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Section IV: Programs
SACS Comprehensive Standard for All Educational Programs

IV-9. The institution has an effective program of academic advising.

JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

Yes, East Tennessee State University is able to provide a portfolio of evidence supporting compliance.

STATEMENT OF RATIONALE FOR JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

East Tennessee State University defines an effective program of academic advising as a continuous, interactive process between an advisor/mentor that facilitates the development and achievement of the student's overall goals (ETSU Undergraduate Student Advisement Improvement Task Force Report).  Although originally adopted for an undergraduate advising enhancement initative, this definition now is applied to all ETSU students.  The university recognizes the uniqueness of advising students at three different levels: undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate professional.  The content, amount, and style of advising needed to facilitate student success changes, both between and within these levels.  Among undergraduates, for example, there is an inverse relationship between the class level of the student and the necessity for advisement (i.e., students in the lower classes have a greater need for advising).  Therefore, to ensure an effective program of academic advising, ETSU provides a developmental model of advising, which addresses the overall academic advising needs of students according to their levels of academic experience.

Undergraduate Student Advisement

Advising for undergraduate students was changed significantly in 1997 after a thorough review of best practices.  A task force, formed in 1995 at the request of the vice president of academic affairs, was charged to evaluate the effectiveness of undergraduate advisement at ETSU; identify problems, strengths, and issues; and describe the current adequacy of financial resources and use of technology in the advisement process.  The ETSU Undergraduate Student Advisement Improvement Task Force recommended 15 improvements, all of which were approved by the campus community.  To ensure implementation, individuals responsible for each improvement were identified, a timeline was established, and resources were specified (ETSU Office of Undergraduate Student Advisement, Recommendations).  The recommendations included:

• Employing a director of undergraduate student advisement for responsibility and oversight; creating an Academic Advisement Review Committee to regularly evaluate the overall effectiveness of advisement on a regular basis and to recommend modifications of advisement processes and policy;

• Accepting and publishing a statement of student and advisor rights and responsibilities;

• Enhancing the advising infrastructure by mandating advisement for students with 60 credit hours or less; requiring appropriate documentation for all advising sessions; and training all advisors about the developmental advisement process;

• Establishing an Academic Advisement Council to regularly meet to share information and discuss advisement issues;

• Establishing a centrally organized University Advisement Center, located in the Advisement Resources Career Center (ARC);

• Employing three counselors specifically for career advising;

• Ensuring availability of advisors during designated times;

• Setting limits on assigned work loads for professional advisors (350 students) and faculty (25 students);

• Conducting advisor training for online use of the ETSU Student Information System (SIS);

• Developing an advisor recognition system;

• Developing and distributing student and advisor handbooks;

• Developing or revising or developing degree program/curriculum check sheets for each degree program;

• Developing and maintaining an undergraduate advisement web site; and

• Identifying resources to provide full implementation of the developmental advising model;

• Continuing to improve undergraduate advisement at ETSU.

To facilitate implementation of these recommendations, the task force further identified 14 quality assurance measures (indicators) with specific goals, baseline measurements, and timelines.  These measures have been modified and refined by the Academic Advisement Review Committee (ETSU Office of Undergraduate Student Advisement, 2001 Measures).  The measures provide data on the current state of the advisement process and are used to monitor the progress of implementation of the recommendations by both the ETSU Office of Undergraduate Advisement and the Academic Advisement Review Committee.  The levels of state funding and budget shortfalls in the State of Tennessee have, in some cases impeded attainment of our advising goals at ETSU.  However, even current budget restrictions have not minimized our focus on and commitment to these goals.

The quality assurance measures identified for undergraduate advising, and the current status of assessment (ETSU Office of Undergraduate Student Advisement, 2001 Measures), are:

• Improve the mean score of the ACT Survey of Academic Advising (American College Testing) by 0.3 points for each survey administration.  From 1994-1998, summary measurements for the 36 items related to "impressions of your advisor" ranged from +14.38 to +41.37 (by ETSU college), whereas scores for 18 items describing "satisfaction with advising" ranged from +11.20 to +58.47.  The next administration of the survey will be in 2002.

• At least 85% of students respond with "strongly agree" or "agree" to the four items on the Student Assessment of Undergraduate Advisement Survey.  The benchmark rate (1998) was 75.68% satisfaction; current data show 80.70% satisfaction, which provides a three-year average of 74.83%.

• Faculty and professional advisors use a self-evaluation process based on best advising practices.  Actual data will not be available from this process, because it is designed for personal development or verification.

• Track graduation rate data provided by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC).  These data are based on six-year periods, and thus, the first ETSU cohort to be monitored since the developmental model of advising was adopted will not be available until 2003.  Although these data will be useful, ETSU recognizes that advisement is only one factor that contributes to graduation rates.

• Track the return (retention) rate of first-time, full-time, baccalaureate-seeking freshmen.  The benchmark rate in 1994 was 67.9% returning freshmen, and single-year retention rates have not varied significantly since then.  The current rate is 67.6% for returning students.

• At least 80% of advisors who advise undergraduate students attend a developmental advisement workshop.  Approximately 50% of the 238 identified faculty and professional advisors have attended.  At least 85% of new advisors attend four basic advising workshops.  Currently one new faculty advisor has attended all four workshops (11.11%); one has attended three workshops (11.11%); three have attended two workshops (33.33%), and three have attended one workshop (33.33%).  Only one new faculty advisor has not attended any workshops. 

• At least 90% of undergraduate advisors have access to the online Student Information System (SIS).  In 1996, only 56% of advisors were using SIS. In  2001, 92.3% of advisors are using the online SIS.

• At least 85% of all undergraduate academic departments will submit accurate and up-to-date checksheets to be posted on the ETSU Office of Undergraduate Student Advisement web site.  The current rate is 78%.

