The undergraduate deans office, the Office of Pluralism and Leadership and pre-health advising services moved on March 18 to the office suite in the space previously occupied by computing services.
The new office, which opened at the beginning of the term, fulfilling former College President Jim Yong Kim's vision for a centralized advising center at Dartmouth, which he announced in May 2010.
Senior assistant dean Deborah Tyson said that advisors across departments frequently cross paths within the bright, open suite, allowing them to introduce students to their colleagues.
"One of the ways we're transitioning is effectively communicating with one another," she said. This communication, Tyson said, can help students make "crucial" connections with advisors in different departments.
In summer 2011, the undergraduate deans office moved from Parkhurst Hall to Baker-Berry Library. Unlike Parkhurst, Baker-Berry is both a destination and a passing-through point for students, which Tyson called a "breath of fresh air.'
The centralized advising center also ensures that students can receive guidance from diverse sources.
"It's like any relationship in life," she said. "It's sometimes as much about who is saying what as it is about what is being said. The goal is making sure students feel comfortable in the space where they can seek advice and support, that there are multiple options for them to do so."
Karlos Santos-Coy, OPAL's first generation student network advisor and leadership program manager, said that the new space will allow students to receive answers to various questions in one visit.
Santos-Coy also said that the suite, with its yellow wall and comfortable seating, has aesthetic appeal.
Assistant dean of undergraduate students Teoby Gomez said he has received positive feedback from students about the new location.
"Students are in the library all the time, whether it's just cutting through to go somewhere, going to Novack [Cafe] downstairs or stopping at the computers," Gomez said. "There's just so much that's already here, and it's easier for them to just stop in."
While the new space was part of Kim's vision to centralize advising, Career Services and the Academic Skills Center remain separate.
Career Services continues to hold drop-in hours at the deans office from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
"Our goal is that students can visually see multiple support structures while they're sitting in those couches out there," Tyson said.
The suite's layout encourages students to stay longer, Tyson said. Although the number of students who seek advising has remained steady since the move, students can now sit in the office's open couch area before and after appointments.
"Rather than it being a transactional space, it's a place where they can come and just be," she said. "We see students engaging with one another, being in the moment and being in the space longer." Sumayya Younus '15, who sat in the waiting area before her pre-health advising appointment on Monday, said the office's new location would encourage her to seek advice more frequently. All resources for pre-health advising previously resided in Parkhurst.
"It's pretty convenient to have pre-health over here, my dean over there," she said, pointing to offices within the suite.
Brett Teplitz '15, who also consulted his pre-health advisor yesterday, said he first saw the new office several days ago when he met with his undergraduate dean.
"I always forgot which building Parkhurst was, so this makes it easy," he said. "It was really new. It was nice."
In the 2012-2013 academic year, Advising 360, which was implemented as a pilot program in the Choates last fall and provides additional advising by UGAs and faculty to floor residents, and an academic UGA program supplemented existing deans office programs. Student Assembly's first-year peer mentoring program also piloted this past fall.
Computing Services moved from the suite's First Floor Berry location across the hall to within the floor's study spaces at the end of Fall term, Computing Services employee Talia Weiss '14 said. Weiss said benefits of the new space include a designated waiting area and increased accessibility.
