Academic services available for students in need

Office of Student Academic Services a valuable resource to go to

Support is a loaded word at Oberlin. Whether a cross-section of Oberlin students feel academically supported or not is a topic the Office of Student Academic Services takes seriously.

Linda Gates, acting associate dean of the office of student academic services said her office targets first-generation and low income students because those are the groups that the federal grant that aids the office targets. She said, however, that the office is open to all students.

"I'm sensitive about labeling students," Gates said.

Students who have been approached by academic services have mixed reactions.

"It is never our intention to label," Gates said. "We do occasionally have a student who is offended by being tageted."

"I didn't feel that I needed to be targeted. I wanted to be treated the same as other students," college junior Amie Ely, a first-generation college student said.

"You just have to swallow it," Gates said about criticisms.

"I think [outreach] is good, I just didn't feel at the time that I needed it," Ely said.

"The only criteria for targeting students is low-income and first generation. We do not look at ethnicity or gender," Gates said.

Gates said academic support services are open to all students. "We provide programs that are available to the entire community," Gates said.

Senior Nakisha Heard said she had no problem adjusting to Oberlin academically, but she found a close confidant in Brenda Grier-Miller in the Student Academic Services office through the peer liaison program.

Sophomore Evan Morrow also felt comfortable academically, but he kept some of his concerns to himself. "I felt a little disrespected by professors. They were assuming things about my academic background. I didn't always see that from students, but I did from white professors.

"I had to adjust to them on my own and it felt like I was on my own. I was used to adjusting to things on my own. I used my friends as a peer support group."

Working closely with Student Academic Services is the Office of Student Academic Affairs. The Office coordinates advising services at Oberlin.

"Advisors alert me to students in trouble and I alert student support services or alert Residential Life. There is quite a bit of communication between this office and advisors," Associate Dean David Hershiser said.

For many students, advisors are the only connection students have to academic services. Professors are trained by the Office of Student Academic Affairs at the beginning of the year. "We do have a meeting at the start of every year. We discuss advising issues and things to look out for," Hershiser said.

The role Student Academic Services plays in helping Oberlin retain a diverse student body is one that has been looked at by both the administration and students. Results of the African-American retention study indicate that students who had contact with the Office of Student Support Services were more likely to stay at Oberlin and more likely to graduate.

Gates said, "Students that we target graduate at a higher rate than students that don't use our services."

The role of advising in student retention is less clear. "Advising does not seem to play a role in minority student retention," Hershiser said.

He said matching of new students with advisors is a long process that his office works on over the summer. "There are advisors who prefer to work with minority students," Hershiser said. He said there is a give and take between placing students within their intended major or with an advisor who has preferences.

According to Hershiser, it is rare that students of color request an advisor of color. "It's more likely that a female student would ask to be put with another woman," he said.

Hershiser listed some preferences professors have for advisees. Some want to work with international students, majors only, athletes or students from various parts of the country.

"Basically they are looking for some kind of comfort. Most will take any student who will come along," Hershiser said.

"I think it's an incredible aspect of our academics," junior Alyse Schrecongost said about advising services. She said some professors are very good advisors while others are not. "A lot of that varaition could be eliminated by opening up communication," she said.

Professor of English Pat Day said advising is like teaching. "It's something that you get better at as you do it." Training new advisors is something the Office of Student Academic Affairs takes seriously, but Day stressed that regardless of intentions, the nature of advising is a difficult one to train for.

"It's hard to know what training you could give to someone about how to interact with total strangers about what they want to do in college," Day said.

"Advising is part of an overall picture. If there is good advising, it is usually part of a lot of good things. It usually does not stand out from other things on campus," Hershiser said.