The Daily Bulletin Archive

With heightened emphasis on student success and institutional accountability, academic advisement is a critical topic for students, faculty, and staff at Buffalo State College. For some, good advising skills come naturally. But two recipients of the President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Advisement believe the value of quality advisement should be ingrained in all faculty members.

“Students are our business—they shouldn’t be [perceived as] an interruption to our business,” said Leslie Day, a lecturer of elementary education and reading, who also helps manage undergraduate advisement for the department. “Personally, I find advisement just as exciting as teaching and course planning.”

Day received the President’s Award in 2004. Dwight Hennessy, an associate professor of psychology who received the award last year, said it’s important for each professor to find an approach best suited to his or her own style. But before any good advisement can happen, professors need to change students’ perceptions.

“Advisement is not about scheduling; it’s about advice,” said Hennessy. “We need to educate students that it’s much more than just ‘tell me what courses to take.’ They’re people—they’re adults. And they want to be treated as such.”

Day echoes Hennessy’s sentiment and goes one step further.

“I’m trying to avoid using the word ‘adviser’ altogether,” she said. “When I talk with other faculty members about advisement, I use the word ‘mentor’ as much as possible. I want to stress the important role of relationships in the process.”

Although Day and Hennessy acknowledge some students’ dissatisfaction with academic advisement outcomes, the two recognize the strides that departments like theirs have made in recent years. Day adds that it’s possible some students lump advisement criticism with other negative college experiences.

According to Day, student participation in advisement in the Elementary Education and Reading Departmentincreased from 35 to 80 percent during the past five years. Hennessy has experienced similar increases in thePsychology Department.

Day personally advises 130 students, and last semester she interacted with more than 500 students for various advisement needs. But given the pressures to publish research, serve on committees, and teach multiple classes, how can professors fit academic advisement into their already busy schedules and administer effective guidance?

The key to building relationships is to start early, Day said. Hennessy said this means getting students’ attention during orientation and then maintaining an “open door” policy for advisement—not just trying to fit all sessions into a week or two around registration time. He said a typical adviser will see about 30 to 40 students a semester.

One easy—and compulsory—way professors can manage advisement, said Day, is to honor office hours.

“Post your hours on your door,” Day stressed. “Be willing to mentor students you teach, even if you’re not their adviser.

“We also need to stop the ‘Buffalo State Shuffle,’” Day said. “Everyone needs to take responsibility to help students and really listen. When faculty members direct students to me for advisement questions, I ask if they can accompany the student. I do this to help mentor our faculty, hoping they’ll know for the next time how to help in the same situation.”

Hennessy said that a mandatory meeting early in the fall semester is one tool for good advisement, since students are “bombarded” with information during orientation. Other tools, such as Web pages, the Banner system, pamphlets, checklists, and group meetings, can also be effective. A little peer pressure can go a long way, too, Day said. She sometimes talks about advisement in her courses and asks for a show of hands to see who has gone.

“When students leave [Buffalo State] happy, it is a tremendous boost for our image in the community,” she said.

“There is a real, long-term benefit to students having mentors,” said Hennessy. “Their feeling of being involved leads to a feeling of satisfaction—which ultimately leads to retention.”

Providing quality advisement is not only crucial to Buffalo State’s success; it’s also the right thing to do. The connection to students provides a necessary human dimension to complement the academic one.

“Advisers must relish the responsibility to value and respect students, and shape their futures,” said Day. “Getting to connect with so many students is one of the best parts of my job.”

Hennessy believes there are many excellent academic advisers on campus and that students thrive under their mentorship. He said the department chair strongly encourages and promotes good advisement; and when communicated from the top down, professors take the message seriously.

“This is your chance to make a difference in someone’s life,” Hennessy said. “The greatest satisfaction when students leave [an advisement session] is knowing they’re on the path to something they will love doing.”