Unsure about advising? FUSA offers help

Horror stories about faculty advising at Fairfield are not few and far between.

“My faculty advisor had no idea what was going on,” said a student who wished to be unnamed. “He didn’t know that there are world diversity and US diversity requirements, or many of the core requirements. I finally just learned to research everything for myself and show up at registration time to get my pin number because that’s the easiest way to go.”

Even though every student at Fairfield is assigned a faculty advisor to assist them in the registration process, sometimes this process fails students. Academic Vice President Orin Grossman believes that sometimes faculty advising is not successful because “students often wait until the last minute, I’m sure individual faculty members occasionally aren’t at their best.”

Some students don’t even know their advisors.

“Off hand, I couldn’t tell you who my faculty advisor is,” said Marisa Caban, ’05.

In order to alleviate some of these problems, the FUSA Senate is holding a Peer Advising Fair. This event was established because, according to Kevin Neubauer, ’05, FUSA president, the Senate saw a need for the student body for such a program. Geoff Cook, ’05, vice president of Senate concurred, “our job is to help students. We feel that this is a great way to do our job.”

This program will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 28 in the BCC lower lobby from 5-8 p.m. Students will be advised by juniors and seniors, many of whom are on the Dean’s List, in academic honor societies, and in academic clubs.

At the fair, students will be helped in determining their schedules, professors and classes for the upcoming semester. An example of such advice is given by Cook: “A freshman accounting major who wants to study abroad her junior year can speak with accounting majors that have already studied abroad, and ask questions regarding core classes, major classes, and scheduling her classes so she can go abroad.”

“I usually just ask my friends for advice about professors,” said Caban. “It’s hard to find a professor who no one has had nor has an opinion of.”

Cook believes that an advantage to the FUSA program is that students will know the information they receive is accurate. He says that the majority of students they interview believe their advising is helpful and advice received from faculty members is “priceless and vital to the educational process.”

Many students, like Caban, will most often ask their older friends for advice, and through the program they know they will receive correct information.

This semester will be the third time the advising fair has been offered. Last semester approximately 200 students received information during this event, and all returned very positive feedback.

Students believe that the program provides a good alternative for those in certain situations.

“I think it’s a good idea for those students who weren’t fortunate enough to get a good faculty advisor,” said Ben Manchak, ’05. “I personally have an outstanding faculty advisor so I don’t think I would be apt to use the FUSA program.”

In order to avoid problems with faculty advising, Cook said students need to contact their advisor in order to receive good advice. If someone’s relationship with their advisor isn’t ideal, they can’t be properly advised and they should think of finding another advisor.

According to a student poll published in The Mirror on Feb., 13, 42% of Fairfield students ranked their faculty advising as only fair or poor. Only 20% rated it very good, and 37% rated their advising as good.

Grossman had suggestions for students who believe their faculty advising is not working for them. “Go to another faculty member, the chair, the dean’s office. In general, don’t be passive.” He also wants to remind students that no faculty member knows everything, and that it may take many appointments with different people to get the most helpful information.

The College of Arts and Sciences has been making changes to help improve the faculty advising system and awareness of students in the college. For the past two years the college has offered a Sophomore Symposium. During this program, said Timothy Snyder, Dean of Arts and Sciences, students are encouraged to seek quality advising early so they can make qualified decisions, and not simply show up at their advisor “with a form to sign.”

Snyder also wants students to know that they can ask department chairs or the Dean’s office for another faculty advisor if they are not satisfied with their current advisor.

Another step taken by the College of Arts and Sciences was a faculty training session held during the 2001-2002 school year. According to Snyder, the overall response to this training was positive, and that next time the Dean’s office hopes to seek more follow-up from individual departments “to ensure that those who attend the seminars share what they have learned with their departmental colleagues.” Another faculty training session will be held this year.

Faculty response to the FUSA program has been positive. The College of Arts and Sciences “support fully the FUSA initiative and are available to help with any questions they may have in preparing for the peer advising program,” said Snyder.