Next month, a brand new department will open its doors in North Foundation Hall. Oakland’s First Year Advising Center will combine several services into one office.

Sara Webb, director of the First Year Advising Center, said this department is the product of merging the Orientation and New Student Programs office with the Advising Resource Center.

The new office is located in 121 North Foundation Hall and will start taking student appointments Sept. 4.

More information will be available in mid-August when they launch the website.

“When we merged, we not only took on the roles of both of those offices, but we expanded our services,” she said.

The department will provide advising for all freshmen students regardless of their major. They will also provide career exploration and advising for those students who are undecided or wish to change their major.

Students who are not freshmen and  progressing with their major courses may continue to use the advising office of their respective college or program.

According to Webb, freshmen will be assigned one adviser they with consistently meet with at each appointment during their first year.

It is now mandatory for first-year students to schedule two advising appointments in the fall and winter.

“A major goal for freshmen advising is making sure that students achieve sophomore standing by the end of their first year,” she said.

Webb  said getting students involved in their particular major or field will be a key component of how students are advised.

“We’ll spend a lot of time in our advising appointments connecting students to opportunities on campus,” she said. “We want to keep them engaged in what’s going on.”

Until the creation of the website, incoming students are  made aware of the advising center through the New Student Orientations that take place during the summer.

Orientation Assistant Ethan Scott said he helps introduce incoming freshmen to the advising center through a session called “Knowledge for College,” which takes place during orientation.

Orientation group leader Erin Feeney said she also tells students about the First Year Advising Center during their campus tour.

“We stop by the new office, and I highlight the fact that this is a one-stop-shop for students and a great resource,” Feeney, a sophomore, said. “We want students to get excited about that.”

Feeney said having this office available last fall would have been helpful during her freshmen year.

“Having to branch off to all of the different colleges for advising can be intimidating and complicated as a freshmen,” she said. “The people in this office are especially knowledgeable on how to work with first-year students.”

In addition to the seven academic advisers, the center is hiring new staff to work in the department.

“There will be 18 people in the office working on all kinds of different projects: advising students, planning orientation and planning programs,” she said. “We even have a couple graduate students who will provide career counseling.”

Webb said the staff is excited to start the new semester and do its best to advise incoming students.

“People change a lot in the four or five years that they’re here,” she said. “What sounds good in the first year may not be what sounds good at year four, but if we can help to firm up their decision a little bit, we’re happy.”

 

Contact Staff Reporter Jennifer Holychuk via email [email protected] at or follow her on Twitter @jholychuk