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 “Well, this is a weird discussion in semantics, but it is a service provided to students in the respect that it is available. On the other hand, coming from a person who has been a student several times and an adviser once or twice, I look at academic advising as a student benefit. It is not a service as in something needs to be repaired or examined, although that may be a result ;-) Academic advising helps students or should. Academic advising provides assistance, the advantage of more information and the opportunity to discuss options. Lastly, advice can be ignored. We all receive advice from family, friends, teachers, mentors, colleagues, enemies, at the same time we should take that advice with a grain of salt. Add it to our system of checks and balances and make a choice based on all the information provided. So academic advising could certainly be considered a service. However, it is a dynamic service that requires the active participation of two parties, adviser and advisee, and a service that in the end serves to provide more knowledge to a person stuck with a choice.”~ Shawn Foley, Penn State York, November 5 “Certainly academic advising is a service and I do look at my students as customers of the University. After all, they are exchanging money for a product, just as in any other retail or business environment. The product we offer is an education and, like the real world, some establishments offer higher quality and better service than others. I am committed to 'serving' my 'customers.' They could have chosen any number of other schools, but they chose mine. If I fail to provide them with the service they need, they could just as easily go somewhere else. I live and work in the Portland, OR, metropolitan area. There are roughly twenty other institutions of higher learning (state Universities, community colleges, private non-profit, and private for profit) in this area. Service is one of the things that sets us apart from the rest. We are a not-for-profit institution, but that doesn't mean we don't compete like any for-profit business.”~ Scott Harris, City University, November 5 “Of course it is a service to students who depend on us to guide them through their college careers. Never underestimate the power of an adviser to make or break freshman college students. Often it is the relationship with the adviser that determines how smoothly FTICs and transfer students acclimate to college life on any given campus.Speaking from my own experience, I worked forty hours a week, raised a teen-age daughter and went to college full-time. I was a non-traditional student and wanted to graduate in four years. My adviser saw to it that my goal was met by staying on top of things for me—like course pre-reqs, when certain courses were offered, etc. I trusted him and followed his advice to the letter and graduated in four years with a 3.4 GPA. So, is advising a service? Absolutely, and one that we as advisers should take very seriously. This is a very important time in a person's life—a milestone. We can make it easier for the student or harder, depending on how well we perform that service.” ~ A. Simmons, M.A., University of Houston—Downtown, November 5 “The word service, according to Webster's Dictionary, is an 'act of helpful activity' (p. 604). In the strict sense of the word, academic advising is a service, but if we characterize advising by using the word service, we categorize it as a word that has twelve meanings.There is more to advising than a one-word definition. Advisers advise on career decisions, counsel behavior, listen to problems. We ask. We hear. It is difficult to equate the word service with the words listening, asking, and hearing. So while academic advising is a service, it is not a service that is implied.” ~ Cathi Kadow, Purdue University Calumet, November 7 “According to Webster, service is 'performance of work commanded or paid for by another; effort inspired by philanthropic motives or directed to human welfare; useful labor that does not produce a tangible commodity; offering repair, maintenance, or incidental services.' I'm not sure what I do as an adviser fits with these definitions. I don't think I am 'above' those who provide services that I use daily, but I believe there are also professional 'services' that require more knowledge, skill and possibly education to perform. Would you consider a doctor or lawyer's work to be a service? Would a doctor or lawyer think of you, the patient or client, as a 'customer'? Couldn't our work be compared to that of a doctor or lawyer, i.e. diagnosing, prescribing, referring, consulting, counseling, problem solving, decision-making, etc.? To say that advising is a service does not do justice to advising as a profession.”~ Terry Musser, Penn State, November 8 “I like to think of myself as a consultant, here to help students manage their academic planning to achieve their career and educational goals. I'm often teaching in the sense that I'm rehearsing new skills with them, leading them to research. Much of that is a coaching task, helping them learn to navigate the system, solve problems, challenge them to succeed in often difficulty circumstances. Sometimes I get into some tutoring where I feel I can help (don't tell my supervisor).As I am part of a student services community (I am a counselor) I have always seen what I do in that context. However, I think that service is a very broad word to describe academic advising.” ~ John Wick, Naugatuck Valley Community College, November 12 “Academic advising is a service that we, as professionals, do provide to our students. In this day of competition, more of us see our students truly as customers and providing these students with the best customer service is essential in retention. I don't think this speaks ill of advising as a profession. Just as doctors or attorneys provide medical and legal services to their patients and clients, we provide academic services to our students. The unique part of our 'service' is that our service provides students 'opportunities.' These opportunities will allow our students to experience success, whatever their definition may be. The opportunities may be to receive academic planning assistance in order to complete a degree in a timely fashion, to earn a degree and experience financial and personal growth, and/or to accomplish a goal that has been set. Academic advisers must constantly strive for excellence in all they do ... after all, we may have one of the greatest opportunities to impact our students' success.”~ Ann Bresingham, Robert Morris College, Chicago, IL, November 12 The Mentor is published by Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies Available online at www.psu.edu/dus/mentor/ Privacy and Legal Statements | Copyright | © The Pennsylvania State University | All rights reserved | |
