Pinnacle Newspaper 2024

PIERCE COLLEGE STUDENTS HAVE FOUND IS-
SUES WITH ADVISING...
THE DEAN OF STUDENT SUCCESS HELPS US UNPACK THE REASONS WHY?
by Ruby Garcia
“We have the responsibility to train our staff to
be good communicators”-Matthew A. Campbell,
President of Pierce College Fort Steilacoom
A n anonymous student survey has
expressed the issues students have
regarding advising. A shortage of
advisors is one of the most common
issues students face. For example, one
respondent said, “There’s not a lot
of advisors for IT majors…Often the
professors have to act like advisors to
make up for it.”
Dean of Advising, James D. Lett, may
have an explanation for this: “We have
a number of staff who would have retired
had COVID not kicked off…they
wanted to help the college…but once
they were coming out [of COVID-19],
they went ahead and retired…[or]
moved on to other opportunities.”
was waiting ages for a response.”
Lett has proposed innovations on communication,
“Our career counselors
have been doing things like classroom
visits… finding places where students
might be gathering both virtually and
in person to see if maybe we can go
there to share information.” A texting
platform has also been in consideration
and may be implemented.
If you’re a international student looking
for an advisor, James knows exactly
what to do, “Students
participating in the International
Education Program may contact their
advisor by scheduling an appointment
through Starfish or emailing
international@pierce.ctc.edu.”
Other concerns include the way advisors
communicate with their students.
One student responded to the survey
by saying, “My first experience with an
advisor wasn’t the best. I could only
call or email them, which made
communication super slow. It felt like I
HELP US IMPROVE ADVISING BY FILLING OUT
OUR ANONYMOUS SURVEY.
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