step on campus ”

Reese said. “We are devoting a whole session (of the task force) to orientation and what we are going to do about it.”

j.d.sanders@student.tcu.edu