Advising Strategic Plan

Goal 1 – An academic advising program valued by students, faculty, staff, and administrators.

Action Items:

• Examine the mission and purpose of the Advising Consultant Group (ACG). Revise purpose and/or goals as needed. Completed (Fall 2024)
• Grow and support the Advising Learning Program (ALP) designed to provide training and development opportunities for Academic Advisors. In progress
  • ALP Coordinator attends advisor meetings within each college and campus to exchange thoughts, ideas, expectations, and identify training needs. Completed (Fall 2023)
  • Determine and document training expectations for academic advisors. What training topics are advisors expected to complete on a semi-annual or annual basis? What campus or system meetings, forums, or development activities are academic advisors expected to complete and within what time frame? In progress
    • Create an effective tracking mechanism for individual advisors to use so advisors can easily produce a transcript of completed training modules, activities, or workshops. Completed (Spring 2024)
  • Identify and examine barriers that get in the way of advisors attending/participating in advisor training. (e.g. timing, mode, supervisor support, financial support, etc.) Address and eliminate barriers.
  • Determine resource needs for the Advising Learning Program.
  • Design an advisor training track specifically for Faculty Advisors. (Goal 1 & 3)
• Build an advisor mentoring program for new advisors.
• Examine issues of inequities in advisor compensation throughout the WSU system which impacts advisor morale and retention.
  • Compare and contrast compensation by position level, college/area, and geographic location.
  • Compare and contrast compensation to industry standards.
  • Make recommendations for change as warranted.
• Examine advisor workload to address inequities which impacts advisor burn-out, morale, and retention.
  • Ensure that the position description of an academic advisor is student centered, and duties/responsibilities focus on the Core Responsibilities of Advising. In progress (Goal 1, 2, & 3)
  • Address incongruence between the “Core Responsibilities of Advising” and the additional responsibilities assigned that are not relevant to the position. In progress
  • Determine percent of time that should be administrative in nature versus meeting with students. In progress
  • Rewrite the Academic Coordinator/Advisor Series sample position descriptions for use on the HRS website. In progress (Goal 1, 2, & 3)
  • Best practice is to include a current academic advisor as a member of a search committee when recruiting and selecting an academic advisor. Work with HRS to ensure that this is common practice at WSU. In progress
  • Clarify what advising is and what it is not (use A. Chows document as a starting point). Document and share with the advising community, students, and stakeholders. In progress
• Identify and promote pathways for career advancement for advisors (e.g., dept., campus, system)
  • Reexamine the Career Ladder (2018) as a starting point.
• Create an Advising Annual Report that is shared broadly with University stakeholders
  • Include tangible outcomes to include advising assessment, accomplishments, new initiatives, strategic plans/goal updates, etc.
• Advisor awards & recognition
  • Increase and advance the recognition of advisors by the University apart from recognition activities done by individual departments, colleges, and/or WSU-ACADA.
    • Create a university-wide advising award sponsored by the Provost’s Office or by the Chancellor’s Office from each campus.
  • Develop an Advisor Appreciation Day or event (WSU systemwide).
• Increase awareness of the role of an advisor and best practices for supporting advising at WSU. In progress (Goal 1, 2, & 3)
  • Disseminate the “Core Responsibilities of Advising” document broadly. In progress
    • Ensure that every individual that supervises an advisor receives a copy of the document.
    • Encourage and direct questions to the Executive Director of University Advising and UAAEC.
  • Attend chairs/director’s meetings throughout WSU to share and discuss core responsibilities of advising and address any questions. In progress
  • Create an academic advising elevator speech for the Provost, President, and Chancellors (leadership).
  • Educate the University on the differences between advising vs. course scheduling and other transactional tasks. In progress
  • Develop and implement an Advising Conference for faculty, staff, and administrators in Recruitment, Admissions, Enrollment Management, Student Affairs, and other student service areas to help campus partners broaden their understanding of the role and purpose of academic advising at WSU.
  • Identify and dismantle incongruent policies and practices at the institution that work against the support of advising. In progress
    • Include a visual overview of the cycle of advising (e.g., no longer a season).

Goal 2 – An academic advising program that is student ready and focuses on student-centered relationships.

Action Items:

