By Leah McCluskey
Contributing Writer
As students return for the 2017-2018 academic year, new services will be available on campus, including the Advising Compass Center.
Carol Fischer, Ph.D., of the School of Business is one of the brains behind the creation of this new service. As a member of the Student Success and Retention Committee, Fischer felt that creating another on-campus location for students to seek advisement would enhance the learning experience.
“Advisement surveys show that students seek information from informal sources…we wanted to make sure that everyone had that opportunity,” said Fischer. “Academic advisors are not always available, but this center will have extensive hours for answering questions from the students.”
The grant process for this service was funded by a fellow trustee in the interest of improving the teaching and learning environment of St. Bonaventure University.
“There is a large group of students who do not have a natural source for casual advisement and sometimes they want to talk to someone besides, or in addition to, their academic advisor,” Fischer said. “The Advising Compass Center is intended for students of any major or any level to help them navigate the system here on campus.”
The Advising Compass Center will have 30 to 35 hours a week of coverage for anyone on campus that needs someone to talk to, including walk-in traffic. It will be located on the first floor of Plassmann and will be comprised of about 15 volunteer faculty members that have a true interest in giving advice and having open conversation with students.
To monitor usage rates, the center will be doing some assessments and getting feedback from the students on how the service is working for them.
“We will consider the center successful when the students say it was helpful in resolving their issues and answering their questions,” Fischer said. “We hope that once the word gets out, students will really take advantage of this resource.”
