DUS: An Impact Statement

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An Impact Statement

In 1973, the Division of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) was created by Penn State's University Faculty Senate to improve enrollment and advising opportunities for exploratory students and to establish and coordinate a University-wide academic information network to support academic advising. DUS continues to play a critical role in empowering students to successfully navigate an increasingly complex academic environment.

To maintain both the effectiveness and efficiency of DUS, it is necessary to recognize and reaffirm the following principles:

Academic advising is teaching.
Academic advising is a core activity of the University, performed by professional advisers and faculty.
DUS is the academic information and advising network for all students and advisers at each undergraduate location.
DUS is the administrative home for exploratory students at each undergraduate location.
DUS is a part of the academic structure of the University.
Technology will supplement and enhance, not replace, the relationship between the student and the adviser.

“When I entered Penn State, I enrolled in DUS because I had no clue about what I wanted to do with my career, but I knew that college was the key. The DUS advisers were helpful, and the information offered was exactly what I needed to help myself find direction. I eventually majored in business logistics. . . . For undecided students, DUS is definitely the way to go.”

Greg Futato

DUS: Academic Advising Network

The DUS Academic Advising Network is the only network of its kind in the University. It connects colleges, campus locations, academic programs, and support services.

At every Penn State undergraduate location, this network makes it possible to provide consistent, impartial, and accurate academic advising to all students and serves as an academic resource for students, faculty, administrators, and the community at large. Without this formal network, academic information would quickly become inaccurate and random, its flow inefficient, costly, and chaotic.

The variety of new colleges with their new associate and baccalaureate programs are adding to Penn State's rich and complex array of options. The Enrollment Management and Administration report of October 15, 1996, Penn State Campuses: A Plan for the Future, acknowledged the complexity of choices by suggesting that applicants “delay making a specific selection of academic programs until after enrolling and, with the guidance of academic advisers, conduct an exploration of the various options.” This is possible only when academic advisers are knowledgeable about all of the University's academic programs. Developing, maintaining, and delivering this information is one of the key functions of the Academic Advising Network.

“I transferred into DUS after my freshman year as a physics major. Had the program not been in existence, I probably would have changed my major seven times before finally deciding on English. My DUS adviser directed me to a wide variety of courses that allowed me to get a feel for everything from economics to labor studies while still fulfilling my general requirements. Thanks to him, I turned my first two years of exploration into applicable credits so that I could graduate in four years.”

Rebecca Glenister

DUS: Educational Exploration

Exploratory students need an administrative home. It is critical to their retention in the University.*

DUS provides a temporary academic home for two important groups: new students and transitional students.

Approximately 80 percent of entering Penn State students express some degree of uncertainty about their choice of major. New students select DUS because they recognize that they need time and experience before making an appropriate decision about a field of study.

Transitional students request DUS enrollment later in their academic careers. After starting out in a college, students may discover that their original choice of program does not correspond to their interests or abilities.

In DUS, students can work with their adviser to explore the University's academic opportunities and prepare to enter an appropriate program.

*Strommer, Diane W. (Ed.). (1993). Portals of entry: University colleges and undergraduate divisions (Monograph No. 12). Columbia: University of South Carolina, National Resources Center for The Freshman Year Experience.

DUS: Its Impact

Recruitment: DUS has one of the highest baccalaureate admissions yields among all Penn State college choices; approximately 60 percent of students who receive a DUS offer decide to matriculate at Penn State. Potential students see DUS as a way to navigate successfully through the complexities of the University.

“I've told a lot of people about DUS. The advisers help students explore their interests. They give them a lot of encouragement and help keep them on track so that they're not spending seven years in college.”

Suzanne Matunis, mother of 13 Penn State students. The youngest, Emily, started fall 1997 in DUS at University Park.

Exemplary Advising System: DUS is a leader in academic advising. On the average, its programs are studied by twenty other universities each year. Purdue University and the University of Connecticut recently developed units similar to DUS. Laura Brown and Robert Campbell, two DUS advisers, have received Penn State's Excellence in Advising Award and been honored as outstanding advisers by the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). The DUS Navigator: A Guide for Educational Planning has received a NACADA Outstanding Institutional Program Award.

