The surge of excitement for the new year is in the air, and I am proud to be leading an amazing team of exploratory advisors and building collaborations among all the MSU undergraduate colleges.
University Advising has been busy recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and advising this summer. We proudly supported over 400 new exploratory students in completing fall schedules, participated in a dynamic partnership with the Broad College of Business helping orient and enroll over 1,500 business preference students, and supported the College of Engineering in successfully scheduling their first-year class.
As I round out my inaugural year, I am happy to share more clarity about my role and its duality. I am the assistant dean for University Advising, which means I lead MSU’s team of exploratory advisors. These advisors work with students for their first 56 credit hours as they identify a major(s) that aligns with their aspirations. They also engage with students across the MSU community, guiding them to appropriate majors as students’ desires and identities expand. This team will continue to build a base of student outcomes that fit the needs of our students and support the MSU mission that every student be able to learn, thrive and graduate! Feel free to check out our growing team at advising.msu.edu/about/team.
The second part of my role is to continue to guide the great work that was started several years ago specific to our Advising Initiative, which focuses on closing opportunity gaps and increasing graduation rates by 2030. This portion of my work is not done in isolation. I have the pleasure of conferring with the advising leads in our 15 colleges to establish standardization of practices that support student transitions into and between colleges. Primary areas of review for this year will be:
- Students with 56+ credits that still need to declare a major or finalize a secondary admission processes (parking lot)
- Working with select secondary admit colleges that strongly align with an exploratory experience
- Strengthening admission and advising pathways for transfer students
- Implementing a campus-wide MSU advisor onboarding experience
University Advising and Undergraduate Education have been engrossed in providing our students a meaningful higher education experience. My hope for this semester is that the impact of our committed and unified advising work is reflected in the success of our students as they achieve each milestone to becoming a Spartan Alum.
Happy fall and Go Green!