Central Washington University Board of Trustees May 16, 2019 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY – Academic Advising
Background: From 2016 to 2018, a Baccalaureate Task Force (BTF) work group assessed the current state of academic advising at Central Washington University and recommended improvements. Work group annual reports are available at https://www.cwu.edu/mission/baccalaureate. These reports made clear that academic advising needs to be revised to better support students’ retention, progression, and degree completion. In winter 2019, the Provost and Faculty Senate jointly formed the Academic Advising Council (AAC) and charged the council to develop a new model of advising based on the recommendations from the BTF work group. In February 2019, the AAC held town halls with students, faculty, and staff to begin the broad conversation about how best to support students through academic advising. The faculty and staff town halls provided feedback about five potential advising models to determine the features that best address students’ needs. These conversations reiterated the need to revise the existing advising model. Specifically, students, faculty, and staff indicated students need advisors who are competent, caring, and accessible. Students also need to understand the role of advisors in order to know to whom to turn for specific questions. Based on the cumulative feedback received and the BTF recommendations, in March and April 2019, the AAC developed a proposal for a new model of advising. Proposed Model: It is important to emphasize that, at this point, the proposed model is a draft, and the AAC will use May 2019 to solicit feedback from the university community regarding this model. The proposed model is designed to better meet students’ needs in advising and promote their success. The model involves a restructuring of academic advising, with the following features: 1. Single Point of Entry . All students will enter through a new Center for Undergraduate Academic Advising (CUAA) and be assigned to the appropriate area. 2. One Advisor . Students will have one advisor at a time so they can go to one person for advising and build a relationship with that advisor. 3. Advising Standards and Professional Development . To promote consistency and continuous improvement, all advisors are expected to adhere to the same standards of practice and participate in professional development activities. 4. Assessment . CUAA will implement a comprehensive advising assessment plan to ensure students are receiving consistent and accurate advising. 5. Collaboration . All advisors will participate in monthly meetings to obtain timely information, to promote collaboration, and to improve competency. 6. Faculty Choice and WLU Release . Each department will choose collectively whether faculty serve as major advisors or mentors for their programs. Faculty who serve as advisors will receive workload unit (WLU) teaching release. Departments that choose for faculty to advise will have faculty with dedicated time for students and who are held accountable for the quality of the advising they provide.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online