The Department of Geography and the Environment offered its students several group drop-in advising sessions over the past two weeks in an effort to improve efficiency, according to Director of Environmental Science and Professor Michael Kerwin.

During one of three two-hour drop-in sessions, students could sit down with one of several available professors to talk about their schedules and get their alternate pin deleted. Kerwin said the goal of the new advising sessions is to make the process easier for students and faculty.

“The way we’ve done this in the past is we tried to give all faculty a handful of students to advise. Some would have as many as eight,” said Kerwin. “As director of the program, I would take on the rest, which would be about 20 but grew quickly to about 60. The reason I decided to try this out is that I was realizing I couldn’t give my normal time and enthusiasm, because I was just so busy.”

Kerwin said the department’s growth made one-on-one meetings more and more difficult.

“We would have 15 to 20 student meetings most every day for two weeks,” said Kerwin. “That wasn’t good for the students or for us.”

Department Chair and Professor Andrew Goetz, who was present for parts of the advising sessions, agreed.
“It just got to be too much,” said Goetz. “We couldn’t do it the way we’d been doing it before.”

Between two and eight professors were available during two-hour advising on Feb. 6, 10 and 13. The meetings were held in room 123 of Boettcher West at different times to give students the chance to attend one of the sessions.

“There was a time when there were only two of us [in the room],” said Kerwin, who was present for all three sessions. “We’ve gotten lucky that we’ve had good faculty participation when needed.”
Kerwin stressed that the department still does one-on-one meetings, but he highlighted the benefits of this new format for both the professors and their advisees.

“When all of us are in the room together, we can solve problems quickly and efficiently,” said Kerwin. “There’s intercommunication between faculty and students. We didn’t expect that.”

Goetz agreed with Kerwin, saying that having multiple faculty members on hand means they can address any concerns students might have.

“There’s a good group of faculty there. Whatever question anyone has, there are plenty of people to answer the question,” said Goetz.

Callie Smith, a junior majoring in environmental science, said the meetings worked well.
“It was quick and easy,” said Smith. “I got to speak with my advisor anyways, and it was easier than scheduling an independent appointment with them.”

Other departments that offer drop-in advising sessions include political science, physics, communication studies and business.