The Advising Task Force met on Wednesday, Nov. 15 to discuss what issues there are with advising and registration. The task force is made up of faculty in different departments, as well as a handful of students.

Ben Reimler, Student Senate president, is a member of the committee and shared future plans of the committee. They plan to meet bi-monthly to talk about the issues that students have with registration and advising.

“The Advising Task Force submitted an Open Pathway Quality Initiative Proposal (OPQIP) at the end of last semester and our goal for this year is to implement the suggestions from that OPQIP,” Reimler said. “For example, the Task Force would like to expand educational material for faculty and staff that serve as advisors. The Task Force is also in the process of exploring how we can offer a more personalized advising experience for students.”

Another member of the Advising Task Force, who requested to remain anonymous, shared more information about what the Task Force is planning on doing in the future.

The source said the Task Force hopes to better map students’ individual degree programs and the order that classes should be taken in.

They hope to recognize and reward those faculty members whose advisement exceeds expectations.

The anonymous source also said that student engagement and input are needed to make any changes, and that there needs to be a bigger relationship between professors and their advisees, other than meeting once a semester to discuss classes for the upcoming semester.

“This committee is fun. We look at problems and define the problems and how to make them better,” they said.

The source expressed that they felt that there were too few sections, professors and classrooms to properly maintain the abundance of students, especially in the education department.

Tarrell Portman, the dean of the education department, she shared that she had not heard of any issues with registration or class selection for next semester, but that many professors had been asked about blue-carding students into classes.

Blue cards are used for students to either get into a class that is already full, or that requires you to be blue carded into it.

Reimler heard that there were some issues among students and registration.

A few that he mentioned were that students are not in favor of group advising, especially with that being the only interaction between the student and the advisor, that students would like more information about career options and internships from the school and their advisors and would like more information about travel study programs, especially in their major.

While changes need to be made in the registration process, Reimler shares what students can expect to see in the future.

“Students can expect to see advisors that are more informed in the areas that students expressed were important, such as travel study options, internships and job opportunities and transfer pathways,” Reimler said. “I also believe that students can expect a more personalized and individualized advising experience in the future.”