With the recent revelation of GW’s Strategic Plan (Vision
2021), as well as new administration changes in the Columbian College, CCAS
advising will be going through a number of changes within the upcoming years. Michelle
Steiner, PhD, recently became part of the GW community as the new CCAS Director
of Undergraduate Advising and she's looking to address the role of Columbian College advisors.
“I
think there are many misconceptions about who advisors are and what advisors
do, and this is a nation-wide problem…To me, a “stigma” surrounding advisors…is
that advisors are paper pushers, schedule creators, and registration helpers.”
Steiner states that in order to ameliorate this “stigma,” she seeks to create
expectations of advisors as faculty who are there to work with, not for,
students, guiding them to find the answers to their questions and teaching
students independent skills to build their own academic success.
In the future,
Steiner would also like to see increased communication between advisors and
faculty in order to inform faculty of the methods used to assist students in
their academic plans and goals. She also hopes to see more public recognition
of advisors for their work with students.
“The more positive
recognition advisors receive, the greater the understanding that advisors are
valued members of the university community, and play an important role.”
Steiner, first and
foremost, will seek to maintain and improve advisor quality within the upcoming
year. Weekly staff meetings have already discussed topics such as effective
communication and leadership skills. Staff meetings in the future will discuss
topics such as “motivational interviewing, appreciative advising, and
assessment of programming.”
Steiner also hopes to “encourage conference attendance,
presentations, and collaborative journal publications so that we are all aware
of [and] participate in the national advising community and best practices that
come out of this community.” She wishes to create a comprehensive assessment
plan for the advising office, with additional assessments taking place through
shadowing of advisors during appointments and offering performance reviews for
advisors.
“[Shadowing advisors] gives me a greater understanding of
student issues and concerns, how students choose to partner with advisors to
make progress, and how advisors communicate with students. Spring staff
meetings will revolve around strategies for more advanced-level conversations
with students so that we are challenging them in a way that helps them learn
and grow as students and as people.”
Regarding performance reviews, Steiner states, “Advisors, in
order to consistently exceed expectations, need to be provided with feedback
and input throughout the year such that they can incorporate that feedback into
subsequent interactions and engagement with students, faculty, other staff,
etc. I take reviews seriously, and appreciate the opportunity they afford me to
discuss best practices with my team.”
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