Following a decision at the Provost’s Council of the Deans in early April, the ongoing Academic Advising Review shifted out of the review (2022-2023) and design (2023-2024) phases and into the implementation phase (April 2024 - spring 2025). 

  • On April 19, 2024, Steve Wuhs (Academic Affairs AVP), Brandi Fuhrman (Student Affairs AVP), and Jeff Malone (CCSI Director) facilitated a webinar presenting the new model of Academic Advising at OSU to the campus community. A recording of the session is available within the Advising Resources module of the Canvas for Advisors studio site. 
  • A copy of the slide deck from the webinar is linked here 
  • A talking points document related to the advising model has been shared with each college's Dean and Associate Deans
  • An ongoing FAQ repository: 
    • What are the advising loads for Head Advisor – new student and Advisor 1 & 2 new students?
      • Advising loads/ratios, position descriptions, conditions for advisor work (e.g., remote) and other next steps will be taken with direct engagement with the advising community and through college-based advising implementation groups.  Determinations about funding and budget allocations will be part of this process.
    • Is this just academic advisors? Does this change anything for academic counselors, success coaches, or navigators?
      • Yes, this renovation focuses on academic advisors located in colleges and UESP, most of whom are professional faculty. Instructional faculty with advising loads are also affected by this reform in the new student space.  Academic counselors, coaches and navigators are not directly affected.
    • Will instructional faculty be able to continue advising?
      • Yes.  Colleges that currently use instructional faculty as advisors may continue that practice, acknowledging that new student advisors must be professional faculty.  Instructional faculty advisors will need to manage caseloads consistent with the Oregon Equal Pay Act.  As we move forward, we will work with advising implementation teams to assist with guidance for any changes that are needed.
    • Will the new student advising teams will be primarily on-campus, or will there be the ability to have fully remote advisors on teams to help with our new online learners?
      • Colleges in consultation with the university advising team may choose to designate some of their advisors to serve online learners specifically depending on operational needs. 
    • How will dual reporting operate for me? 
      • Your primary supervisor is the one who hired you, conducts your performance reviews, and has the final say on your work assignments and compensation. Your dotted line supervisor oversees a specific project or function that you are involved in, provides you with guidance, feedback, input on annual reviews, and coordinates with your primary supervisor on your work.  You should communicate regularly with both supervisors on your progress, challenges, and achievements and CC both supervisors on relevant emails or documents. If you receive conflicting expectations or feedback from both supervisors, you should clarify them as soon as possible.  In terms of workload management, you should also communicate your availability and workload to both supervisors and negotiate your priorities if needed.
    • Who qualifies as a “new student” for new student advisors? 
      • The intent with new student advisors is to enable advisors to focus on helping new students situate themselves for success at Oregon State.  This specifically applies to FTFT and transfer student across modalities and locations.  Some colleges that receive large volumes of internal transfers (e.g., College of Liberal Arts) may choose to treat those “migrating” students as new students if they deem it appropriate.
    • What are the next steps?
      • Our next steps center on the development of position descriptions for Advisor I and Advisor II, New Student Advisors, and the Executive Director.  That work will happen in close consultation with the advising community, college advising implementation teams, and Human Resources.  Our hope is to bring the Executive Director on staff over the summer to steward further implementation of the model.  We have a detailed work plan for the next year that we are confident will enable us to have staff in role in advance of the Summer 2025 START.  We will continue to work with colleges via advising implementation teams to help them develop their staffing plans as well as begin moving toward the model with any anticipated hiring.

 

Overview of 2022-2023 Academic Advising Review

During the 2022-2023 Academic Year, the Provost’s Office, with support from all OSU college Deans, will be conducting an institution-wide review of OSU’s undergraduate academic advising. This review will be led by the Division of Student Affairs and the Office of Academic Affairs, in recognition of the clear connection between academic and student support services. Effective academic advising is essential to supporting student academic progress and overall student success. With this understood, it is imperative that we assess our academic advising programs to help ensure students are gaining value from their advising experiences and that those experiences are equitable across the colleges and throughout the student life cycle. 

