Academic Advising at Buffalo State: Past, Present, and Future

1. Academic Advising at Buffalo State: Past, Present, and Future Presented by the Academic Advising Advisory Council (AAAC) Co-Chairs: Dr. Lisa Berglund and Dr. Aimee Woznick Image Credit: The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Academic Advising Center - https://www.utrgv.edu/advising/

2. Today’s Discussion • BSC Advising Mission & Values / Committee Charge • How Did We Get Here? • Where are We Now?: A Snapshot of the Data • Spring 2018 Survey: Student Assessment of Advising • Fall 2018 Survey: Faculty Assessment of Advising • Initiatives in Progress and Directions for the Future • Questions?

3. Buffalo State College Advising Mission and Values Values Mission Academic advisement serves as inspiration, motivation, and support for all students in their academic and professional goals as they develop as members of the Buffalo State community and transition to being active alumni leaders of a diverse society. Source: Buffalo State College Mandatory Advising Plan; https://academiccommons.buffalostate.edu/advising-mission-and-values

4. Charge: Academic Advising Advisory Council (AAAC) “The charge of the Academic Advisement Advisory Council is to provide oversight of the mandatory advising plan, to create an assessment plan for advising at Buffalo State College, and to provide a consultative role to the campus regarding best practices for advising.”

5. Timeline of Advising Initiatives at Buffalo State • Spring 2016: College Senate Report • Subcommittee of Standards for Students produces report titled Recommendations for Improving Academic Advisement at SUNY Buffalo State • Spring 2017: Mandatory Advising Plan approved • Hybrid staff/faculty advising model • Every incoming freshman is assigned a first-year (staff) adviser by major • At 24 credits, the student transitions to a faculty adviser in the major • Some first-year students may also be assigned additional advisers • Examples: faculty adviser, special program adviser, etc.

6. Timeline of Recent Changes to Advising (cont.) • Fall 2017: Mandatory Advising Plan Takes Effect • Reorganization of the former University College into new units in Academic Affairs • Academic Commons founded (housed in Academic Affairs) • Provost establishes Academic Advising Advisory Council (AAAC) • Advising PINs are now required for course registration • Initial rollout of Bengal Success Portal (Starfish) • SUNY PIF funds enable expansion of first-year and sophomore advising staff • Spring 2018: Student Survey Deployed • Fall 2018: Faculty Survey Deployed; Title III Funds Awarded ($2.19 million)

7. 2018 Advising Data

8. Survey Methodology • Student Assessment of Advising • AAAC crafted 11 multiple choice questions and one free-response question • Multiple choice questions assessed student familiarity with college advising processes, resources, and tools, as well as overall satisfaction • Survey deployed via multiple emails to all enrolled undergraduate students in spring 2018 • 1,318 students responded • Faculty Perceptions of Advising • AAAC crafted 4 multiple choice questions and two free-response questions • Multiple choice questions paralleled student questions • Free-response questions asked about professional development and general feedback • Survey deployed via emails to all instructors and in a posting in the Daily in December 2018 • 130 instructors with advising responsibilities responded

9. Student Assessment Data: SLOs

10. Student Assessment Data: Drop-in Advising • 20% of respondents (n=269) had visited the Drop-in Advising Center in the library • Note: Drop-in Center saw 1,516 total visits in 2017-18 • 78% of respondents (n=1,029) were aware of the Drop-in Center • 91% of respondents who visited the Drop-in Center said their question was answered by the adviser there

11. Student Assessment Data: Content of Advising Discussions • 81% of respondents had spoken with an adviser about their course of study …but, • Only 61% of respondents had spoken with an adviser about post-graduation plans

12. Student Assessment Data: Trends Advisers are helpful Advisers are not helpful Advisers seem disinterested/uncaring Concerns about accuracy Lack of adviser availability Advisers are supportive/encouraging Advisers are not responsive Some advisers more helpful than others PINsunnecessary Insufficient career advising Lack of transfer advising Good career advising Drop-in advising is helpful PINshelpful Nontraditional studentsmarginalized Concerns about profiling

13. Student/Faculty Comparison

14. Faculty Assessment Data: Trends • Need for more holistic advising • Need for consistency and accuracy in advising • High caseloads for faculty advisers (& distributing PINs is challenging) • Faculty & professional advisers: need to clarify roles and improve bidirectional communication • Need to increase training opportunities

15. Faculty Survey: Top 5 Requests for Professional Development • Financial aid implications for advising • Best practices & general overview • Bengal Success Portal • How to refer students to appropriate resources • Advising & student mental health

16. Okay, we have data. So: what are we doing with it? • In-progress projects include efforts to: • centralize academic roadmaps on the redesigned Academic Commons website • strengthen communication among Academic Commons advisers and departments • foster a culture of holistic, proactive advising using the Bengal Success Portal to respond to early alerts and refer students to appropriate supports • increase access to professional development for Academic Commons advisers • strengthen existing advising, coaching, and mentoring services on campus in order to boost retention (Title III) • create an online pre-orientation experience (Title III) • Future directions include plans to: • design a user-friendly virtual home of advising resources for faculty advisers • develop an orientation experience for faculty new to advising at Buffalo State

17. Questions?