• At least 85% of new students who attend fall orientation respond with "strongly agree" or "agree" to the orientation survey statement regarding receiving adequate time with an advisor.  This indicator was 72% in 1995 and 92.2% in 2000.

• Track student satisfaction with fall semester class scheduling, as assessed by the orientation survey.  Satisfaction has improved from 68% to 89.5% of the students who attend orientation.

• At least 85% of the academic units involved in undergraduate advisement are in compliance with the recommended professional advisor-student ratio (350 not to exceed 385 students).  Presently, 90% of the units with professional advisors are in compliance, a gain of 10% from 1999.  When funding permits and the College of Education is able to hire another professional advisor, compliance will be at 100% (ETSU Undergraduate Advisement Resources).

• At least 85% of the academic units involved in undergraduate advisement are in compliance with the recommended faculty advisor-student ratio (25, not to exceed 27.5 students).  Presently, 80% of the units with faculty advisors are in compliance, a gain of 3% from 1999.  Factors that effect compliance with this target are growth in student enrollment, unfilled faculty positions, and faculty with significant responsibilities outside the department or for graduate student advisement only (ETSU Undergraduate Advisement Resources).

• Increase the satisfaction of both faculty and professional advisors with advisement by six percentage points.  No data currently are available, since the assessment method for these two measures is being developed.

After review, we suggest that the ETSU Academic Advisement Review Committee consider implementing a formal evaluation process to gather feedback from undergraduate students about advisement. 

Graduate Student Advisement

Staff members of the ETSU School of Graduate Studies, degree program coordinators, and graduate faculty advisory committees cooperatively assist with the advisement of graduate students (ETSU Graduate Catalog, Advisement and Registration Requirements).  Graduate school staff membersfacilitate and monitor matriculation limits, conditional admission, probationary status, programs of study, and degree audits through established processes and procedures (SACS Standard IV-19, IV-21, IV-22).  Graduate coordinators (ETSU Graduate Catalog, Graduate Coordinators; University Profile System, Academic Departments)and advisors are qualified graduate faculty with experience, background, and training appropriate to their assignments.  The faculty within each discipline determine the appropriate faculty-student ratio, which complies with accreditation standards in some disciplines.

In recognition of the developmental nature of advising, graduate students are primarily responsible for meeting degree requirements.  Graduate students must meet with their academic advisor or advisory committee at least once each semester to discuss their program and progress.  If no advisor has been assigned, the program coordinator (or designee) is responsible for advisement.  Initial academic advisement and approval of the first-term course schedule is conducted for entering students by graduate coordinators in each degree program.  The graduate coordinator also assists the student in selecting a permanent advisor who will serve as the chair of the graduate advisory committee.  Additionally, the coordinator or chair of the advisory committee assists the student in completing required forms (School of Graduate Studies, Forms).  Assignment of advisees to faculty or professional advisors is made at the departmental level, but graduate school staff monitor graduate faculty status in the committee approval process (ETSU Graduate Catalog, Graduate Student Advising).

The effectiveness of academic advising for graduate students is assessed in the program review process (ETSU Guidelines for Academic Program Review, Program Content and Direction, Standards for Evaluating Graduate Degree Programs) or the accreditation process (ETSU Accreditation).  For accredited programs, specific review of advisement activities varies and reports are available from each department.  Departments not eligible for accreditation use the degree program review process, which specifically requires that departments describe the systems used for student advisement and for monitoring student progress.  The program review also addresses teaching loads, which must include the duties of directing theses and dissertations to be consonant with the highly individualized nature of graduate instruction.

Program and accreditation reviews have found advisement in ETSU’s graduate programs to be satisfactory.  In a few instances, reviewers have referred to the consideration of thesis/dissertation advising as it relates to faculty workloads.  Because faculty workload is an instructional and resource issue, such concerns must be addressed in the budget process.  However, restrictions in state budgetary support have resulted in only modest levels of departmental staffing, which may impact available resources for advising.  Although an issue of concern for faculty and programs, the fact that virtually all graduate students finish requirements for their degrees within the established time limits supports the conclusion that lack of resources is not significantly impacting students.  It should be noted that a recommendation to provide special opportunity for graduate students to evaluate advisement (in addition to program or accreditation reviews) has recently been forwarded to the ETSU Graduate Council. 

Post-Baccalaureate Professional Student Advisement

The ETSU James H. Quillen College of Medicine (COM) has a multidimensional approach to advisement for medical students (Quillen College of Medicine Catalog, Advisors) that includes the following:

• The associate dean for student affairs serves an advocacy role for students in all matters.

• Faculty advisors are assigned to students during orientation from a selected roster of faculty.  Advisors are available to assist in any matter relating to a student’s academic progress and also serve as mentors for the students.

• At the end of the junior year, advisors in the student's career-choice specialty are selected by the student and approved by department chairs.  This advisor assists the student in selecting senior-year electives and in completing the residency application process.

In 2001, the Quillen COM Office of Academic Affairs instituted a written critique of the advisement system.  Seniors completed this critique as part of the 2001 exit interview conducted by the COM Office of Student Affairs just prior to graduation.  Feedback from students indicated that they sought the most assistance for academic issues and career development, followed by personal matters.  When asked what role advisors should play, students cited providing academic guidance/assistance most frequently, followed by mentoring. The most frequently stated reason for selecting a specific individual as a senior-year advisor related to that faculty member's involvement in the student's specialty area of interest.

Graduates of the medical colleges, including ETSU, are asked to complete a Graduation Questionnaire by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) that addresses many aspects of the students' educational experience.  The most recent data (2000) indicated that the majority of ETSU medical school graduates are either "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with the academic counseling they received at ETSU.

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