Abstract
Proactive advising is one strategy to help identify and prevent academic difficulty before it begins. For the past two years, the UC Davis Biology Academic Success Center (BASC) has required first year transfer students and freshmen in biology majors to meet with their academic advisers in their first two quarters in an effort to reduce the number of students who find themselves in academic peril. During this open discussion we will first present: 1) the logistical concerns of administering large scale proactive advising, and 2) the outcomes of our efforts. During the second half of the presentation, participants will be asked to share their experiences with proactive advising, guided by the following questions: when, during a student’s academic career, is proactive advising the most effective? What technology aids your proactive advising efforts? How do you prevent adviser burn-out when proactive advising starts to feel like dejavu?
Speaker Biography
Mara Evans
Mara is the co-Director of the UC Davis Biology Academic Success Center and an advisor for the Biological Sciences Major. Mara received her doctorate in Ecology from UC Davis. After completing her dissertation, Mara worked as a postdoctoral scholar and instructor at the University of Georgia, where she conducted research in biology education and taught introductory biology for majors. Mara is particularly interested in how students become biologists, and the role of academic advising (by both faculty and staff advisers) in the persistence and retention of students pursuing a degree, and careers, in biology.
Jennifer Flood
Jennifer is an advisor for the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences, and works in the Biology Academic Success Center (BASC). Jennifer graduated from UC Davis in 2008 intending to pursue a degree in medicine, however, through internships, work experience and education, she realized that counseling was her true strength and passion. Jennifer will graduate with her Counseling Psychology degree (MA) in June 2014 and shortly thereafter will become a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) and a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC). As a result of her graduate level coursework and experiences as an academic advisor in BASC, Jennifer has acquired substantial knowledge about career counseling theories, tools, and assessments, and is well versed in what it takes to help the prehealth student population.
Erin McMurry
Erin’s UC experience runs the gamut from growing up in a UC town (Santa Cruz), to attending UCSD, to gaining advising experience at UCSD and UC Davis working with the full range of students from prospective undergraduates to matriculating graduate students. Erin began her advising career at UCSD advising graduate students in the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies before joining UC Davis, first as an admissions adviser with Undergraduate Admissions, then later as an undergraduate adviser in Economics. After a brief break while she completed her Master’s degree, Erin returned to UC Davis, where she first advised graduate students in the College of Biological Sciences, and currently advises undergraduates at the College’s Biology Academic Success Center.
Presentation Handouts
