Teachers Eye Advising Block In New Schedule

A new proposal to add a specific block in the schedule for faculty advisers to meet with their student advisees will be presented in Faculty Meetings next week by the Advising Committee."It would be a required meeting for advisors and advisees to sit down once a week, either to have a directed or informal conversation, depending on what’s going on in our community," Melissa Mischke, dean of students and advising committee member, said. "It’s an opportunity to get to know advisees on an ongoing, regular basis that’s not necessarily at 10:30 p.m. in the dorm. It’s a change for day student advisers to have ease of access to their advisees as well."Proposing changes to the schedule is a difficult process, Mischke noted. However, members of the Advising Committee believe that the issue is important enough to warrant a strong attempt. How an advising block would fit into PEA’s weekly schedule has yet to be determined."Any time we try to put something in the schedule, it’s a complex process to navigate through all the things that students and faculty have in their busy schedules. We’re pretty crammed in general. Carving out time, dedicated to advising, is not easy," Mischke said. "Somebody’s going to feel it somewhere. We’re hoping that the faculty will embrace the importance of a dedicated time to elevate the importance of advising."Following informal, preliminary discussions about advising, the faculty members have mixed reactions to the proposal.English instructor and Dunbar Hall dorm faculty Todd Hearon said that an adviser block would be an unnecessary burden to both the faculty adviser and the student advisees, especially for boarding students who have the opportunity to see their advisers on duty."I think, unless you're not living in the dorm with your advisees and seeing them already on a regular basis and checking them in, that mandatory meetings every week are excessive and burdensome," Hearon said. "More is not always better, and my schedule and that of my advisees, are generally full to the gills. My advisees know that I am here for them when they need me, and I expect them to come to me with concerns. I will always make time."Science instructor Townley Chisholm agreed, and said that having an advising block added to the schedule would not lead to helpful advising sessions."Advising is very important, but the best advising happens during the regular life of the school, and having a separate time set aside will be very intrusive for students and teachers," Chisholm said. "It will be an unnecessary loss of free time because the real business doesn’t occur when you meet weekly, but when either side wants to."Chisholm added that the proposed schedule change would not solve the apparent problem with advising that some community members see."The problem with the current advising system is not the lack of meeting time. If your advisor wants to spend time with you, then he or she can. This may be or not be true for day students, but they only comprise twenty percent of the population," Chisholm said.On the other hand, some faculty members welcomed the new proposal, saying it would enhance the relationship between advisers and advisees."I am one hundred percent in favor of this proposal. I find it hard to meet with my advisees and this will force me to," health instructor and McConnell Hall dorm head Michelle Soucy said. "As a dorm head, I end up doing stuff for the whole dorm and never actually focusing on spending time with just my advisees. This will give me that time. I really hope the faculty sees this as a necessity and not a burden."Shane LaPointe, health instructor and Amen Hall dorm faculty, agreed with Soucy."I would love an adviser block," LaPointe said. "I think this would be very helpful to developing a support network for our students. I think if time is our ‘money’ on campus we should spend it on this important step."The students shared similar sentiments with their instructors, seeing both the positive and negative impacts that this new schedule change would have on the Academy community.Senior Kelvin Lee thought that while time with advisers is important, these weekly meetings would not address realistic concerns that are brought up by the current advising system."I think a lot of students would value such a time period with their adviser, especially new students and those who may be struggling a bit, but realistically, there just isn’t enough time for such a meeting in our weekly schedules," senior Kelvin Lee said.Senior Elizabeth Gong agreed, but thought that these advising blocks might possibly become a "waste of time," leading her to believe that one or two of these meetings a term would be the most beneficial."Yes, advisers are important, and yes, we should communicate with them for an effective relationship, but if a student really needed to talk to their adviser, they will seek them out," Gong said."I think it’s outrageous," prep Jake Della Pasqua said. "The way that the advising system should work is that when the advisee needs advising, they go to the adviser. This is just an extra required appointment that students will have to go to and most likely dick from time to time."Prep Eugene Park believed that this change would be a step in the right direction."Currently, I am in a good relationship with my adviser, seeing him at least once or twice during the week, but we don’t talk much other than an occasional ‘hello’ about courses. I think that if these adviser blocks can be built into the schedule, Exeter would be inching toward a better advising system."