FSD 23-08 First Year Advising Reorganization

January 20, 2024

FSD 23-08 Resolution on the Proposed Reorganization of First Year Advising

PURDUE UNIVERSITY NORTHWEST FACULTY SENATE

Resolution on the Proposed Reorganization of First Year Advising

Committee: Education Policy Committee

For Discussion: January 19, 2024

Whereas: The Bylaws of the Faculty Senate of PNW stipulates that it is the responsibility of the Educational Policy Committee (EPC) to “Advise on matters pertaining to admissions, advising, registration, records and other matters within the purview of the Office of Enrollment Management, as they relate to rights and privileges of PNW faculty and students.

Whereas: Academic advisors have a first-hand understanding of the advising needs of students and issues that affect student success and retention (including first year students). And, academic advisors also have a first-hand understanding of the issues facing academic advisors, problems with academic advising at PNW, and possible solutions to these problems.

Whereas: There was no discussion with academic advisors concerning the possible negative affects on student success and/or retention and other possible negative ramifications of the decision to reorganize first year advising.

Whereas: There was no discussion with academic advisors on other possible solutions to the academic advising problems at PNW.

Whereas: There was no discussion with departments, program coordinators, and program faculty, concerning the reorganize of first year advising. Some of these programs, such as the engineering programs and the nursing program have accreditations that consider academic advising in their criteria for accreditation.

Whereas: The Educational Policy Committee met with Catharine Olsen, Director of Academic Operations and Strategic Initiatives; Julie Wiejak, Interim Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions; and Lyndsey Schaap, Associate Director of Special Populations for a presentation and discussion of the planned changes to first year advising at PNW and learned the following:

Essentially all students at PNW will need to change advisors during the second semester of their first year.
Some first-year advisors will be advising large numbers of students from as many as 13 different programs, many of which programs are very different and have very different requirements (see Advisor Assignments for fall 2024 in Appendix A).

Therefore: The Educational Policy Committee believes that the change to first year advisors for all programs will:

increase the risk for errors in advising students
create a lack of a cohesive advising experience for students

Both of these could negatively affect student retention and/or time to completion of their degree. The proposed benefits of the change to first year advisors do not outweigh the risks. Thus, the Educational Policy Committee disagrees with the reorganization of academic advising at PNW to using first year advisors for all students and recommends that before moving forward with the reorganization the following must take place:

A discussion with all of the academic advisors concerning the problems with academic advising at PNW and possible solutions to these problems (such as more advisors and support staff for first-year students).
A discussion with all of the academic advisors concerning the possible negative effects on student success and/or retention and other possible negative ramifications of the decision to reorganize first year advising and ways to avoid these problems.
A discussion with all program coordinators, especially programs with outside accreditation requirements, to determine if the planned reorganization to first year advisors will positively or negatively affect the students in their programs.
The options for all programs to opt out of using first year advisors for students in their programs.

The Educational Policy Committee

Committee Members:

David Kozel (Chair)

Shreya Surendrama Bhandari

Robert Kramer

Amanda Kratovil

Yun Liu

Pamela C Saylor

Donna L Whitten

Ed Policy Members Voting in favor of this resolution: 7

Ed Policy Members Voting against this resolution: 0

Appendix A