Last week marked the inauguration of Vanderbilt’s revamped pre-major advising system through the opening of CASPAAR, the College of Arts and Sciences Pre-Major Academic Advising Resources.
Directed by Patricia Armstrong, CASPAAR is located on the second floor of The Commons Center and aims to provide more personal, in-depth advising for students on course selection.
“We think it's going to provide an advising structure that provides equitable advising outcomes for all students regardless of what their interests are,” said Vanderbilt Student Government President Wyatt Smith. “That means more effective communication of sequences for pre-professional tracks, it means more information about unique course offerings or adjunct professors and it also means a little bit more attention that's kind of tailored to what your goals are, what your plan is. And if you don't know what that is, it will help paint that picture and help you get a better idea of what you want to do.”
Until this year, freshmen were assigned to one of 90 full-time faculty members with whom they met before registering for classes. Under the new system, students are assigned to one of seven full-time counselors, all Vanderbilt lecturers who recently earned their doctorates, Smith said, which will lead ideally to more consistency throughout the advising process. These seven counselors are supervised by a committee of seven advisers who worked with the old system.
“I want students to get the information they need in a timely fashion so they make good decisions. Availability and accessibility are two main goals,” Armstrong said, who has already seen one advisee come in six times this past week.
Some freshmen, however, are still not satisfied with the advising system.
“We met once during orientation. It was helpful, but I did all of the work and most of the decision-making on my own,” said freshman Emily Mitchell. “I wish there was some sort of orientation over the summer where an academic adviser went over how to sign up for classes and which to sign up for one-on-one because I was so confused this summer and signed up for the wrong ones.”
Armstrong encourages students to make appointments to get to know their advisers better. One of the biggest changes to the advising system is the addition of a permanent physical space for advising, which the Dean of the College of Arts and Science, Carolyn Dever, hopes will encourage students to meet more often with their counselors.
“The more centralized system should make advising more flexible and responsive,” said Dever.
Some students have taken advantage of that opportunity and the drop-in hours throughout the first week of classes.
“It’s been pretty fun so far,” said Charles Bowie, one of the seven academic advisers responsible for 156 students. “I’ve gotten positive feedback, and a lot of students have come in just to introduce themselves and talk.”
Dever said the organization of the program opens up opportunities for unique programming with other offices. For example, Armstrong said starting Sept. 9, a representative from the Psychological Counseling Center will be available for study skills tutoring every Wednesday. Armstrong also hopes to plan regular programming in the residence halls.
