Advising

OU launches Excellence in Academic Advising initiative

Oakland University has launched a campus-wide kickoff of a new, three-year, evidence-based Excellence in Academic Advising (EAA) initiative, which is sponsored by the Gardner Institute and the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). It is funded in part by The Kresge Foundation.

advising, initiative, benchmarking, provost

icon of a calendarJanuary 20, 2020

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Oakland launches Excellence in Academic Advising initiative
In the past several years, retention rates at Oakland University are up on average more than five percent and there has been a double-digit improvement among four-, five- and six-year graduation rates. Now, the university is looking for even more ways to building upon that success through the EAA.

Oakland University has launched a campus-wide kickoff of a new, three-year, evidence-based Excellence in Academic Advising (EAA) initiative, which is sponsored by the Gardner Institute and the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). It is funded in part by The Kresge Foundation.

Through the EAA initiative, OU will examine in great detail how academic advising can empower students to take advantage of their own learning strengths and look for ways to overcome challenges. The initiative will explore, evaluate and implement best practices in advising from partner institutions and find ways to continue strengthening the current practices at OU.

“This initiative allows everyone on campus to participate in some way with our academic advising efforts to improve student retention, graduation rates and other measures that benefit our students,” said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost James P. Lentini.

OU is a part of the Urban Ecosystem Cohort through this initiative, along with 10 other institutions from Michigan, Florida and Texas that will analyze and share advising strategies aimed at improving student success.

The next steps at OU include finalizing committees, surveying faculty, staff and students, sharing data with fellow institutions and then making plans for implementation of agreed upon ideas by the Fall 2020 semester. The following year, the initiative will be fine-tuned so that data can be re-assessed, making sure that committee goals are being met.

“The EAA will help us establish aspirational and tangible goals that improve upon our current academic advising services,” said Associate Provost Anne Hitt, Ph.D. “It acknowledges the central role advising plays in promoting student learning and pathways to degree completion. It is also collaborative with many groups on campus because we know our professional academic advisers cannot do it alone.”

Shannon Esselink, Director of Advising at OU, explained during the launch presentation that since OU began adding resources and people to expand advising capabilities on campus in the past few years, the key performance statistics have all been trending in the right direction. She reported that retention rates are up from 4.1 percent to 6.9 percent across the board. There has also been a double-digit improvement among four-, five- and six-year graduation rates. And, transfer retention rates and transfer graduation rates have both improved as well.

“OU has had an amazing track record with 27 national, five state and four regional advising awards in recent years, and we have grown our professional advising staff to 61.” said Senior Director of the First Year Advising Center Sara Webb. “However, we also conducted more than 32,000 advising appointments last year and that number is expected to grow as we spend more time with each student to make sure they stay on track to succeed at each step along the way to meeting their educational goals.”

EAA initiative liaisons include: Anne Hitt, Associate Pro.vost; Shannon Esselink, Director of Advising, College of Arts and Sciences; Sara Webb, Senior Director of First Year Success; Song Yan, Director, Office of Institutional Research and Assessment and Claudia Petrescu, Chief Strategy Officer. Meanwhile, the various committees consist of a wide range of representatives from across the university, including deans, faculty, staff and students.

Visit the EAA website to learn more about the effort and find out how to participate on one of the committees.

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