Advising and Student Support Services
Students have cited the need for improved academic advising and support services throughout
the institution to help improve their matriculation towards graduation within a timely manner.
There is also a greater need in the state of Michigan for higher education institutions to
graduate more students prepared for the workforce.
Current or Recent Strategies:
EMU recently adopted the “Graduate in Four” concept as a strategy to address this concern.
The Graduate in Four concept emphasizes what students need to accomplish each year to assist
them in staying on track. In addition, the University has made the following changes to address
this factor: hiring of additional academic advisors within the various colleges on campus,
improved quality of advising through professional development and metrics, monitoring of
FTIAC first-year courses, creation of new transfer student transition program, the development
of a note taking system, earlier streamlined advising on choice of major, improved online
advising tools, and an early alert system to help monitor student progress.
Recommended Key Actions:
University College: It is estimated that 20-50% of college students are undecided about a major.
Students within this group often find themselves frustrated and confused as they don’t have an
academic department to call home, don’t have a clear sense of direction, don’t know who to
reach out to with general questions, and don’t have an assigned advisor (academic or career).
The result of this confusion and general lack of support are lower retention and graduation
rates.
In response, Eastern Michigan University needs to put in place proactive and intrusive
strategies to ensure undecided students are supported throughout the decision-making process
and have the same access to information and resources as declared majors. To address this
issue, a University College should be developed which will be comprised of all freshmen and
undecided/undeclared students (transfers included). Within the University College, students
will be assigned an academic advisor as well as a career coach. The University College will serve
as a “home” for these students - where they can explore majors and careers in a supported and
holistic manner. The University College could consider placing holds on accounts for all FTIACs
until they have met with an advisor and/or consider additional holds for those students who
have not yet declare a major. Additional resources might include streamlined access to tutors,
study tables, job shadowing opportunities and mentors.
Online Degree Audit System: Eastern Michigan University has implemented this strategy with
U.Achieve (Red Lantern), an online degree audit system which provides students, faculty and
advisors with a progress report and/or analysis of degree requirements for any particular
degree, major and minor. This system also allows for “what if” planning to assist students,
faculty and advisors in monitoring the student’s academic progress towards a degree.
U.Achieve also includes a feature for seamless transfer advising (U.Select) which allows
students to plan more effectively and reduce the number of unnecessary/duplicate courses
(time & money).
This system is important because it allows students to check their progress toward degree
completion and also creates more efficient advising sessions. This system has been
implemented for students enrolled Fall 2011 and beyond. It is recommended that this system
be utilized at the university’s FTIAC orientation (Fast Track), a process not yet implemented
because students need to be registered in order to run an audit. A solution to this issue is preenrolling students in a mandatory FTIAC course and/or registering them for a faux non-credit
bearing course. In order for the system to reach its maximum effectiveness, the university also
needs to integrate each system (Banner, my.emich, catalog) to ensure accurate information is
being provided to students. The accessibility, accuracy and marketing of U.Achieve to students
must become a priority for the university. Full implementation of the system can definitely
move EMU forward in establishing better advising practices on our campus and helping
students graduate in a more timely manner.
Advising Quality: In Fall 2012, Eastern Michigan University began promoting the “Graduate in
Four” initiative. Strategies to promote that initiative include monthly advising meetings that
included advisors from each of the five academic colleges as well as advisors from UACDC.
These meetings are designed to discuss any current or new challenges faced, policy changes,
and new practices within advising. Progress is currently being made to create advising checklists
to ensure all basics (degree requirements, academic progress, etc.) are being covered during
each advising session, regardless of where the advising takes place. In conjunction, a
recommendation of mandatory advising professional development for each advisor and faculty
member(s) who advise students within their department should be considered. A second
recommendation to ensure quality advising is to require all academic programs develop fouryear programs to ensure students and advisors can map out progress toward graduation. A
third recommendation is to implement note-taking software which is accessible to faculty and
advisors. This software would ensure consistent messages regarding the student’s advising
sessions.
Enhanced Communication: Eastern Michigan University has a goal to shift the culture of
academic advising on the campus by providing a consistent and cohesive message to the
campus community as it refers to academic advising. Quite simply, the message must be
communicated that EMU values academic advising and that students should perceive it as a top
priority while at EMU. We want expectations to be held high as the institution moves forward
in re-creating this culture. It is recommended that these messages about the value of academic
advising and student support be communicated early and often. The message FTIAC students
and their parents receive at Fast Track orientation should be the same message students
receive during new student orientation in the fall from EMU faculty and staff. A full-scale
communication plan should be immediately implemented, including multiple channels of
communication in conjunction with staff and faculty professional development initiatives.