Proposal that would combine Gateway, Academic Advising services being considered

Staff Report

A proposal to combine some of the advising services provided by the Academic Advising Center on Ninth Street Hall and the Gateway Program is currently being evaluated at Eastern.

Mona Davenport, director of Minority Affairs, said these organizational changes are still in the infancy stage.

Even if they were to go into effect, she said, the Gateway program would still continue to exist.

“We still have Gateway students coming in and we will continue to have the Gateway program,” she said.

In a emailed statement, Provost Blair Lord said the proposal for this reorganization is simply being discussed.

If it were to go through, he said, there is a contractual process which would need to be followed.

With the lower staffing levels across the University, we are always looking for the most efficient ways of deploying our staff resources,” Lord said.

What the proposed reorganization would consist of is Gateway office’s academic advisers and advisers under the Center for Academic Support and Assessment combining as one, Davenport said.

The program, housed in Minority Affairs, would potentially move to academic assistance in Ninth Street Hall. Gateway advisers would keep their positions.

The way the advising system currently works is that Gateway advisers advise Gateway students and advisers in Ninth Street Hall only advise new or undeclared standard admits.

With the proposal, students would be taken care of by all the advisers.

“What we had now is we’ve had one office over here and one office over,” Davenport said. “What we’re doing is putting the office together.”

Davenport said eventually, the departments want to give every student what she calls “a freshman experience.”

Gateway students get some opportunities other students do not, Davenport said, including the chance for intrusive advisement and workshops on time-management or test-taking skills.

“We just want to make it so all of the incoming freshmen get the experience that we think would be beneficial to them,” she said.

 

Check out the full story in Monday’s edition of the Daily Eastern News. More information will be added as it becomes available.

The News Staff can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]