The Higher Learning Commission

SUBCOMMITTEE ON UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMIC ADVISING
DRAFT REPORT

Members of the Subcommittee on Academic Advising:

Dr. Joseph B. Miller, Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Rev. William M. Bichl, S.J., Assistant Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Andrew C. Buynacek, Assistant Dean of the Boler School of Business
and Director of Undergraduate Program
Dr. Marian M. Extejt, Professor, Department of Management, Marketing and Logistics
Mrs. Sophie T. Kus-Patena, Assistant Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Climon Lee III, Director, Academic Advising Center
Dr. David W. Robson, Professor, Department of History

An academic advising program has been in place at John Carroll University since 1970. The aim of the program is to require student contact with a faculty advisor to ensure academic requirements are satisfied, and to discuss any related issues. The program currently consists of the three elements.

A. New Student Orientation

In the summer before their first year, all first time, full time undergraduate students attend an New Student Orientation program for a day and a half. This program, offered by the Office of Judicial Affairs and Orientation (Student Life) and the Academic Advising Center (College of Arts and Sciences), includes placement tests, discussions with faculty advisors, and registration for classes assisted by the faculty advisor. Parents are encouraged to attend this on-campus program and participate in some meetings. The full orientation program is described under the Student Life section of this report.

Transfer students, smaller in number, attend a day long version of the same program. A shorter evening program accommodates the needs of part time and post-bac students.

B. Faculty Advisor

The College of Arts and Sciences administers the Freshman-Sophomore Advising program through its Academic Advising Center. The Center reports to the Assistant Dean for Freshman in the College. The Center has a staff of two full time advisors, one of whom directs the program. All first and second year students, and advanced students who have not declared a major, are assigned a faculty advisor. Normally 155 to 165 faculty from both the College of Arts and Sciences and the Boler School of Business participate in the program. The Academic Advising Center staff advise in place of faculty on leave, and work with many transfer and part time students. The undergraduate curriculum pattern expects students to formally declare their major during their fourth semester, or at the end of their second year of full time study. Upon declaring a major, advising becomes the responsibility of the faculty of the major department. Registration for all students requires a meeting with a faculty advisor prior to registration. Advising is considered part of the teaching responsibility and is incorporated into the annual faculty evaluation process. Each faculty member participating in freshman-sophomore advising carries a load of about 15 students.

C. Training and Assessment

The Academic Advising Center provides training for faculty advisors, including those new to the Freshman-Sophomore advising program. It also has developed handbooks for both advisors and students and placed them on the web (www.jcu.edu/A+S/cas. htm). The Director responds to questions by email, occasionally sending the question to all faculty advisors. In addition, students can access their academic record and advisors can access academic records of those students assigned to them.

The director of the Center has established a Faculty Committee for Academic Advising both to involve the faculty in the many aspects of advising and to evaluate the program and the manner in which the program is administered. Working closely with the director and the Assistant Dean for Freshman, the Committee has successfully argued to drop the use of the Provisional (P) student designation to identify incoming freshmen who are admitted with weaker academic backgrounds. The New Student Orientation is also an area for which significant suggestions have been made to improve the manner in which it is conducted. The Committee also expects a revised mission statement for the Academic Advising Program to be drafted soon. In addition, a survey was conducted in the Spring of 2003 to assess student satisfaction of the Freshman-Sophomore Advising Program.

In May 2003 this survey was completed of all students currently enrolled in EN 112; the ACT Survey of Academic Advising form was filled out by about 650 students, 89% of whom were first year students. The results are being reviewed, as of this writing, by the informal freshmen-sophmore advising committee headed by the director of Academic Advising. The report will be available in the resource room.

Student evaluation of major advising is in place. Twelve academic departments in the College of Arts of Sciences, use or plan to implement their methods for evaluating the quality of advising for majors. Eight departments (Biology, Chemistry, Classical and Modern Languages and Cultures, Economics, History, Philosophy, Physics and Religious Studies) use written questions or exit interviews.

Five departments (Art History and Humanities, Communications, Mathematics & Computer Science, Political Science, and Psychology) plan to implement exit interviews with questions on advising in academic year 2002-2003.

Several methods are used to evaluate advising of students in the Boler School of Business. The first is a formal annual survey distributed by the Dean’s Office of the School to all graduating business majors. It asks students to evaluate both their Freshman/Sophomore advisors and their business major advisor. The results are presented to the Dean to be used as part of the evaluation of faculty. The Boler School of Business also participates in the AACSB/EBI Undergraduate Business Student Exit Project, a national student satisfaction survey with several questions related to advising. These questions do not identify the advisor, but are general in nature. It is a national benchmarking project. The results are sent to the Boler School on an annual basis.