Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski, associate dean for University College, heads the program. She partnered with Fine Arts to create the advising structure. The program, “Bridge Academic Advising,” was created because students were saying that they wished they had different advisers for different aspects of their lives.
“The adviser is getting information on the university level, the student level and the department level,” Aiken-Wisniewski said.
The positions were filled with individuals who had past experience working with people. Individual departments work together with the university to find advisers who are best suited to help students.
There are a total of three advisers: Kira Jones, Lena May-Fraser and Rachel Osterman. They are specially trained so they have better information and better direction for the students that they advise.
“As advisers we work as educators and problem solvers. This is what motivates us. We work with students towards accomplishing their goals,” Jones said.
The team does departmental advising.
“The unique position that we are in it puts us in a position that we advise for the other three departments of the college,” Jones said.
The team of advisers covers the Music, Theater, Art/Art History, ballet, modern dance and film and media arts departments. The advisers meet with the students who are either thinking about a major in the department to lead them in the right direction and to which department suits them best.
Liz Leckie, assistant dean for undergraduate affairs at the College of Fine Arts, said that the advisers receive regular training and new information to best fulfill their jobs.
They are able to expand the interests of students coming to them for help.
“Because of the joint responsibilities, they not only hear about this information but they also have opportunities to apply it on a consistent and regular basis as they are working with students across the university,” Leckie said.
The advisers hope that they will help guide art majors toward with better futures.
“Our hope is to continue to find ways to help arts students to challenge myths that an arts degree is a degree to nowhere and help students to articulate the critical value of their degrees in our society,” Leckie said.
Now with the help of advisers, if students are interested in other parts of campus outside of Fine Arts, they are supplied with a large amount of information on other colleges, programs and even internships.
“I think it’s important because what it means is being able to sit down with a person who has a big picture look at the U. They can look at the policies and curriculum on many levels,” Aiken-Wisniewski said.