Advising

UNIT MISSION/GOAL(S)

The Advising Office manages the advising system. UMM advising policy, approved for advising with faculty advisers in the disciplines. The Advising Office assigns advisees, prepares and distributes advising folders, and provides relevant advising information to students and faculty. Advising staff are responsible for determining summer registration advising groups and for providing advising materials. At the beginning of winter and spring quarters, the Advising Office and Scholastic Committee cooperate in notifying individual students of their academic progress status.

Unit Mission/goal(s) and the Institutional Mission Relation

The UMM Bulletin states, "Academic advising by faculty is considered an integral part of UMM's central mission." UMM's undergraduate program prides itself on the special relationship possible between students and faculty. The advising relationship personalizes our mission.

STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. To manage the system that places students with advisers and makes changes in adviser assignments. This includes temporary advising assignments during summer registration.

2. To maintain quarterly contact with students about their advising assignments.

3. To provide students with academic information to enable them to monitor their progress.

4. To familiarize faculty with their responsibilities as advisers through information sessions and individual contact.

5. To routinely provide faculty with materials, such as advising folders, lists of current advisees in academic difficulty, so that they can effectively carry out their advising roles.

6. Short term objective: To provide students and faculty with advising information about the move to semesters.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

1. All UMM students will be placed with advisers and informed of their responsibilities.

2. Information about adviser loads will be shared with the administration.

3. Faculty will be given, on a regular basis, the materials they need in order to carry out their advising roles.

4. Students will be given the materials they need to determine whether they are in good academic standing.

5. Short term: Students and faculty will have the academic information they need to make course choices during the change to semesters.

ASSESSMENT METHOD(S), MEASURE(S) & INSTRUMENT(S) FOR EXPECTED OUTCOMES AND TIMELINE	TIMELINE
1. Internal studies of the accuracy of the tracking of adviser assignments.	Starting Date for the Implementation: In Progress (quarterly) Anticipated Date for the First Results: In Progress(quarterly)
2. Alumni follow-up surveys, which provide retrospective insight into graduatesÕ advising experiences.	Starting Date for the Implementation: 2000 (2004, 2008, ...) Anticipated Date for the First Results: 2000
3. Proposed: Selective interviews with incoming and experienced advisers about the strengths and weaknesses of the current advising program with their suggestions for improvement.	Starting Date for the Implementation: 1997-99 Anticipated Date for the First Results: 2000
4. Proposed: Selective interviews with enrolled students, including those who have not chosen a major, as a basis for developing a qualitative evaluation tool to assess the advising experience.	Starting Date for the Implementation: 1997-99 Anticipated Date for the First Results: 2000
5. proposed: Development of a questionnaire to assess the advising experience of all enrolled students. This may be free standing or incorporated into other assessment tools..	Starting Date for the Implementation: 2000 Anticipated Date for the First Results: 2000

USE OF OBSERVED OUTCOMES AND POSSIBLE ACTIONS

1. Information to point direction to further development of advising support systems, such as faculty training and creation/distribution of advising materials.

2. An overview from students and their advisers about what works and what isnÕt working under our current system.

3. Propose changes in the system as appropriate.

THE IMPLEMENTATION NEEDS

UMM has an advising policy in place that encourages developmental advising. Most advisers and advisees take their roles seriously; some do not. The success of advising is at the individual adviser/advisee level. Because advising has not been assessed at this level, we need a mandate to do it, more information from students and faculty about what needs doing, and extensive consultation about what kind of advising assessment is appropriate for this campus. The campus-wide assessment effort legitimizes the goal and this method for strengthening the advising system.

The form of the advising questionnaire will emerge after faculty and enrolled students have been interviewed and the results have been studied and discussed. Whether the assessment instrument will be free standing or whether the questions will be incorporated as parts of related assessments will be determined. A free standing individual assessments could range from a senior year anonymous assessment to a student assessment following the course evaluation model. Or, alternately, advising could be assessed with the major and general education.

Those persons/groups involved in monitoring or contributing to advising will be involved in the development of a tool to assess advising. They include: the Academic Dean, who oversees advising; the Scholastic Committee, which formulates advising policy; the Division Chairs, who act as in informal committee to oversee advising loads; faculty advisers, who do the advising; students who are advised; the Assessment Task Force, which monitors assessment; and staff of the Advising Office, who manage the advising system.