The survey is targeted at students with sophomore and junior standing regarding their advising experiences in order to "more fully understand the present advising situation," according to the resolution.,”
In a unanimous vote, the Marquette Student Government decided to approve its first resolution of the school year, an endorsement of the Academic Advising Survey created by the University Board of Undergraduate Studies.
The survey is targeted at students with sophomore and junior standing regarding their academic advising experiences in order to "more fully understand the present advising situation," according to the resolution.
The unanimous decision to endorse the resolution reflects "MUSG's commitment to improving academic advising on campus as it is a concern that students continue to voice," said MUSG Executive Vice President and College of Arts & Sciences junior Brock Banks.
According to Banks, the fact that it was a unanimous decision shows the "advising concern is certainly a legitimate one."
During the debate several senators expressed discontent with the current academic advising system at Marquette, some including off-campus senator and College of Arts & Sciences senior Kristin Pinkowski.
"I've had a great experience at Marquette in every way, except academic advising," Pinkowski said.
MUSG Programs Vice President and College of Arts & Sciences senior Stephen Ryan agreed with Pinkowski, saying, "Academic advising is an issue continually brought up by students as something that needs adjustment. This is the first step to identify what the problem areas are and then develop action plans on how to best adjust this process."
However, other senators have argued that negative advising experiences are not a "normal response."
"I think that there are certainly cases where students receive poor advising, but for the most part I think the advising done at Marquette would be considered fair," said Arts & Sciences senator and College of Arts & Sciences sophomore Jason Rae.
Rae co-wrote the resolution with Ryan, with the goal that "this survey shows ways to make advising more successful and beneficial to students," he said.
Two students – Ryan and College of Communication senior Jamie Wu – sit on the BUS, which created the survey.
The survey will be online and will include a series of questions asking students about past advising experiences. The survey will ask students their personal information including college and academic year, and then will ask students to give a scaled rating of their past advising. It will be sent out the week after academic advising week this semester.
"It is my hope that after the survey and the results are returned that the University Board of Undergraduate Studies will make action plans for how to provide better academic advising experiences at Marquette," Ryan said, "I hope that students who do have negative experiences with their academic advisers will speak up on the survey and provide us with the information necessary, likewise for those students with positive experiences."
Additionally, BUS wishes that the students asked to take the survey will provide "valuable and useful information" and the students will participate, according to Ryan.
"If students do not participate, the University Board of Undergraduate Studies will not be able to correctly identify what needs to be adjusted with academic advising, hopefully students will answer accurately and truthfully about their experiences with academic advising at Marquette," Ryan said.
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