Title of Effective Practice: - California Postsecondary Education ...

Direct Connection to Policy Area 6 of The Illinois Commitment
Advising Center Model
Chicago State University
What issue or need is addressed by the effective practice?
In 2004, the university’s Department of Psychology, in collaboration with the Illinois Board of Higher
Education, opened a model Advising Center in order to reach several related goals: streamline and personalize
student advising and course selection; reduce advising errors; encourage timely registration; promote student
involvement in their own curricula and degree audits; and increase student satisfaction, retention and graduation.
Description of the effective practice:
Implementation: The Advising Center offers one-stop advising and registration, which is divided into three
steps: pre-advising, advising, and registration. This division helps faculty advisors to make more productive use
of their time with students.
The Advising Center helps students monitor their academic progress and insure that they have satisfied all of the
requirements for graduation by the following methods: Degree audits of students with 90 or more credit hours
are done in order to thoroughly examine student files in order to resolve any problems that may interfere with
timely graduation; Advising Assistants help students complete paperwork related to withdrawals, petitions, and
certification of minor program completion; the Advising Center is the first stop (and often the only stop) that
students make to resolve academic issues; the Psychology Department maintains up-to-date files for all majors
in the Advising Center containing copies of all paperwork processed for students and encourages students to
maintain personal files of their progress; all materials were updated and made available via a Blackboardtm site
to allow advising materials to be accessed from the internet; and all faculty advisors and advising assistants
attend training sessions in effective advising, including the use of new CAS/CAPP degree audit technology.
How does this practice achieve sustainability?
The Advising Center opened in 2004; longitudinal assessment data are as yet insufficient to make strong
statements about its effectiveness. One indicator of success is that other academic departments are joining the
Advising Center and sharing their expertise and resources. The Department of Foreign Languages and
Literatures, the Department of Math and Computer Science (which made an additional computer lab available
for student registration) and the Department of Criminal Justice joined in the initiative. All three departments are
in one classroom building. A plan is under way to open a second advising center to serve additional departments
in the College of Arts and Sciences. While all recognize that a single advising center would be ideal, present
restrictions on space and resources make that a middle- to long-term goal.
What are the results/measurable outcomes?
Preliminary data suggest that the Advising Center has a positive impact on student satisfaction, retention and
graduation. Sixty-two percent of freshmen who entered the Department of Psychology in fall, 2004 were
retained, compared to the university average of 57%. Advising errors have been reduced from fifteen errors in
fall, 2004 to four errors in fall, 2006. The graduation rate among these students was 92.3%.
A student satisfaction survey was administered to students in Psychology and in Foreign Languages and
Literatures during the spring, 2006 registration period. Psychology majors indicated their satisfaction with a 4.7
rating on the five-point scale, while non-majors averaged 4.79. From these results, it can be safely concluded
that both groups appreciated the helpful attention they received in the Advising Center.
Contact Information
Name: Dr. Ivy Dunn
Email: idunn@csu.edu
Phone: (773) 995-2394
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