Efficiency: It requires ten faculty advisers to provide the same amount of advising as one DUS adviser (based on the amount of time that a faculty adviser has available to advise).

Academic Orientation: The DUS First-Year Testing, Counseling and Advising Program (FTCAP) provides an academic introduction to Penn State for 95 percent of new first-year students and their families. Few orientation programs, if any, can approach its efficiency, effectiveness, and level of student and family participation and satisfaction.

Student Satisfaction: Students have rated DUS advising higher than advising in any other college at University Park. (Report on Undergraduate Academic Advising at Penn State prepared by the University Student Government, Academic Assembly, and the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments)

Retention: Through all of its programs—FTCAP, Educational Exploration, and the Academic Advising Network—DUS makes a significant contribution to the retention efforts of the University. The value of DUS is seen in graduation rates and student satisfaction surveys.

Graduation Rates: Students who begin their enrollment in DUS graduate in the same length of time as other Penn State students. Over 60 percent of students who change their majors to DUS with below a 2.0 grade-point average graduate within five years.

Research: DUS is the only unit in the University that studies academic advising as a discipline. Its expertise in this field is recognized and supported. For example, in 2000 the Hewlett Foundation awarded DUS a $150,000 two-year grant for its Discover House General Education project. Through ongoing research, DUS develops strategies to improve the quality of advising. In addition to applying its findings at Penn State, DUS presents them at professional conferences and in journals so they can benefit the advising profession as a whole.

DUS: Future Directions

Technology and Advising: DUS staff have spearheaded the development of eLion (formerly CAAIS) advising modules for students and faculty and will continue to provide leadership in this innovative application of technology. On the Web at eLion.psu.edu, it is one of the most sophisticated computer-assisted advising projects in the country and has been recognized nationally: In 1998, it received the Electronic Publication Award Certificate of Merit from the National Academic Advising Association; and recently it was named an Academic Excellence and Cost Management National Finalist in a competition sponsored by the American Council on Education (ACE) and the USA Group Foundation. DUS staff at all undergraduate locations will continue to be responsible for training students in the use of eLion, as well as orienting faculty advisers to its advising and academic information modules.

Improving efficiency of communication between students and advisers will continue to involve DUS staff in the use of the World Wide Web, e-mail, and Pic-Tel.

Faculty Adviser Development: The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal provides an outlet for the rapid dissemination of new ideas about advising and for the ongoing discussion of advising issues. This DUS initiative is a unique vehicle for adviser development at Penn State and across the nation. The Mentor has been selected by the National Academic Advising Association as an Outstanding Advising Publication Award Winner (Electronic Category). This national award is given in recognition of outstanding and creative advising-related materials and publications.

The Center for Excellence in Academic Advising was established by DUS to support the development of academic advising expertise throughout the University with special attention to the needs of faculty advisers.

Advising-development sessions for both new and continuing faculty advisers are provided by DUS representatives at each undergraduate location.

DUS is active in Penn State's University Advising Council.

Leadership: DUS will continue to be a catalyst for fostering quality undergraduate academic advising.

Conclusion

Since 1973, Penn State has realized the economic, educational, and organizational benefits that result from the unified staff of DUS advisers and representatives at every Penn State undergraduate location. DUS has provided a first or transitional academic home, accurate academic advising, and effective professional advisers for hundreds of thousands of students. In large part because of DUS, these students have been retained within the University, have graduated, and are appreciative alumni.

Looking to the future, experience suggests not only sustaining, but enhancing opportunities for students to benefit from Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies. Thousands of students have been able to reframe their initial educational plans and persist to graduation because DUS has existed. Degree and provisional students who have been advised by DUS staff have accounted for more than a billion dollars of income to the University.

If student success continues to be a primary goal for Penn State's undergraduate programs and if tuition dollars continue to play a significant role in the economic health of the University, then it will be imperative to maintain DUS as it was envisioned and legislated by the University Faculty Senate.