Measuring and Highlighting the Value of Professional Academic Advising in an ECE Department

Annie Patrick; Scott Dunning; Mary Brewer; Kimberly Johnston; Nicole Gholston; Susan Broniak

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: ECE Division Technical Session 2: Long-Term Institutional Outcome Evaluations and Capstone Innovations
Page Count: 33
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40806
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40806
Download Count: 385

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Mary Brewer Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Kimberly Johnston Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Nicole Gholston Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Susan Broniak Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Abstract

Professional academic advising is a growing trend in undergraduate education [1]. Having a dedicated team of professionals trained to address not only a student’s academic concerns but their personal and social needs have resulted in more confident students, increased retention, and timely matriculation [2]–[5]. However, many times professional academic advising remains unacknowledged and underappreciated [6], [7].

Engineering education research has established the importance of academic advising and student success[8], [9]. Yet many department stakeholders (i.e. faculty) are often not aware of the professional academic advisors' contributions. This lack of awareness about what professional academic advisors contribute stems from multiple factors. Advising doesn’t have the "scientific" rigor and mathematical foundation that engineers tend to value. Additionally, most advisors have degrees in education and the social sciences rather than in ECE. Also, many professional academic advisors tend to be women in a predominately male discipline. Thus the work of academic advising is rendered invisible through gender, social background, education, and other factors.

This paper discusses the work of creating a data-driven white paper to highlight the value of professional academic advising in an electrical and computer engineering (ECE) department in the Southeast United States. A qualitative culture and climate study of the ECE department initially revealed the complexity of the ECE undergraduate student’s needs beyond the classroom and identified how the professional academic advisors were the primary caretakers of these concerns. Though the majority of student’s concerns were academic, students discuss other numerous concerns ranging from their mental health and physical well-being to financial strains, career decisions, and even app development. However, much of the professional academic advisors’ work and its connection to student success was unseen. To bring visibility and value to the work of the academic advisors, a white paper was developed to demonstrate how academic advisors greatly impact students' matriculation into successful engineers. It draws on quantitative data analysis of thousands of undergraduate student encounters by the professional academic advising team of four women in the ECE department. This study spotlights the vital care work that professional academic undergraduate advisors contribute to ECE student success through the development of a white paper to bring their work to the forefront of the ECE department.

Citation
Format

Patrick, A., & Dunning, S., & Brewer, M., & Johnston, K., & Gholston, N., & Broniak, S. (2022, August), Measuring and Highlighting the Value of Professional Academic Advising in an ECE Department Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40806

TY - CPAPER
AB - Professional academic advising is a growing trend in undergraduate education [1]. Having a dedicated team of professionals trained to address not only a student’s academic concerns but their personal and social needs have resulted in more confident students, increased retention, and timely matriculation [2]–[5]. However, many times professional academic advising remains unacknowledged and underappreciated [6], [7].

Engineering education research has established the importance of academic advising and student success[8], [9]. Yet many department stakeholders (i.e. faculty) are often not aware of the professional academic advisors' contributions. This lack of awareness about what professional academic advisors contribute stems from multiple factors. Advising doesn’t have the "scientific" rigor and mathematical foundation that engineers tend to value. Additionally, most advisors have degrees in education and the social sciences rather than in ECE. Also, many professional academic advisors tend to be women in a predominately male discipline. Thus the work of academic advising is rendered invisible through gender, social background, education, and other factors.

This paper discusses the work of creating a data-driven white paper to highlight the value of professional academic advising in an electrical and computer engineering (ECE) department in the Southeast United States. A qualitative culture and climate study of the ECE department initially revealed the complexity of the ECE undergraduate student’s needs beyond the classroom and identified how the professional academic advisors were the primary caretakers of these concerns. Though the majority of student’s concerns were academic, students discuss other numerous concerns ranging from their mental health and physical well-being to financial strains, career decisions, and even app development. However, much of the professional academic advisors’ work and its connection to student success was unseen. To bring visibility and value to the work of the academic advisors, a white paper was developed to demonstrate how academic advisors greatly impact students' matriculation into successful engineers. It draws on quantitative data analysis of thousands of undergraduate student encounters by the professional academic advising team of four women in the ECE department. This study spotlights the vital care work that professional academic undergraduate advisors contribute to ECE student success through the development of a white paper to bring their work to the forefront of the ECE department.

AU - Annie Patrick
AU - Scott Dunning
AU - Mary Brewer
AU - Kimberly Johnston
AU - Nicole Gholston
AU - Susan Broniak
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Measuring and Highlighting the Value of Professional Academic Advising in an ECE Department
UR - https://peer.asee.org/40806
DO - 10.18260/1-2--40806
ER -