I began my advising career working with pre-nursing students with big dreams of being accepted into nursing school. I worked with high school students transitioning to college, transfer students transitioning from community college to university, and students with technical nursing degrees starting their path toward bachelor’s degree attainment.
Schools of Nursing have limited admission, so I found an unexpected passion for helping non-admitted students find alternative programs and majors that would be fulfilling to them. Working with incoming students, I became well-versed in the Texas Success Initiative and assisted with incoming students’ math, English, and reading college readiness placements. Working with many incoming first-generation students, I learned to give students information they may not even know to ask about. I learned skills in presenting step-by-step navigation instructions. I even worked with post-baccalaureate and post-graduate students returning to college to pursue a second career in nursing.
Transition from Freshman/Sophomore to Junior/Senior Advising
My advising role shifted about a month after our new country lifestyle began. I changed positions from working with students seeking a specific academic path to working with multidisciplinary students at the junior and senior undergraduate levels. My backup planning experience became instrumental while working with multidisciplinary studies students. In my new advising role, I did much research while assisting students in course selections. Work-ready skills are crucial for students upon graduation, and awareness is key to creating a personalized degree path. I advised several student-athletes, aspiring teachers, and non-traditional students returning to college to finish their degrees. I worked with so many different student populations with an assortment of goals. I had a blend of students who completed all of the coursework on campus, some online and some on campus, and others who completed their degrees 100% online.
In 2020, everyone’s ways of doing business changed. Suddenly, the industry shifted to fully online interaction due to regional and global shutdown procedures amidst a global pandemic. Thankfully, as a proponent of technology, I quickly pivoted from primarily face-to-face or phone advising to exclusively online advising. Screen-sharing capabilities proved valuable in teaching students general navigation and locating university policy and degree plan requirements. I had an existing courseshell in Blackboard and utilized MS Teams or Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (university-approved platforms) for my virtual advising appointments. Unfortunately, this was the only aspect of the course environment I utilized at that time. Nonetheless, students also seemed to appreciate fulfilling their mandatory advising requirements at their convenience (like on their lunch break without taking time off work to come to campus). Unfortunately, much of the day-to-day business at higher education institutions still utilizes the old face-to-face ways of doing things.
Transition from Undergraduate to Graduate Programs
In 2021, I transitioned from working with undergraduate students to working with graduate students. My primary role changed from guiding students on their choices and teaching them how to register for degree-applicable requirements to working in an enrollment office with complicated course rotations, helping to ensure students are registered correctly for degree plan requirements. A missed requirement in a degree plan on a rotation model can delay graduation by a full year or more. These rotations do not allow for student autonomy in course selection and there are no electives.
My students have a large number of university contacts. This gets confusing. The students interact with recruitment enrollment specialists as they select their program. Then, they may interact with departmental admissions advisors as they complete their college admissions process. They often also have program coordinators and faculty advisors within their chosen major/college. Then there’s me trying to find my place in their academic pursuit. Many of these assorted university contacts are referred to as advisors, creating frustrations.
As I found my way into this new advising role, I focused on making improvements and improving collaboration between college departments and the communication shared with students. This is still an ongoing evolution, but I am very grateful to work in a team that is open to improvements and wants students to understand where to find the information they need to be successful.
My professional philosophy is always to try to learn as much about the programs for which I advise so that I can be prepared to answer questions. I have three programs that I serve as the primary advisor, and each has its own unique challenges. However, the Applied Digital Learning (ADL) program was the easiest to learn about, thanks to harapnuik.org. As I read blog posts and linked information, I began to recognize that the program held the potential to address some of the issues I face in my professional role.
The Advisor That Cares 