About 1,000 randomly-selected students will receive a survey today from the Committee on Student Life, and their answers to this survey should help the committee to evaluate pre-major academic advising at the College.
The committee hopes to make recommendations by the end of the term.
The 25-question survey, produced in conjunction with the Student Assembly, asks students about their pre-major advising experiences, from the materials sent to incoming freshman to longer-term relationships with advisors, said Education Professor Andrew Garrod, who chairs the committee.
Approximately 250 students from each class, will receive the survey in their Hinman Boxes today, Garrod said.
A separate, 20-question survey will go to 150 professors, randomly selected from the College's three divisions -- natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, he said.
In addition to the surveys, members of the committee will conduct half-hour interviews with 16 students and 12 faculty members -- all randomly selected.
"The interviews should give us some qualitative data to complement the quantitative questionnaire data," said Garrod, who designed the interview format.
The committee hopes to have some results by the end of Spring term, Garrod said.
"We're aiming to have something by then," he said. "We want to have a preliminary report, if not a final one. The data should not be very difficult to analyze."
The committee's final report will go to Dean of the College Lee Pelton and Dean of Graduate Studies Edward Berger.
Garrod noted that the outcome of the report is not preordained.
"A lot will depend on what's in it," he said. "People have been talking a lot about pre-major advising, but we can't say anything until we know how people feel about the present situation. If there's going to be any change, it needs to be based on the data we will collect."
Garrod highlighted the importance of using the information from the survey to adjust the system to fit the community.
"Our hope is that, if need be, we can improve the advising system so it's more in line with what students and faculty hope for and with Dartmouth's stated academic mission," he said.
Garrod said he hopes students will complete the survey and take it seriously.
"It will take less than five minutes," he said. "If people want us to think about and make change, it's critical that they return the survey."
Garrod said the student responses will help the committee to examine the advisor's role.
The committee is "particularly interested in the assumptions that students make about what the advisor's role will be," he said.
Chris Swift '98, a member of the committee and vice president-elect of the Assembly, said the Assembly has been active in creating and refining the questions.
"The role of the Student Assembly has been to take the information Professor Garrod and some administrators gave us and develop a set of surveys from a student perspective to go out to other students," he said.
Swift echoed Garrod's sentiments and emphasized the importance of student response.
"Student participation is absolutely crucial," he said. "Without their input, we have no basis for assessment, and no sense of where to begin."
Swift said there are three steps in this process -- research, reporting and restructuring.
"Right now, we're in the research portion," he said. "We need input from the students in order to report and restructure."
Swift said the survey is important because it will show the community that the College is committed to this issue.
"I think the most important part is that people will know that constructive steps are being taken and it's being looked at in a constructive manner," he said.
Swift said he hopes the Assembly will take on a greater role in academic advising.
"My hope is that the Student Assembly would take a proactive stance ... fostering communication and channeling [student] feedback," he said.
Garrod emphasized that Dartmouth is not the only school taking a careful look at its pre-major academic advising program.
"I don't think there is any college with which I am familiar that has managed to come up with a pre-major advising system that appears to meet everybody's hopes and expectations," he said.
Faculty and administrative volunteers used to be responsible for academic advising at the College, Garrod said.
Professors received a financial award to help them with their research. But the advising system changed about six or seven years ago, he said.
"The feeling developed that it was not an administrative responsibility, and that everyone should have a role in advising students," he said.
Currently, administrators do not participate in the advising system, and the professors who participate are all tenure or tenure-track, Garrod said.
The College tries to match incoming students with faculty based on areas of interest and academic compatibility, he said.
