The University of the West:

Proposal for the Creation of a One Stop Office Submitted to the Dean of Student Affairs and University President










Proposal for the Creation of a One Stop Advising Office

By Pepper M. Lopez
[Authored in January 2014 and Submitted in February 2014]

The University of the West:
Proposal for the Creation of a One Stop Office Submitted to the Dean of Student Affairs and University President


Purpose:
University of the West [UWest] currently has a retention committee which was crucial in its development of its
academic advising program. At UWest students are advised by the academic chairs of the various departments.
Currently there has been discussion to create further support for the faculty chairs in their new roles as academic
advisors. The topics have included further training designed to provide the faculty with the knowledge needed to
advise students in areas traditionally represented by student affairs professional, i.e. international student advising in
relation to student visa eligibility, and training in the minimum academic loads to retain federal financial aid
eligibility. Further additional human resources have been suggested as a means to support the chairs whose
responsibilities have become more taxed with this new additional and critical out-of-the-classroom student service
with distinct links to retention and persistence rates.
This proposal is targeted to support the academic advisement efforts of the faculty at UWest, and address some of
the academic advisement resource concerns by proposing the addition of a specific student affairs advisor with
different and complementary skills and knowledge as a strategy to provide a more holistic approach to UWests
academic advising program, increase the varied realms of knowledge resident in the academic advising office, and
relieve some of the time constraints the this new role has placed on the academic chairs allowing them to maximize
their energies on classroom instruction. The addition of a student affairs counselor to the academic advising division
better serves the universitys mission. A distinct perimeter of the universities mission is whole person education. It
is evident that advising which understands the nuances of each academic program in addition to an understanding of
human development, counseling techniques, and student learning theory is a superior program over one that might
not encompass this latter knowledge in which student affairs professional are trained.
Research:
Research has established a significant link between academic advising and student success. (Allen & Smith, 2008a)
(Allen & Smith, 2008b); and although a positive correlation has been established in regard, student dissatisfaction
with academic advising is also consistently evident. There is a very real insolubility between faculty and student
perceptions of the academic advising experience. Both students and faculty similarly rate aspects of the academic
advising experience as important. But, faculty are consistently far more satisfied with their perception of the
advising they give to students rating it very high, than students are satisfied with the advising they receive from
faculty which they rate as marginal at best (Allen & Smith, 2008a) (Allen & Smith. 2008b). Although this difference in
perception could very well indicate a deficit regarding faculty skill to advise along the entire compass of aspects that
research has indicated contribute to student retention and persistence, it may be more likely to illustrate areas in
which faculty feel a lack of responsibility in which to counsel, or at which they feel others at the institute may be
better suited to provide this expertise (Allen & Smith, 2008a) (Allen & Smith, 2008b). The research points to the
reality that faculty place(d) a higher priority on the function that they perceived as more germane to the academic
core (Allen & Smith, 2008a) (Allen & Smith, 2008b). Among aspects rated as important by students in which faculty
gave low responsibility ratings would be co-curricular learning; general education and which degree to pursue;
student individuation, or what Chickering, Schlossber, and other developmental theorist have labeled as mattering;
and how things work or how to navigate the universitys procedures and policies (Allen & Smith, 2008a) (Allen &
Smith, 2008b).
The University of the West:
Proposal for the Creation of a One Stop Office Submitted to the Dean of Student Affairs and University President


