Ohio Academic Advising Association

Nov

Recap of Fall 2009 Regional Seminar

“Lean Times in Advising”

The OHAAA board and I wanted to thank you for attending our Fall Regional Seminar and taking the time to spend half your day with us to listen, learn and share your ideas about how to handle the “Lean Times in Advising” along with several other topics that came up during our panel discussion on November 6, 2009.

This Fall Regional was the first time OHAAA held a regional seminar at Ohio University, and it was the first time we provided both excellent guest speakers and a panel of experts to discuss the topic of our seminar. According to the program evaluations, we received at the end of the program; this style of presentation was well received. We would like thank Dr. Pam Benoit and Dr. David Descutner for their excellent opening and key note speech, as well as the panel of experts; Mrs. Laura Chapman, Mrs. Lillian Johnson, Mr. Verne Walker and Dr. Sally Lozada, for providing the informational content that made this seminar the success that it was.

A few of the board members, Dodie, Susan and I compiled a few notes we had taken to summarize at least a portion of the information presented during the seminar. The notes are as follows:

Advising is a form of teaching, mindfulness, complex relationships – something that has to be managed; moral imperative – ethics of care
We are now in a new paradigm – “student success”
University System of Ohio (USO) is focused on quality, graduation, degree completion – all of which is impacted by the quality of advising
Many schools are requiring a first-year seminar for all freshman students – better retention rates and probation is being cut in half
Assessment, continuous results, sharing results with others on campus – collaboration is key!
Collapsing/integrating areas and budgets
Incentive buy-outs – attrition (no replacements for vacated positions) and/or staff transitioning into other positions
Changing our focus – student success & retention
Emphasis on grants to fund initiatives (advising-related programs: Title III)
- Started a “Grants Response Team” to look into grant monies to underwrite initiatives
Cyclical problem – need to be more creative and resourceful
Personal sacrifices made
Look at what can be let go and focus more on our mission and what’s really important – ‘think outside the box’
Look at what’s best for the student by knowing your school’s and community’s resources

Customized and contract programs (important for many adult learners)
Transition plan developed
Counseling and/or advising issues need to be addressed with students
Collaborative relationships are key

Use your data and demographic info to inform/create sessions for parents during orientation sessions

Helicopter parents a big issue at many schools. A “Helicopter Parents 101” (HCP 101) course is being offered by one school. It is run during the same time as their child’s orientation session (also a way to increase headcount!)

Success has been found to deal with parent issues in the advising session first (ask ‘what is it that you would like to know?’) and then address the student’s needs

Identify yourself as a leader and empower yourself/staff to be creative and ‘think outside the box’
Some schools charge ‘advising fee’ (part of General Fees)
Group advising sessions can work with limited staff (difficult for Undecided student population)

Use for general information sharing only

Use of peer advisors and paraprofessionals on the increase
Explain to students who take gen education courses the importance of the content in their lives by the instructors for these courses on the first day of class and it also becomes a way for students to explore various majors
Look at best practices in advising to consider all modes of advising
Work more closely with research department at your institution
Internal ½ day professional development retreats are very helpful

Advising challenges
Bring in someone from another school to be presenter to your group
Find ways to keep staff morale and spirits up

Advising workshops – include outside advisors at satellite sites to join main campus group to discuss specific advising issues (can be formal or informal sessions)
Use of scantron forms in evaluating advising sessions and front desk services
Institutional research dept probably has very good advising data
Recommended book addressing change is “Our Iceberg is Melting”
Check out local chamber of commerce and leadership conferences for free or no cost experiences
FISH philosophy for advising
Seek out campus resources that can be used --- develop a clearinghouse for professional development (i.e. library, speakers bureau, faculty and staff, other campuses)
Have periodic dialogues with your own staff and colleagues at other institutions
“360 Degree Leadership” book – looks at investing in our teams and relationship synergy
At Owens Community College, they are customizing training for laid-off workers
Many students are taking 6-8 years to finish a bachelor’s degree
Wright State University uses walk-in appointments 3 days/week (caseload is now 396 students per advisor)
When faced with cut backs and doing more with less each institution needs to focus on the department mission and goals and provide the essentials for each student they serve.
When it comes to professional development we need to look internally and close to home locally for development. We need to build collaboration between departments on the same campus and with other local learning institutions. We can then share resources and ideas without spending additional time or money.
We need to find leadership within the ranks at all levels to promote success.

During our conferences and seminars we try to identify to promote the learning institutions that have hosted our events and we were able to do that by offering Ohio University book bags to three lucky raffle winners; Lisa Kamody, Jennifer Schomburg Kanke, both from OU, and Christie Schroeder from The Ohio State-Lima. Kevin Trevino from Lourdes College won an OHAAA Mug for being the advisor that traveled the farthest to get to our seminar.

The OHAAA board also makes every effort to provide and support professional development among our membership. Although I made an error by not announcing the winner at the Fall Seminar, we still pulled a name from the advisors that were present at the seminar and David Toro from The Ohio State University won the “OHAAA Professional Development Scholarship”. This award entitles David to a free pass to our next OHAAA seminar in March or a discount on our Annual conference in June.

We, the OHAAA board, hope that you found the seminar to be an opportunity to meet and talk with other academic advisors from around the area, as well as found the speakers and panel members to be relative and informative to the needs of academic advisors across the state of Ohio. If so, we have accomplished one of the goals of OHAAA; to provide a forum for discussion and exchange of information and ideas. We want to encourage each one of you to keep the conversation going by taking back the information you learned to your respective learning institutions and sharing the information and ideas with other advisors on your campus. Please let others know what OHAAA is doing to promote academic advising in the state of Ohio and encourage others to attend and get involved in future OHAAA events.

In closing, we want to thank you for your participation in the Fall Seminar dealing with “Lean Times in Advising”. Please plan to visit the OHAAA web site (http://www.academicadvising.org/), we hope to have it updated very soon, and participate and attend future OHAAA events.

Thank You,

Dan Dakin

OHAAA President 2009-2010

Serving the needs of Ohio Advisors since 1996

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Recap of Fall 2009 Regional Seminar

“Lean Times in Advising”