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Show i3y. Ls A 03052dfj; li 1 03,22.2011 VOLUME XL1V ksue 13 . tt ?, Eric A5 f .Vv Academic advisors required, encouraged and possibly underused Eric Norman JeffKiesel StaffWriter is common for students starting college to get confused about what classes to take, what major to declare, how to declare a major and how to choose an advisor. Westminster offers t resources to help students battle this confusion and have a successful college experience. Students are required to find an academic advisor who can serve as a guiding light through Westminsters academic terrain. The START Center along with the Career Resource Center are available to help guide students down the best path. It is important and useful for students to regularly meet with advisors once one is chosen. Any questions students have about the school can be answered easiest and fastest in person with an advisor. Emails can go unnoticed or take long for a reply and phone conversations are not as efficient as the meetings. I encourage students to come and talk to me individually, one on one, which is where the magic happens, said James Hedges, assistant professor of speech communication and director and advisor of the arts administration program. We can formulate a plan as far as how they are going to move through their major and when they are going to take different classes. That is where they can get some direction. Many incoming students become confused when starting school, and go into the START Center with some ideas of what they would like to pursue. The START center will take that information and make that student active in the system. Meaning that the student can print degree audit reports. Active and declaring, however are completely different terms with different functions. face-to-fa- ce DECLARING TO MEET, MEETING TO DECLARE A common mistake for newly accepted students is thinking that once they talk to a representative from the START center, they are on a straight road with no stops to graduation. The truth is they wall be on their way only once they declare a major. They will be further down the road after picking an academic advisor. Freshmen are often confused or do not know about this process. Many times they think they have declared a major, until their junior year, when a piece of mail arrives stating they need to declare soon or a hold will be placed on their account locking them out of access to grades and registration. Sean Kennedy is a freshman who faced confusion about the major declaration and advisor selection process. He thought he declared a business major and science minor, but he did not have an advisor. He stated his major and minor intentions upon his acceptance to Westminster, rather than properly declaring. I put what I wanted to major in on a form I was filling out for the school after I got accepted, Kennedy said. I thought that was how I declared it, and when I signed up for classes this year I thought I was set. Jake Doan, another freshman who has not declared a major, has a mentor through his learning community. His mentor will help him sign up for classes until he chooses a major. After he has chosen a major, he can keep his mentor as an advisor or he can find someone in that career field that he is going into to be his advisor. I dont really have an idea of what major I want to go into, Doan said. Im just taking all my required classes and seeing what I like. Despite having a learning community mentor to help him pick classes, Doan was unaware of the major declaration and advisor selection process as well. ADVISORS, MENTORS AND FUNCTIONALITY The learning community mentors do more than help mentees choose classes. Mentors are similar to advisors. The mentors help freshmen get used to college and answer any questions most questions. Mentors remind students of important dates, pull degree audit reports and figure out what classes are needed. So my mentees are like my advisees. I treat them like my advisees even though they are not my formal advisees. Because mentees are all freshman, they are all trying to get there bearing on college life. I help them, direct them to the right places to get the help they need. From where to get good French fries off campus, to who to see about counseling, to how to join student clubs. Everything that they dont have an answer for I try to direct them to the right place, said Hedges, who is also a learning community mentor. Students who choose an academic advisor early will be ahead of others who wait until junior year. An academic advisor can help a student pick the right classes for his or her degree. Not just any classes but ones that will help the student be better prepared for life after college. Students are encouraged to find an advisor in their field of study soon after they are accepted to Westminster. The Career Resource Center can show students the different degrees offered at Westminster as well as what advisors would be most accommodating. Finding an academic- - advisor my freshman year has been one of the best moves I think I could have done, said Jeffrey Lue, a freshman multimedia major. Its a great idea for students to choose an advisor they have had experience with. Usually students choose an advisor they have taken classes from. Choose a professor you can get a hold of often so you have more time to meet, said Lue. Meeting with an advisor regularly is important, too. One problem I have noticed is that students only meet with their advisor when there is a problem. Students should be meeting with their advisor as often as possible or at least every semester to make sure they are staying on track, said Academic Advisor Rulon Wood. ADVISORS AT WESTMINSTER VS. THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH At the University of Utah, the advisorstudent rela- tionship differs from major to major, similar to Westmin- Continued on next page ' I |