Why a review and why now? 
  • A review of academic advising honors quality control and embraces a culture of improvement
  • Allows us to consider the approaches/structures that maximize advising for the most students 
  • We have ongoing concerns about students "falling through the cracks," especially during moments of transition (into or within the University) 
  • The last comprehensive review of "Student and Faculty Attitudes Toward and Experiences with Undergraduate Advising at Oregon State University: 2011 and 2014" (S. Drummond Hays, J.M. Allen, & C.L. Smith) was written up in October, 2014. More recent efforts have occurred, but they have not been comprehensive. These include:
    • Adding the Academic Advising topical module to the latest NSSE iteration (April - May 2021)
    • The recurring Transitions Survey administered out of Undergraduate Education (w'21; fa'21; w'22) includes a handful of academic advising questions
    • The Transitions and Advising Survey formerly administered out of Cross Campus Strategic Initiatives (sp'17 & sp'18)
Project Team: 
  • Alix Gitelman, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
  • Dan Larson, Vice Provost for Student Affairs 
  • Kevin Dougherty, Associate Vice Provost & Dean of Students
  • Rebecca Mathern,  Associate Vice Provost & University Registrar 
  • Lisa Templeton, Associate Provost for Ecampus
  • Maureen Cochran, Senior Director of Student Affairs Strategic Initiatives 
  • Kerry Kincanon, Director & Head Advisor, University Exploratory Studies Program; 2022-2023 Chair, Academic Advising Council 
  • Jeff Malone, Director, Cross Campus Strategic Initiatives; 2022-2023 Chair-Elect, Academic Advising Council 
Internal Landscape Assessment Team: 
  • Jeff Malone, Director, Cross Campus Strategic Initiatives; 2022-2023 Chair-Elect, Academic Advising Council 
  • Kerry Kincanon, Director & Head Advisor, University Exploratory Studies Program; 2022-2023 Chair, Academic Advising Council 
  • Maureen Cochran, Senior Director of Student Affairs Strategic Initiatives 
  • Marilyn Stewart, Assistant Director, Dr. Lawrence Griggs Office of Black & Indigenous Student Success 
  • Stephen Jenkins, Executive Director, University Housing & Dining Services 

 

Review and Design Timeline

Early Fall 2022 - Internal Landscape Assessment (including student perspectives)

  • Qualtrics responses via College Associate Deans & Head Advisors (October 3 - November 4) 
  • Qualtrics responses via Directors of Academic Counseling units (October 6 - November 7)

Late Fall 2022 - Analysis of materials & internal report preparation

January 2023 - Access to 2022-2023 Academic Advising Review BOX folder shared via C10. 

Early Winter 2023 - External Review

  • External Reviewers via NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising will be on campus January 25, 26, & 27th.
    • Dr Jennifer Joslin, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs - Drury University 
    • Dr Karen Sullivan-Vance, Associate Director for Strategic Program Development - NACADA
  • Visit Schedule can be found here 
  • Visit Recap
    • Over their three day campus visit, our external reviewers interacted with OSU community members across 19 distinct sessions (the 18 sessions listed on the schedule linked above, plus 1 additional student session that was added on Friday, January 27th).
    • In addition to the student voice elements (NSSE advising module, transitions survey, etc) that were shared as part of the pre-visit landscape assessment and documentation, the reviewers were able to interact directly with 25 students (Agricultural Sciences, Business, Engineering, Forestry, Honors College, Liberal Arts, PHHS, Science, and UESP) during their visit .
    • Due to their roles and various affiliations, several members of the community met with the reviewers in more than one session. All totaled, across the three days, the reviewers heard from 121 distinct community members. 
    • All session participants were also invited to share additional feedback via email before February 3rd. 

Winter/Spring 2023 - Consideration of findings/recommendations.

  • The Project Team received the external report on March 15, 2023
  • The Project Team will triangulate the internal reports, the external report, and their own impressions from the internal/external review.
  • AAR Project Team shares findings/recommendations with related bodies such as the Provost's Council of Deans (PCOD), the Academic Advising Council (AAC) & the Undergaduate Education Council (UEC). Updates provided at Advising Town Hall. Steps forward are discussed, decided upon, and enacted with these groups. 
  • Update shared from Alix Gitelman & Dan Larson (May 12, 2023): "Based on the landscape analysis and the information provided through the external reviewers, as well as information from other sources (e.g., recent surveys, scholarship), we will be developing an analysis of the most significant challenges and barriers our students encounter in advising at OSU and the formulation of highest possible impact solutions to those challenges.  We have asked Brandi Fuhrman, Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs, and Steve Wuhs, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, to lead this next step of our work as a community. They will engage members of the advising community and other stakeholders as they continue this important work, as well as provide access to report provided by the external reviewers."

Fall 2023 - Stakeholder sessions, Qualtrics, and AAR College Visits. Advising Town Hall update. Initial presentation at Provost's Council of Deans (December)

Winter 2024 - Second round of AAR College Visits. Advising Town Hall update

Spring 2024 - Initial implementation meetings with each college

April 8, 2024 - Proposed Model discussed and approved at Provost's Council of Deans 

April 19, 2024 - AAR Webinar 

May 2024 - PD Development for Executive Director of Undergraduate Advising role

July 2024 - Exec Director position posted

July-August 2024 - PD Development for Adv1 & Adv2 roles 

September 2024 - Exec Director search forums