Academic advising is upon Washburn students, and they are now enrolling for the semesters of summer and fall 2024.
“Make those connections and meet with your advisors in person. And when you’re there, don’t feel like you’re being a burden to them. Make those connections beyond just classes,” said Amy Memmer, associate professor and chair of criminal justice/legal studies.
For undergraduate students, the advisors are typically professors who teach multiple classes within their academic department.
“We do have some general advisors that are very helpful. It is also nice for [students] to have that mentor and advisor that’s in their area of expertise that they want to enter into because we can provide more,” Memmer said.
There are some advisors who will help students figure out first steps of starting at the university, such as for freshmen and transfers. However, once the student has a major, that specific department is responsible for the student.
“Advising is a year round thing. Of course, the peak time is during advanced registration. During the summer times, we also have new student orientation, so we have a lot of new students coming in at that time,” said Amber Ybarra, undergraduate student affairs director for the School of Business.
Each department may vary on how they assign students to which professors for advising. However, the common theme is caring about the students and meeting their needs.
“You have to realize why professors are here. We’re not here necessarily just to make money, because we do get paid a salary. The reality is, we’re here because we want to help students,” said Shaun Schmidt, professor and chair of chemistry.
Typically, departments will try to assign students to the professor who is closely related to their specific major. For example, chemistry is the department, but within that there are specific majors of biochemistry, pre-med and forensic chemistry. So, the faculty will try to put all the biochemistry students with the professor(s) who teach biochemistry.
“We want them to be successful in whatever’s next for them. So, go talk to your professors. Get to know them. We want to know our students,” Schmidt said.
Because students are commonly matched to their major and emphasis professor, some advisors may have more students to advise than others. This is not the case in all departments as other departments try to divide the work between all the professors.
“We try to keep them within a range where, if even one person in one area has too many, we might then have somebody in a different emphasis help those students until it balances out a bit,” Memmer said.
Advising can look different in different schools of Washburn, such as in the School of Business versus the College of Arts and Sciences. It can also look different in advising undergraduate students compared to graduate level students.
In the School of Business, there are two graduate-level programs: master’s of business administration and master’s of accountancy. They both have specific coordinators who are responsible for the advising aspect. Graduate-level programs have significantly less students to focus on, which is why there is one specific professor who is deemed the program coordinator. This is different from the undergraduate shuffle to find the most fitting professor.
“Never be afraid to ask questions,” Ybarra said. “One thing I always go over with students is their degree audit. I want to make sure that they’re aware of the requirements they have and keep themselves, as well as their advisor, accountable.”
To see their degree audit, students need to log into their my.washburn.edu account and find the tab for ‘academic advising.’ The second to last option will say ‘process degree audits – Degree Works.’ Then students will be able to see how far through their degree they are, what requirements they still need and their GPA.
If students haven’t already, they can enroll in courses for summer and fall 2024. Open registration begins March 23, and students can set up advising appointments through Navigate.
Edited by Aja Carter and Jeremy Ford