For first generation college students a distinct aspect of University of the Wests almost entirely Latino populated
local feeder high school student bodies this aspect of navigating the higher education environment could prove
critical. First-generation, low-income students can often lack the social or cultural capital to navigate the higher
education environment in a way that supports their academic success and degree completion (Allen & Smith, 2008b)
(Borrego, 1994). The expectation that students will have all of their academic advising needs met by a single faculty
member for whom advising is only one of many responsibilities may be not only be an unrealistic administrative
expectation, but it may also represent an area of disservice to students (Allen & Smith, 2008b). It is in servicing
students by providing a complementary set of skills and knowledge to the faculty academic advisors that student
affairs professional are likely to prove vital.
The findings reported here not only lend support for what Habley (2004) termed the dual model of academic
advising, in which each student has access to two advisors; they further delineate the responsibilities of each
advisor. Under the kind of dual model suggested by the current data, faculty advisors would lend their
expertise in helping students integrate their overall academic, career, and life goals; connect those goals to
choices in the major; and access resources to overcome academic barriers to learning. The students second
advisor would be a student affairs professional who would assist with aspects of the curriculum outside of the
students major, including co-curricular matters, connect the student to services that address nonacademic
barriers to success, and help the student understand how things work at the university. Helping students
understand how things work at the institution is a particularly critical role for student affairs professionals
because that kind of advising is judged by both faculty and student to be highly important, but one for which
faculty are reluctant to assume responsibility. Furthermore, student affairs professionals are uniquely
situated to provide this kind of advising because it is their organizational divisions that are most often
charged with implementing and enforcing institutional policies and procedures that students must navigate
(Allen & Smith, 2008a).
Elements:
What is proposed: Budget for a full-time academic advisor trained in student development and college
counseling for fall 2014, and begin immediately by creating a budget for this counselor currently working in the
enrollment office part-time to begin full-time employment serving students both in the enrollment office and as
this academic advisor.
This staff members hybrid, multi-function position will set the ground work for the development of University of
the Wests new One Stop Office. The title of the employ shall be changed from Enrollment Assistant to Academic
Advisor: One Stop Coordinator.
There are distinct benefits for the creation of this position for the specific employee, Ms. Pepper Lopez, and
University of the West. For Ms. Lopez these would include the benefit of working in a different and distinct area
from her enrollment outreach services, and in which she is equally passionate. Ms. Lopez is scheduled to
complete her degree in June 2014 with a 3.721 g.p.a. from Azusa Pacific University. In addition, after over a year
of part-time employment without benefits, this will provide her the opportunity to work full-time with University
of the West with employee benefits; and be better positioned to support herself, her family, and the university in
obtaining their mutual goals of excellence.
For the university it will gain an academic advisor trained in human development theory and effective student
centered counseling techniques, who has researched a significant body of the relevant literature regarding the
factors which influence undergraduate retention and persistence, who has designed and conducted a detailed
The University of the West:
Proposal for the Creation of a One Stop Office Submitted to the Dean of Student Affairs and University President


qualitative research project specific to the retention and persistence factors affecting local southern California
transfer students of color, who has completed a quantitative statistical analysis of the academic advising program
of a prominent local university Pomona College, who is familiar with working with minority student populations
and first-generation college student with specific experience implementing the Talent Search program of the
Higher Education Act of 1965 at some of the local Los Angeles county high schools, and has over seven years of
experience of working with undergraduate students in higher education.
Program Budget Requirements:
Currently UWest budgets approximately $24,480.00 for the position of Enrollment Assistant. The following
additional funding would be needed to provide the additional advising resources to its students.
$17,120.00 to provide a full-time salary of $41,600.00. This translates to approximately 40 hours per week at
$20.00 dollars an hour as a non-exempt employee, or the university could provide exempt status eliminating the
need to budget any additional funds for possible overtime expenses.
$3300 on an annual basis to provide health benefits for the new full-time position. This is based on a cost of
$275.00 a month.
The total annual budget for the full-time position of Academic Advisor/One Stop Coordinator would be
$44,900.00, or an additional $20,420.00 beyond the amount the university has budgeted for its Enrollment
Counselor position.
With an approximate budget of $10,000.00 the new position of Academic Advisor: One Stop Coordinator could
be created, and the additional academic advising support can be provided for students immediately for the
spring 2014 semester. An annual budget would then be subsequently approved for the 2014-2015 academic year
for the budget outlined above.

Assessment of Academic Advisement Program and Student Retention and Persistence:

All incoming first year students would be given either the Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshman
Survey [CIRP] in conjunction with the College Senior Survey [CSS], or the College Student Experience
Questionnaire [CSEQ] in conjunction with the College Student Expectation Questionnaire [CSXQ]. The data
generated from these assessments would provide analysis of the academic advising services provided by this new
position, and be invaluable to understanding the dynamics of student learning at University of the West. Further,
because these partner surveys are nationally standardized surveys this data can also be used to benchmark
UWests effectiveness in relation to other higher education institutes.

Bibliography
Allen, J.M. & Smith, C.L. (2008). Importance of, responsibility for, and satisfaction with academic advising: A
faculty perspecitve. The Journal of College Student Development, 49(5), 397-411.

Allen, J.M. & Smith, C.L. (2008). Faculty and student perspectives on advising: Implications for student
dissatisfaction. The Journal of College Student Development, 49(6), 609-624.

Borrego, S.E. (2003). Class matters: Beyond Access to Inclusion. NASPA, invited paper, 1-8. ISBN 978-0-931654-36-7