First Academic Advising Expo Well-Received

Photo by Aaron Arenas.

Broadside Staff Writer Jared Trice

Student Government’s Committee of Governance and Academic Affairs partnered with George Mason University’s Academic Advising Committee to provide students with the opportunity last week to meet with academic advisors from all of the university’s colleges at the first-annual Academic Advising Exposition.

The event, held in the Johnson Center’s Dewberry Hall on April 2, was first initiated by the student committee upon the realization that department policy can sometimes prevent students from easily accessing their advisers.

Krista Muise, a junior government and international policies major, is a student senator who has been the Chair of the Governance and Academic Affairs Committee for the past two years. Muise, who headed this Student Government initiative, said, “Academic advising is a main issue for us. Our committee attempted to standardize university department policy, but because Mason has many colleges and departments, it became a difficult task. At a compromise, we worked with the university to hold this event.”

Although advisers present at the exposition were not prepared to advise students on the looming registration period, the event helped to introduce students to the importance of seeking counsel, and all of the advisers emphasized early action. Joan Bristol, associate professor and Department of History and Art History undergraduate coordinator said, “A small but significant portion of my advisees fail to get proper advice. More often, they fail to realize that they have yet to complete core curriculum.”

Eva Nolen, Undergraduate Academic Adviser within the College of Education and Human Development, who was present at the event, expressed concern.

Students began to crowd Dewberry Hall at the exposition’s opening. Charlotte Gibbs, a non-traditional university student, is considering pursuing a degree in community health, a degree that the university began offering in 2008. Waiting for the crowd to clear from around the College of Health and Human Services booth, Gibbs said she finds the exposition “a convenient alternative” as she also works as a radiologist.

While the first-annual academic advising exposition was well-received, Muise viewed the event as “a springboard for change” to the sometimes restrictive university advising policies.