• Establish a culture of inclusivity and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Justice.
  • Ensure ALP includes regular advisor trainings.
  • Ensure DEIBJ part of the advisor’s annual review process.
  • Survey students on a regular basis (e.g. annually) and include questions regarding belonging, inclusivity, etc.
  • Conduct student focus groups to ask students about their perceptions and satisfaction with advising at WSU; what are their expectations? In progress
  • Research what is happening around the University system with regard to establishing the culture of DEIBJ and partner with that area. (E.g., Student Affairs campus climate survey?)
  • Eliminate barriers students face (#7 language on student purpose and pathways-NACADA document on “Excellence in Acad. Advising”).
• Establish reasonable caseloads for all Advisors. In progress (Goal 1, 2, & 3)
  • Use NACADA, Council of Advancement of Standards (CAS), and the Boyer 2030 report as guidelines to define what is reasonable for a large university with an increasingly diverse undergraduate student population. In progress
  • 250:1 advisor-to-student ratio for full-time primary role advisors and 25:1 for full-time faculty are “realistic maximum ratios at large, complex, and academically demanding research universities” according to the Boyer 2030 Commission. In progress
  • Research and share out best practices with department chairs, deans, and University leadership.
  • Differentiate between full-time advising vs. advisors with other responsibilities beyond advising students. In progress
    • Advising Directors/Leads will work to gather information from their areas.
    • ACG plans to develop an advising workload survey.In Progress (Spring 2025)
• Create learning outcomes that focus on student success. In progress (Goal 1, 2, & 3)
  • Form a working group to identify learning outcomes for student success. Completed (Fall 2024)
    • Present a draft of learning goals to the advising community for feedback.
    • Develop an assessment to determine if we are meeting learning outcomes.
• Provide Advisor Training: Train advisors to work with the students of today; who are our students? What does it look like to be student ready? In progress
• Provide WSU students with the same level of service regardless of campus/department. (Goal 2 & 3)
  • Determine the advising tools/technology needed and expected to be used throughout the WSU system.
  • Provide equal access to advising tools/technology, training of tools/technology.
  • Conduct student focus groups (possibly led by consumer Business class project) to collect data to measure student satisfaction with and the strengths/challenges of academic advising.

Goal 3 – An academic advising program with consistency and clarity of message.

Action Items:

• Develop a standard advisor transition process for students who change majors, academic interests, and campuses. (Goal 2 & 3)
  • Form a working group with representatives from each campus and college.
    • Identify campus partners and stakeholders who should be part of the work group (e.g. Registrar’s Office, students, etc.).
  • Identify current practice by location (i.e. campus or college); determine effectiveness and identify any barriers to students.
• Create an Advising/Program Plan Check Sheet template with a universal design that can be used across all programs/degree pathways. This will improve student learning and comprehension of program plans/requirements regardless of major. In progress (May 2025)
• Develop a new feature in myWSU that allows advisors to record a student’s intention to leave WSU at the end of a term. In progress (March 2025) (Goal 2 & 3)
• Examine the purpose and function of the advising website (advising.wsu.edu) to determine who the audience is (e.g., advisors or students). In progress (Spring 2025) (Goal 2 & 3)
  • Advising 411 site – survey advisors to see what they want on the site. What resources would be useful for their everyday practice? In progress
  • Advising 411 lead, assigned to the ALP coordinator. Completed (Spring 2025)
  • Determine if there is a need to have a centralized advising website for students.
    • Survey students to identify their needs or desires for a website.
• Post the proposed Advising Strategic Plan to the advising.wsu.edu website. Completed (Fall 2023)
  • Collect feedback from the advising community on the Advising Strategic Plan posted and use the feedback to inform, refine, and revise the Strategic Plan. Completed (Fall 2023)
    • The Advising Directors/Leads will take the lead on rewriting the Strategic Plan.
  • Present revised version of the Strategic Plan to ACG and UAAEC for final comments. Completed (Fall 2023)
  • Post the final version of the Strategic Plan 2023-2028 to the advising.wsu.edu website. Completed (Fall 2023)
    • Update progress and re-post the Strategic Plan on an annual basis. Completed (May 2025)
• Develop a communication plan for current students.
  • Establish a working group with representation from each campus and college.
  • Develop a plan for best communication practices with students.
  • Identify one communication software/platform (Slate?) to be used by the advising community.
    • Create a template to assist advisors in creating decentralized messages that can be sent directly to an advisor’s assigned students. Ensure that communication appears to be/is coming from advisor.
  • Determine what we need students to know and when they need to know it.
  • Make limited but strategic use of text messages with call-to-action questions and prompts.
  • Create social media guidelines to determine best use of social media (timely) in conjunction with emails/texts.
    • Follow WSU Students on XXX social media platforms.
  • Provide training to advisors on the communication plan; provide support to advisors or a place to troubleshoot problems or review trainings.
  • Ensure all campuses have a similar level of messaging for students.
  • Centralized vs. de-centralized communication plan. Determine who sends what message and when?
    • Determine common messages ALL students should receive with timeline.
    • By college/department common messaging.
    • By advisor.
  • Ensure advisors and advising support areas (e.g., front desk workers, student mentors/advisors, etc.) have access to all advising communications sent to students to aid in addressing questions and concerns from students.
  • Challenge – Note: Students receive a high level of service throughout the recruitment process that becomes difficult to continue as programs and services become decentralized once students enroll and the term starts.
• Advisor training In progress
  • Establish required training for all new advisors. Post training requirements.
    • Content is based on established student learning outcomes of advising and aligned with the Core Responsibilities of Advising.
  • Establish ongoing training for current advisors (faculty and professional staff).
    • Content is based on established student learning outcomes of advising and aligned with the Core Responsibilities of Advising.
  • Establish a system or process to hold advisors accountable for training and development renewal.
    • Consider removing the ability to lift advising holds in myWSU unless faculty and staff remain current with training.
  • Obtain a list of access roles a new advisor needs within myWSU and the trainings offered to prepare the advisors for their role. In progress (April 2025)
    • Create a list of permissions/access needed in myWSU by advisor type (i.e., Advisor I, Advisor II, and Advisor III).
    • Determine who will be responsible for tracking faculty and staff readiness to advise and remove holds.
  • Explore possibility/functionality of Percipio. Completed (Spring 2024)