Visiting history professor Cecilia Gaposchkin has been named assistant dean of pre-major advising, a new position created in response to widespread criticism of the current advising system.
The announcement comes in the wake of College reports and student complaints about academic advising, including a 2001 report from a committee chaired by first-year dean Gail Zimmerman that recommended creating a director of advising position.
Gaposchkin said she is reserving judgement on the current state of pre-major advising until she assumes her role in the spring, but she does see broad problems with it.
"The student body is not being fully served," Gaposchkin said. "There is work to be done."
Gaposchkin's goals are "to get a more streamlined and effective system," she said, adding that she will try to coordinate the advising system to provide a centralized resource for students and faculty.
In addition, she said one of her major goals is to create resources for sophomores, who are currently without formal academic advising.
Current students do see the need for advising changes. A survey of the graduating Class of 2000 revealed that only 28 percent of Dartmouth students were either "very satisfied" or "generally satisfied" with the academic advising they received while at the College, compared with 36 percent of students at other Ivy League schools.
One freshman said he was dissatisfied with his advising experience, because despite his stated preference for economics, he was assigned a geography professor as his faculty adviser. The student said his adviser was unqualified to advise him about economics courses, and that the adviser tried to force him to take a geography class.
To relieve such problems, Zimmerman's committee recommended teams composed of three advisers -- a faculty member, administrator and student -- that would serve a group of 15 students.
"All three of these constituencies have different strengths and perspectives to offer," Zimmerman said.
The center of the proposed advising system would be a new Academic Advising Center, headed by Gaposchkin. The Center is still in the planning stages, Zimmerman said.
In addition, the Student Assembly will be putting in place a peer advising system for the Class of 2008.
The Assembly's system would involve peer adviser groups consisting of one science major, one social science major and one humanities major, who will advise two groups of ten freshmen, according to Assembly Vice President for Student Life Julia Hildreth. The groups will meet during orientation before faculty adviser meetings and then again after the first week of classes.
The Assembly will recruit the peer advisers this spring and fund a training session for them early in the fall.
Students who have had Gaposchkin are looking forward to seeing her in her new position.
"She teaches her students how to think, not what to think," Matt Singleton '04 told The Dartmouth. "But most importantly, Cecilia is also a friend, not just a teacher. I enjoy the relationship I have formed with her both inside and outside of the classroom, and ultimately, that is the greatest reward a teacher can give to his or her students."
Gaposchkin received her Ph.D. in history from the University of California-Berkeley in 2001, where she concentrated on medieval history.
Gaposchkin came to Dartmouth in 2000 and has taught classes on the Middle Ages.
"She is a fabulous teacher and mentor. I'm really glad she said yes," said Assistant Dean of the Faculty Jane Carroll, who co-taught a class on medieval Europe with Gaposchkin Fall term.
In addition to her position as Assistant Dean, Gaposchkin will also teach two classes.
"It delighted me that the position came with a teaching responsibility. I love the classroom and I love teaching students and I would have been sad to give that up," Gaposchkin said.
