Magis Student Advising Team Taking Next Steps

The Student Advising Initiative Design Team will begin drafting its plan to update the University’s student-centered advising practices this summer and there is still time for input. Campus stakeholders have until May 26 to provide feedback and comments through two campus surveys.

One survey is for students and the other is for SLU faculty and staff members.

The team, which is part of the Magis Operational Excellence Program, has been working since late March with 14 stakeholder groups to review and update SLU’s student advising culture. The team has held two campus-wide forums and has met individually with 250 members of the SLU community. The team has collected data via surveys and by e-mail to guide its efforts, receiving 250 responses thus far.

The community engagement phase of the redesign focused on what support are SLU undergraduates receiving during their academic careers; what does and does not work in the University’s current advising structure; and what would SLU advising look like in the future. 

The planning phase of the University’s efforts to make advising for undergraduate students more impactful has included investigations into evidence-based advising practices at other institutions across the country. Team members have explored best practices identified by Integrated Planning and Advising for Student Success and has met with researchers at Education Advisory Board.

Kim Reitter, Ph.D., director of career services, has joined the team to advise the group on better integration of academic and career advising. This emphasis on guiding SLU students academically and into their professional lives beyond SLU connects directly with initiatives overseen by Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., and CFO David Heimburger.

As summer progresses, the team will begin drafting recommendations for the advising system's redesign. Final recommendations and updates will be presented to the University community in the early fall, with drafts to be circulated for additional feedback. The team’s recommendations will eventually be reviewed by the provost and CFO before they are sent to the president for final review and approval. Once a redesign is approved, a new team will oversee its implementation.