Student Groups Benefit From Faculty Guidance

Interaction between faculty, staff and students does not have to end in the classroom. With more than 560 student organizations on campus, faculty and staff have unlimited opportunities to offer experience and professional knowledge to student groups.

That’s the message from the Student Organization Office, which is sponsoring an effort to help match faculty and staff with registered student groups in need of an advisor. Currently, 20 active and diverse organizations have requested an advisor to assist with their development.

“It’s been difficult in the past to link advisors and student groups, and part of that difficulty had to do with not having a clear sense of what the advisor and group wanted from each other,” says Janice Sheppard, director of the Student Organization Office. “We think more specific matching can lead to successful advising relationships.”

Working with students in a more informal manner can allow faculty to see students translating the educational experience to an everyday life setting, Sheppard says.

“From our perspective, the advising relationship benefits everyone,” she says. “Being an advisor gives faculty and staff an opportunity to make personal connections and see the complexity of students’ lives in ways that usually aren’t part of interactions in a classroom or office setting.

“Having an advisor allows students to feel themselves in community with those they see as role models and mentors.”

Kristin Tenwinkel, producer of Humorology, the largest student-run philanthropy in the nation and one of the groups seeking an advisor, says faculty and staff interaction can help break down many of the barriers that can exist at a large university.

“When sitting in a large lecture hall, or even a discussion, it’s hard to see that person being influential in your life,” she says. “But when you get to know that professor on a personal level, you feel as though you can bother them.”

Tenwinkel says faculty and staff can add continuity and stability to student organizations, which often have high membership turnover.

Shiela Reaves, associate professor of journalism and mass communication, has served as an advisor for both The Daily Cardinal student newspaper and Women in Communications. She says working with student groups has helped her become a better teacher by gaining a deeper understanding of her students.

“You have to approach students in a holistic manner if you’re going to be able to teach as effectively as you can,” Reaves says. “I saw a greater maturity because I was seeing them as young professionals, and it gave me a richer experience.

Judy Manning, professor of microbiology and immunology, says she has had more immediate contact with students working with the Immunology and Microbiology Club than as an undergraduate advisor and lecturer.

“Working with the club gets rid of the notion of a huge research institution and the impersonality of it,” she says. “What the club does is it allows you to know the students and gives you a family-type atmosphere.”

Since it started two years ago, the microbiology and immunology club has more than doubled in size. Manning attributes the growth to her department’s support.

“Our club has served as a funnel between faculty and our undergraduate majors,” she says. “We feel as though students find us very user friendly, but the club furthers that user-friendly atmosphere. It serves as a vehicle for contact with students.”

Reaves also suggests faculty and staff need not limit themselves to groups in their field. “My experience is that students are dealing with a lot of life matters and life questions,” she says. “We could bring those life experiences as answers, and it doesn’t have to be in our area. Students are so grateful just to have faculty and to see that we care.”

Sheppard says prospective advisors can find descriptions of each student organization and what it needs from an advisor on the Student Organization Office Web site. She also encourages faculty and staff to call her directly (265-2407) to discuss advising opportunities.