Advising

(Words in italics are published in the Otterbein College Faculty Manual)

Effective advising assumes knowledge of Otterbein’s curriculum and academic policies. Advisers are expected to provide students with assistance in developing short-term and long-term academic schedules, career guidance or direction in pursuing advanced studies, and, where appropriate, referral counseling information.

In teacher education, proactive advising is essential. Because of the intense requirements for state licensure, advising students is integral to their success in a timely manner. I am an advisor of approximately 25 students a quarter. The majority of these advisees are undergraduate middle childhood educators. I also have approximately five graduate students as well.

I believe that I am effective advisor because I am available and approachable. I ensure that I have one “open house” each quarter and invite all of my advisees. I also individually contact each of my advisee each quarter to ensure that they understand all of the college requirements and licensure requirements.

Artifacts

1. Advising Students

The first artifact is the current list of my advisees for 2006-2007. This artifact indicates that I have a full list of advisees that are but graduate and undergraduate.

2. Advising Students/ Honors Thesis

The second artifact is a letter of support from Sarah Luthy, an undergraduate who I am advising on an honors thesis. I also supported her in writing a grant to aid her honors research in Appalachia education. She and I visited the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia. I believe that this represents my understanding of the liberal arts context at Otterbein and my support of curriculum not only in education but outside the department as well.

3. Advising Students/ Master’s in the Art of Education (MAE) Capstone Project

The third artifact is a letter of support from a MAE student who I supported in her capstone project. I took over the advisement for this student during a colleague’s sabbatical. I have worked with a number of students as a second reader to a capstone project and have been the primary adviser for approximately five students in the past two years. I am pleased that three out of the five are finished and of those three, two received the highest rating on this capstone. I feel confident that advising research is an area that I enjoy and that I have been successful with, evidenced by my students’ success.

4. Advising Students/ Master’s Level Writing from the European Peace University (EPU)

The fourth artifact is two students’ research papers from the EPU. The university uses one week lecturers from around the world and students are required to do three smaller research projects and one larger one throughout their program. Because of this situation, students choose advisors who they feel will be experts in their area of research, to read and critique their papers. I have been honored to work with five students since October and I hope to work with many others in the future. This experience has not been far more than a support to the students in their research but has provided me with a much broader perspective of education globally and has helped me to better understand and ground my work in social justice and equity issues. To understand that the problem of violence in schools in Uganda has to do with teachers who cane children, to understand that the girl child in Uganda is not treated with respect and equal opportunities in schools, and to know that in Malawi the addition of a Western perspective to free primary education creates many problems in a country lacking appropriate resources helps me to understand education in the United States more deeply.