UW Oshkosh Psychology Department’s Report on Developmental Advising, Spring 2005

During the fall in a regular faculty meeting and at a “brown bag” to discuss undergraduate advising, the Psychology Department faculty reviewed its advising, number of majors, strengths and weaknesses, and affirmed that advising was a required and important role for all faculty members. The department decided to approach the UARC for a collaborative effort beginning in February 2005.

Existing advising practices within the Department:

• Students declaring a Psychology Major are assigned a Faculty Advisor for academic advising, including double majors. As students learn what subdisciplinary areas they are most interested in, they are free to change their department advisor at any time.

• Students are required to see their advisor before registering. The Department’s Program Assistant puts “stop” on each student’s record; students cannot register until that stop is removed. Students are free to make private advising appointments with their assigned Faculty Advisors as often as necessary.

• Students declaring a major in Psychology are invited to a meeting held early in the Fall and Spring semester.   Department faculty and leaders of Psi Chi/Psychology Club are introduced and students are invited to talk informally with them after a question/answer period.  The Psychology Majors Handbook is distributed.  Special effort is made to reach transfer students, a growing proportion of psychology majors.

• The Psychology Majors Handbook, the repository of the most important information for a major, is updated each year; it is widely available in the department in hard copy and is also available in a PDF file on the department’s website.

• The Psychology Minors Handbook is also updated yearly and is available on the department’s website. 

• A distribution list of the email addresses all majors is frequently used to inform students about important events in the department, give them information about advising, announce Psi Chi/Psychology Club meetings and topics, etc. 

• The Department views advising as more than course registration; it believes career planning is an important component of advising.  One requirement of the “Admission to the Major” (PSYCH 299, a zero-credit course) is that students attend a talk on the purposes and outcomes of a psychology major AND either take a career planning course (Counselor Education 202), or, write a resume and submit a detailed plan for meeting future career and educational goals.

• The Department has authored a 38-page document, Applying to Graduate School, available for all majors and an informational meeting is held each spring for all majors who are interested in graduate school application and admission. The department pays equal and special attention to both its majors who are receiving a “pre-professional” education and those for whom Psychology is liberal arts major.

• The Department is committed to collaborative scholarship with its majors; faculty frequently advise students about Related Readings, Independent Study, Advanced Research in Psychology, Summer Collaborative Research Grants, etc.

• Several years ago, the Department wanted to increased practical experience majors and so worked collaboratively with people in the Career Services to author the Letters and Science course proposal resulting in the COLS Interdisciplinary Internship course.  Students are frequently advised about how to obtain internships.

• The Department’s assessment process includes advising. All students in the Department’s required capstone course (History of Psychology, PSYCH 464) are required to take an exam assessing their learning in various areas of psychology.  At that time, they complete an “exit interview” questionnaire on advising that yields valuable information on the quality of Department advising, whether they “connected” with Department faculty, the most important moment for them as a major, and so forth. 

Collaborative Work with the UARC

• The Department’s Curriculum Committee, working with the department chair, and approved by the Department as a whole entered into a working relationship with the UARC beginning February 2005.

• Because of the growth in number of majors (25% in the last three years) and the shrinking size of the Department, 9 full time tenure-line or tenured faculty) the quality of advising was at risk and the work load becoming unmanageable. Expertise existed in UARC that was needed and welcomed. A meeting with Pam Goode and Lynn Freeman was held in February 2005.

• Current policy is that any major with 32 or fewer credits will see Pam Goode in the UARC. These majors may still see a Department advisor if they wish. Ms. Goode is extremely familiar with the Department and its values, and is considered a departmental colleague whose responsibilities are advising. She will attend all future group meetings with majors, has all the materials distributed to majors, and will assist the Department in advising majors struggling primarily with General Education choices and first and second year educational issues and problems.

Ongoing concerns that may suggest further modification of our advising policies include:

• Seamless education in UW System and the quality and nature of the education of students transferring to UW Oshkosh as Psychology Majors.

• The growing number of majors in a department where the number of faculty has decreased. The difficulty in recruiting new colleagues adds to this problem.

• Budget cuts that make course offering in a timely and regular cycle difficult, if not impossible