Academic advising procedures vary from college to college, but advisers agree they perform an important service for students.

“I think everywhere you go across campus, [advising] will be different,” said Patricia Walsh, academic adviser in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. “All of our advisers are faculty people.”

Walsh said she currently advises about 40 students, but the number of students assigned to advisers varies according to their other duties.

“Right now, I have one course where I regularly meet with students, and I also supervise student teachers, which is counted as if it were a course,” Walsh said.

Walsh said she enjoys teaching in the classroom setting as well as advising.

“Personally, I feel OK about the combination,” Walsh said. “I get to know the students better in classes.

“The hardest part for me is during the registration period,” Walsh said. She said it is difficult to see all the students she needs to see.

Walsh said e-mail has improved the availability and access between advisers and students.

Walsh, who did not receive any training when she became an adviser, said the university has established a committee to address the training problem.

“It was kind of a ‘here you go’ [situation],” Walsh said.

She said she learned a lot by talking to other advisers and by performing the tasks.

Jane Jacobson, academic adviser for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said there are 10 LAS primary advisers who work in Catt Hall, but they all have additional duties.

“I am in charge of the orientation program for the college,” she said.

Jacobson said some of the duties the other advisers handle are the pre-health program, computer needs and enrollment management.

She said the number of students assigned to each adviser varies, but the maximum number of students an adviser may be in charge of is 350.

Carolyn Russel, academic adviser for the College of Business, said the College of Business has five full-time advisers and three part-time advisers with other assignments.

Russel, a full-time pre-business adviser, teaches an orientation course. She said she enjoys working with students.

“[Students are] a dynamic group of people to work with,” Russel said. “Hopefully, we inspire them and support them in their goals.”

Academic advisers work in an atmosphere of diversity, variety and autonomy, Russel said.

“It’s never dull,” she said.

Like Walsh, Russel said the most challenging time to be an adviser is at the beginning of the semester during the touch-tone registration period.

“We do have a lot of students,” Russel said. “It gets very intense.”

Katherine Lyons, student services coordinator for the College of Design, said incoming design students are assigned a professional adviser, or Professional and Scientific (PNS) staff member, as opposed to a faculty or merit staff member.

Once students are in a professional program, they are assigned a faculty adviser. Lyons said faculty members are better able to assist students with internships and developing areas of research.

“Our students make the transition [between professional adviser and faculty adviser] very well,” Lyons said. “We do everything we can to make it easier for them.”

Lyons said she thinks students like getting faculty advisers once they enter their programs because faculty members are closer to the disciplines.

“Just because I’m a [pre-landscape architecture] adviser doesn’t necessarily mean I am trained in the field [of pre-landscape architecture],” Lyons said.

Lyons said one reason she became an academic adviser was “an interest in higher education and helping students.” She said students ask her advice about personal, family, financial and academic problems.

Dana Haugli, academic adviser in the College of Engineering, said new students are assigned a pre-engineering adviser. Once they choose a major, they are assigned an adviser from their department.

Haugli said he feels the most difficult aspect of his job is trying to remember names.

“As a full-time adviser, I’m able to devote a lot of one-on-one time, and that’s the best part of advising,” Haugli said.

“Education is the most important thing we do for undergraduates … advising is the second most important thing,” Haugli said. “Teaching is why students came here, but advising is what helps them get through.”

He said he thinks universities that do not put an emphasis on advising do not see a high level of student satisfaction.

“I really feel advising is extremely important to the success of students,” Haugli said.