By Matt Thacker
Undergraduate Studies advising has refocused its efforts toward students who need academic support.
In the past, UGS Advising worked with students who had not yet declared a major, but now will also be helping students who may be in jeopardy of falling below the required GPA for their respective schools. Advisers hope the new initiative will help to raise U of L’s retention rate, one of the lowest retention rates of comparable schools. A study by Robert S. Goldstein showed only 31 percent of incoming freshman from 1998 graduated within 6 years.
Associate provost Dale Billingsley said the new format allows advisers to spend more time with students who need academic support. UGS advisers will now act as liaisons between students and programs such as REACH, the Math Center and the Writing Center.
“This change has made it possible for the UGS advisers to direct their attention to proactive, intrusive advising of students who are not in good standing academically, who are looking for a better match between their major and their career plan, or who are otherwise having difficulty in achieving academic success at the university,” Billingsley said.
UGS advisers will help students by creating an academic support plan for students who need to raise their GPAs. Advisers will monitor students as long as they need the support.
“This is a collaborative effort,” said Vickie Halsell, director of UGS Advising. “We’re not replacing the academic units in advising.”
UGS will no longer lift flags for traditional students meeting their advising requirements. They will, however, still advise continuing studies students, those aged 25 years or older.
Undecided students will be advised by the school in which they are enrolled. Arts and Sciences will advise and remove flags for students who have not been accepted into other schools.
Tomarra Adams, the assistant dean for Arts and Sciences Advising, believes the change will benefit the students.
“Constant contact and continuous interaction with the students helps us to understand their situations better,” Adams said. “If the students will be going to A&S once they declare their major anyways, we thought it would be less bureaucratic for them to keep the same adviser.”
The UGS advising center will host a “March Madness” open house Thursday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. to promote different campus resources and teach strategies for success in college. UGS will also co-host Majors Fair on March 31. Both events will be in Strickler Hall room 126.
