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College plans to change advising

Published: Thursday, December 10, 2009

Updated: Thursday, December 10, 2009

The transfer of an academic counselor to another department has left the College of Social Sciences with a need to fill quickly a position the dean said they don’t fully understand yet.


Teri Berthelot, the former academic counselor for the college, has taken a higher position as the Academic Counselor and Program Coordinator in the Evening Division.


That left Luis Miron, dean of the College of Social Sciences, and Philip Frady, associate dean of the College of Social Sciences, in need of someone to take on the duties that Berthelot performed as academic advisor. Her responsibilities included tasks involving student records, petitions, helping students with classes at other universities and advising students without declared majors.


To remedy the issue, the dean’s office will be delegating all undergraduate student advising duties to the faculty of the departments of political science, sociology, part of criminal justice and the School of Mass Communications.


“So we’re really trying to get a handle on what Teri’s job was originally, but the bottom line is we’re trying to get more involved in engaging with students,” Miron said.


The restructuring of the College of Social Sciences is intended to increase the engagement between faculty and students, therefore improving success rates and retention, Miron said.
The goal for “undergraduate advising is (for it to be done) by faculty at the departmental level,” Miron said. “Whatever plan we come up (with) that’s really the goal.”


Miron said that he has a background in research colleges where advising is done at a departmental level. He said that the Social Sciences office would see less issues “if more departments were involved in engaging with students.”


 “We had been looking for a good while on how we could strengthen student advising and Teri was involved with those discussions …Teri’s departure requires us to accelerate that process,” Frady said.


Frady also characterized Berthelot’s departure as “abrupt.”


Frady has instructed the chairs of each department to direct all students without declared majors to him until they “have gone through this transition.”


Miron added that he also has an open-door policy and the Office of Social Sciences will maintain “daily contact with students.”


Loyola’s Human Resources department has advertised Berthelot’s former position and has received quite a few applicants, according to Miron. The ad seeks someone with at least two years of college education who is a team player and quick learner.


The job description states that the position is “Responsible for supporting the College of Social Sciences in the delivery of efficient and effective service to all of its students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community constituents.”

Jean-Paul Arguello can be reached at jarguell1@loyno.edu

 

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16 comments

Your name
Tue Dec 15 2009 15:31
All of these comments need to be investigated at a higher level.
Your name
Tue Dec 15 2009 14:41
Did anyone forward the story and comments to the President and Provost?
gaux saints!
Tue Dec 15 2009 09:59
Each of the departments advise their own students. The issue here is that students without majors rely on the college admin to do their job. Which is a problem- if you don't know what your job is. After all, the dean hired his boyhood pal to be his assistant and pushed-out all of the people who knew what they were doing. Bad managers surround themselves less qualified people to make themselves look good. This has not worked in this case. To make matters worse a professor in Stallings trashed her own office and then blamed staffmembers. She then told her advisees and students that the dean told her to leave school because it was too "dangerous" to be on campus. Who does the dean blame for not managing this? Ask him yourself!
Your name
Sun Dec 13 2009 21:24
u need to stop trying to wreck peoples lives.
Your name
Sun Dec 13 2009 13:40
Was the office so unprofessional before this office manager stepped in? I think not. In fact, things are more unprofessional over there now than they've ever been.
Your name
Sat Dec 12 2009 20:04
I recall getting an email about a year ago from the dean announcing that he hired an office manager to 'make the office more professional'. That obviously isn't working out the way he planned. The City College dean's office always provided very professional faculty assistance. But now we don't know who to go to for any assistance. No one seems to know what's going on. So much for making the office more professional.
Your name
Sat Dec 12 2009 18:45
It's about time profs actually advised their own students. God forbid they should actually have to spend time helping their student plan their academic careers, instead of just complaining all the time about how they don't get paid enough or have enough time to get published.
Your name
Fri Dec 11 2009 20:09
whomever wrote this story is missing an even bigger one... there is not a single person employed in that office that was there a year ago... where have they all gone? fired? nope. they all went to different departments in the university. They fled the ship. All that is left are the "managers" and none of the people who actually do anything. in 15 years of being involved in higher ed I have never seen such an incompetent collection of fools, bless their hearts.
Your name
Fri Dec 11 2009 17:11
What a coincidence that they decided not to hire that student after a reporter from the Maroon requested an interview.
Your name
Fri Dec 11 2009 16:41
What about the fact that they originally hired a student to handle student advising with access to the university mainframe where student records are kept.
Your name
Fri Dec 11 2009 15:19
hahahaha this story is a joke.
Angry Student
Fri Dec 11 2009 11:49
It is absurd that they are implying that Ms. Berthelot's departure is the cause of their problems or that there would be fewer problems if departments handled everything she used to do. They obviously relied heavily upon her if they are in such a bind now that she's gone. They should have appreciated her while she was there. She was a tremendous help to students and faculty.
Your name
Fri Dec 11 2009 10:42
All undergraduate advising duties are already delegated to faculty advisors in the department, so how are they changing anything? A staff advisor in the dean's office is needed to support faculty advising functions. Any faculty advisor can attest to that. They are trying to implement changes that they don't even understand.
Your name
Fri Dec 11 2009 10:24
My understanding was that Ms. Berthelot gave more notice than was is recommended or required. How is that abrupt? Is she supposed to give 6 months notice? That is confusing.
Your name
Fri Dec 11 2009 08:27
And if Frady knew what "Teri's job was originally," he would know that department chairs don't see students with undeclared majors exactly because those students are undeclared. So there would be no need to ask the chairs to direct undeclared majors to him since they know to come to him anyway! It is clear that he and Miron have no idea what they're doing.
Your name
Fri Dec 11 2009 08:19
Nearly 3 weeks notice is not "abrupt!"






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