Fall 2011 Newsletter Extended: Advising
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MOYER LEADS THE WAY WITH NEW CAFES ADVISING MODEL
By Kalli Sandberg (RPTA '13), Staff Writer
Cal Poly's College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences (CAFES) has changed its advising model, and the RPTA department is leading the charge. Cynthia Moyer, RPTA faculty member and past recipient of Cal Poly's Outstanding Faculty Advisor award, has accepted a dual position as head of advising for all of CAFES. According to Moyer, the new model is not eliminating the traditional faculty-based advising that many of us have become familiar with, but rather re-focusing it.
Whereas in the past students under most CAFES departments had a professor as their sole advisor, that job has now been split up between the faculty and a full-time, professional advisor. Faculty are still responsible for career and future planning questions, but anything to do with academics such as scheduling and classes now goes through the professional advisor. As head of this new model, Moyer oversees four advisors, who oversee roughly two or three departments each. Moyer is now a part-time instructor and part-time administrator, and is very excited for the benefits that this change will provide for students. The change comes with the introduction of new advising initiatives, such as the EAPs (Expected Academic Progress), which would be difficult for faculty to stay on top of in addition to their many additional responsibilities (i.e., teaching, research, service, etc.).
By handing the tracking and updating of academic progress off to full-time advisors, the hope is that it will ultimately ease graduation flow and ensure that students are doing what they need to in order to succeed. One important item to note is that this new model (at least for RPTA) only applies to the Freshman class of 2015 and beyond. This means that anyone expecting to graduate in 2014 or earlier is still operating under the same system of working with a specific RPTA faculty member. Moyer also hopes to bring on RPTA peer advisors in the near future, and loves the fact that due to the career-oriented advising, RPTA faculty will still be able to connect with new students and get to know them.
The CAFES advisor for RPTA is Dianne Korth, and anyone seeking more information can feel free to contact her by email at dkorth@calpoly.edu or through dropping by her office (Bldg. 11, Room 240). Read more.
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