Good Advice

The house looks like a typical, small, farm-style home-with one major difference. Thousands of people cross its threshold every year.

Tucked in among the larger buildings on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana, this ordinary house is home to some extraordinary work by the advising staff of the General Curriculum Center in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

In fact, GCC-as the center is popularly known-has been selected as one of four winners nationwide of a 2006 "Outstanding Institutional Advising Program Award" from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). The center's Christopher M. Armstrong was also named one of six winners nationwide of the "Outstanding New Advisor Certificate of Merit."

These awards follow-up on a 2005 honor from NACADA, in which the current assistant director of the center, Meghan Hazen, received the Outstanding Advising Technology Innovation Certificate of Merit.

"We couldn't be more delighted," offered Associate Dean Mary Macmanus Ramsbottom, who heads up LAS Student Academic Affairs, of which the General Curriculum Center is part. "Students and administrators across our campus have benefited from the energy and dedication of the GCC staff as they assist students in successfully transitioning from one college to another or in choosing among multiple academic paths. In many respects, this unit is creating the 'best practices' for robust academic advising at Illinois."

The GCC advising team-the largest advising unit on the U. of I. campus-helps freshmen and sophomores on campus who are undecided about their undergraduate college or major to determine where their primary interests and talents lie.

The unit, which serves over 3,500 officially-assigned students, has made a major transformation since the 1990s when all of the advisors were graduate assistants, says Julian Parrott, assistant dean and director of the General Curriculum Center. The GCC currently has a staff of 11 full-time academic professionals, all with advanced degrees.

The General Curriculum Center advising program means "more than just setting class schedules," Parrott notes. "We have many students who really see their advisors as mentors. We want to know what the students are interested in, both vocationally and academically. We also look beyond the classroom to social opportunities on campus."

As one U. of I. student puts it, "I came from a small town, and I was having a few problems adjusting to what I consider to be a huge university. But my advisor really made me feel like I was important and that I belonged here."

"In a huge university like Illinois, it is great to have an advisor who cares," adds another student.

With creative, dynamic advisors on board, Parrott says, the team has developed innovative outreach efforts, such as a probation program that helps students get out of "academic jeopardy." In addition, the advising team developed an award-winning, electronic note-taking system to organize information on student contacts. This system also keeps meticulous records on which students have seen their advisor and how often.

In recent years, the team has branched out to offer advising hours in satellite locations-in dormitories and in the undergraduate library. Armstrong, winner of the "Outstanding New Advisor" certificate, helped to initiate the satellite-office counseling program and has contributed to the center's electronic newsletter for students.

"Chris is a young advisor, two years on the job, and he's had a massive impact on his students," Parrott says. "He's a great advisor."

The unit has also had an active advising and programming presence at the Weston Exploration living/learning community through NACADA award-winner Hazan.

Thanks to such outreach efforts, students have made greater use of the advising service, which has tallied 15,000 student contacts in the past year-almost one-third more contacts than only five years earlier. Parrott says that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences supports the unit in keeping to the nationally recommended standard of roughly 300 students for each advisor.

"We find that this gives our advisors a lot of time and flexibility to meet with their students on a semi-regular basis," Parrott says. "The personal connection is so important and so simple."

Key programmatic developments, such as the Majors and Minors Fair, integrated academic and career advising, and workshop series for students, are made possible by maintaining this staff strength, according to Macmanus Ramsbottom.

The LAS General Curriculum Center advising program, as well as Armstrong, will be recognized at the NACADA awards reception in October in Indianapolis. NACADA is a 9,000-member organization made up of faculty members, professional advisors, administrators, counselors, and others in academic and student affairs.