Housing, CCAS celebrate successful partnership

The end of every semester brings a flurry of activity to campus area libraries, coffee shops and computer labs. But in recent years, a growing number of students have also been heading to the University Housing satellite offices of the Cross-College Advising Service (CCAS) to get advice and prepare for class registration.

“Having advising offices in the residence halls has been good for students, good for advisors, and good for the campus,” says Timothy Walsh, director of CCAS. “Students benefit from easier access to advisors. Advisors are able to stay more in touch with student perspectives, and the campus as a whole is knit a little bit closer together.”

The Cross-College Advising Service’s partnership with the University Housing began to flourish in 1997 when an advising office was established in the Chadbourne Residential College.

It has since expanded to three other locations-the Lakeshore Advising Office in the Bradley Learning Community, and advising offices in Sellery and Witte Halls.

In 2002-03, the four CCAS residence hall advising offices had a total of 4,429 in-person student contacts, equaling more than a third of the overall CCAS number.

Students living in the residence halls value having academic advisors as a part of their community and not having far to go to get their questions answered about academic course and program requirements, class registration, or even career planning, says Stacie Haen-Darden, Sellery Hall CCAS Advisor

“Ready access to CCAS advisors draws in students that might otherwise not plan ahead to see an advisor and would likely see no one,” she says, adding that it isn’t unusual for residence hall students who have advisors in other colleges and schools to stop by and ask a quick question of staff in the CCAS residence hall offices.

CCAS advisors see many first-year students who are undecided about their majors. Approximately one-third of all first-year students who attend Student Orientation, Advising and Registration (SOAR) are assigned CCAS advisors-most of these students live in the University Residence Halls.

The CCAS satellite offices are each staffed by full-time CCAS professional academic advisors and by two student peer advisors. An “open door” policy invites students with busy schedules to just drop by. In addition, student peer advisors, long a tradition at SOAR, expand office hours into the evening hours so that advising is readily available for students.

“Advisors help students find what they have passion for and narrow their choices accordingly,” says Haen-Darden. “Ultimately, advisors try to empower students to take responsibility.”