Miami University has set a deadline for revitalizing academic advising and according to the administration, is well underway to meeting it.
At a press conference last Tuesday, President David Hodge said that academic advising at Miami would be changed within two years.
According to University Provost Jeffrey Herbst, an academic advising consultant, Lydia Voight, has already met with a large number of people at Miami, including university officials and a significant number of students.
From these meetings, a report was compiled and the university is now in the process of discussing this report, said Herbst, who believes they will have a set of recommendations to review with the university by December.
"We've talked to (the consultant) and would like to meet with her colleagues, and then bring (the ideas) to a series of open forums," Herbst said.
Herbst declined to give information about the report and its suggestions.
"I'd rather let us digest it a little more and make our own recommendations and have some structured conversation with students and faculty on what way we want to go forward," Herbst said.
However Student Body President Jens Sutmöller is confident about the report's findings.
"Some of the recommendations are spot on and it will be just a few more weeks when we have that published," Sutmöller said.
According to Sutmöller, academic advising impacts every student at Miami and it is important that students are satisfied with how the system operates.
"Academic advising touches each student throughout their Miami experience and academic tenure … the current structure isn't fulfilling all our needs and desires," Sutmöller said.
According to Herbst, the university is confident in completing the project within two years. They will make the recommendations in December Herbst said, with open forums for the university community in January. It is then that the university will prepare to make a final decision and execute it.
Sutmöller believes that it is time for the recommendations to be put into action and is confident in Hodge's support.
"Hodge has been very proactive on this issue, listening to student concerns and coming to the realization that the system needs to be changed," Sutmöller said.
According to Sutmöller, once the recommendations are made, Associated Student Government (ASG) and its appropriate committees will begin the process of putting the university's plan into action.
"(ASG will) take what needs to be done and actually get it done," Sutmöller said.
The university is still unsure what specifically will be different about the new academic advising program, Herbst said.
"We still have some fundamental choices to make on whether we try to address some of the problems of the current system or if we go to a new system," Herbst said.
However, Herbst said that one thing the university is sure of is that they want students to be involved in the process, with the university extending an open invitation to all students to voice their opinions on the current system, as well as the proposed changes, during the upcoming forums.
