Academic Advising and Transfer Centers combine

Earlier this semester the Academic Advising Center, which assists students with declaring a major and registering for classes, combined with the Transfer Center to form one organization.

The Academic Advising & Transfer Center (ATC) is now one academic unit housed within Student Academic Affairs, Advising & Retention.

“[We] expanded the number of people who can service students,” said Virginia Lewis, assistant dean for Student Academic Affairs, Advising, & Retention.

George Mason University typically enrolls 3,300 transfer students a year, Lewis said.

This puts a larger workload on advisers and according to Lewis it only made sense to combine the two services and provide one location for transfer students and undeclared students to receive advising.

Also as part of the changes, the Freshman Center which helped new students with academics and ran the UNIV 100 course was changed to the Transition Resource Center.

The name change will allow staff members in the center to assist not only freshmen but new transfer students as well.

Both offices also underwent an overhaul of their websites and Lewis said they’re still in the process of expanding the resources on their ATC website.

The ATC website allows current students to search for an adviser in any academic department, use a grade point average calculator to calculate their current academic standing, and ask an adviser a question by filling out a contact form.

The ATC is temporarily located in the North Chesapeake Module this semester while their Student Union Building I office is renovated. The Transition Resource Center is located in the Johnson Center in Room 245.