In an effort to address students' perceived advising needs, College President Jim Yong Kim and other administrators have begun to develop a long-term plan to improve the effectiveness of the College advising system, Kim said in an interview with The Dartmouth. Students interviewed by The Dartmouth said they found the existing program disorganized and unhelpful.
To combat the confusion, the reformed advising system would make various advisors available to assist students in one centralized area, according to Kim.
"Every time a new problem is spotted, you are sent to a new office," Kim said of the current advising system. "It's not a problem of manpower or even of money. It's a problem of organization. It's our job to figure out what you need and get you there as soon as possible."
The new version of academic advising could be partly modeled after an efficient hospital system, drastically reducing the amount of time necessary to deal with a particular problem, according to Kim.
A revised advising program would address the "systems engineering problem" that currently exists by creating a space with multiple advisors on call to direct student inquiries to the appropriate venues, much as an emergency room directs patients to the necessary specialists. The newest, most efficient hospital models have cut waiting times from several hours to a few minutes, he said.
The centralized approach would enable students to make better use of the resources made available by the College, according to Kim.
Under the current program, first-year students are assigned faculty advisors to assist with course selection and the transition to college life. But few students meet with their advisors after orientation, making the system unsustainable, Kim said.
Several students interviewed by The Dartmouth said that their faculty advisors did not share their academic interests, making students reluctant to return for further guidance. Parker Hinman '13 said he wrote government as his intended major, but was assigned to a professor of Native American studies.
"I haven't talked to [my first-year advisor] since I picked classes in the Fall," Hinman said. "I know you fill out something about your prospective major when you enter the school it seems like they should match you to an advisor in this field."
Kirsten Homma '11 said she felt that advisors are often preoccupied with seniors writing theses and with their own work, making them less accessible to underclassmen, while Georgia Kunzelmann '13 said her advisor did not even recognize her.
"Some time after I met with my advisor, I saw him crossing the street outside of Silsby and I said, Hi,'" Kunzelmann said. "He looked at me with this awkward blank stare like he had no idea who I was."
In addition to the disconnect between students and their advisors, students often are unsure of whom to see within the administration and Deans Office regarding problems such as alcohol violations, Kim said. Individuals seeking counsel find it difficult to determine which resource would be able to provide them with the advice they need, he said.
Several students agreed with Kim's sentiment.
"If you want guidance as far as first-year advising goes, you have to actively seek it yourself," Shelby Jackson '13 said.
Students said that being paired with faculty members in their corresponding areas of interest would compel students to continue to seek help and maintain contact with their first-year advisors.
"Having the resources would be helpful I'd like to know what government classes or public policy classes I should be taking if I want to focus on those subjects," Hinman said.
Although many students criticized the advising system, some said the issue was a lack of initiative on the part of students rather than a lack of resources.
"I think the resources at our disposal are sufficient," Hannah Kim '12 said. "We're busy and don't take the time to visit advisors and deans as much as we should."
