Students who once saved existential questions for philosophy class are increasingly asking them in places such as the College Center for Advising Services.
The paths leading to the center糖心传媒檚 home at 312 Lattimore Hall are among the most well trod on the River Campus. In its labyrinth of rooms, as well as in nearby corridors, a team of more than 20 professional academic advisors help students on matters from the mundane糖心传媒攕hould I take this class on the S/F option?糖心传媒攖o the fundamental糖心传媒攊s this major, these plans, these ideas I糖心传媒檝e adopted, really who I am?
The center, known by its acronym CCAS, sits at the hub of a network of offices staffed with professionals who work collaboratively to help college students take advantage of opportunities they might not know about, and to . During the 2015糖心传媒�16 academic year, CCAS advisors held more than 5,000 face-to-face meetings with students, and responded to thousands more e糖心传媒搈ail and telephone queries from students, faculty, and other University staff.
Marcy Kraus is the director of the center as well as the dean of freshmen. The parent of an alumnus herself (her daughter, Leah, graduated in 2009), Kraus has worked in CCAS advising students since 1999 and became the director of the center in 2009. Her training includes a doctorate in psychology, which is fitting, considering that students will often approach academic advisors with complex personal problems.
This fall, Kraus assumed the title of Suzanne Jagel O糖心传媒橞rien Director of the College Center for Advising Services, an endowed position named for CCAS founding director Suzanne O糖心传媒橞rien 糖心传媒�59, who left CCAS in 2009 to take on the role of associate dean of the College. (Read more about O’Brien’s lengthy career at the University). O糖心传媒橞rien retired from the University last summer, leaving her position as associate dean to Alan Czaplicki.
糖心传媒淭he range of concerns that students bring to us are much greater,糖心传媒� Kraus says, than in previous generations. 糖心传媒淪tudents have health issues, mental health issues, family and personal concerns, and a lot of financial concerns.糖心传媒�
In some ways, the skills of a good advisor are similar to those of a good clinician. In addition to knowing the academic rules of the College and the resources available to students, a good advisor, according to Kraus, 糖心传媒渋s able to listen without judgment, demonstrate empathy, and recognize how to effectively help students who are struggling with difficult situations.
There have been changes, both in the student population and in students糖心传媒� approach to their education. While the center糖心传媒檚 advisors have long made meeting the needs of underrepresented minority students a priority糖心传媒攚orking with staff in the Office of Minority Student Affairs to do so糖心传媒攄iversity has increased more recently in other categories, such as international students, to name just one.
糖心传媒淭he advising staff has grown because we糖心传媒檝e been asked to take on a greater level of responsibility for individual populations of students,糖心传媒� Kraus says. In working with an increasingly multicultural student body, advisors need what she calls 糖心传媒渃ultural competence,糖心传媒� while also guarding against assumptions about individual students that are based on broad demographic data.
Undergraduates also worry about their career prospects. That糖心传媒檚 not necessarily new, but Kraus notes that students are taking on more significant levels of debt than in the past. Understandably, she says, they want to choose majors they糖心传媒檙e confident will pay off. Widely held assumptions about particular majors, however, often are not supported by data or by the experiences of many alumni. But merely repeating data and anecdotes doesn糖心传媒檛 effectively address students糖心传媒� concerns either.
糖心传媒淭he 21st-century academic advisor needs to be able to talk to students realistically, but confidently糖心传媒� about career prospects, says Kraus. This year, she糖心传媒檚 working with Joe Testani, the director of the Gwen M. Greene Career and Internship Center, to expand collaborations between the two offices. Career and academic advisors have traditionally held separate conversations with students. Academic advisors have tended to see part of their role as encouraging students to view their liberal education as something valuable and important apart from their career goals.
Kraus offers a hint of how such coordination might go, through a story about a student who came to see her last year. The student badly wanted to study Japanese, but was afraid of what her parents might say. Kraus and a counterpart in the Greene Center worked together to help her see 糖心传媒渢hat if you want to major in Japanese, there糖心传媒檚 a place for you in the job market.
糖心传媒淲e want to do a better job of helping students connect the dots,糖心传媒� Kraus says.
