Advisers in the College of Education, Health and Human Services are now on-call to rescue students from everyday academic woes.

Students can now stop by 304 White Hall Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. to ask quick questions about things like policy information and completing appropriate paperwork.

Upon arrival, students will need to fill out a form detailing their question. If the question can be answered without updating or reviewing a student’s file, they can immediately meet with an on-call adviser. Students will be encouraged to make an appointment if their question is more complex.

On-call advising is part of the college’s quest to better meet the needs of its students and eliminate some frustrations they may face throughout the semester.

“We hope that students who truly have quick or more immediate questions will be able to have them answered in a timely manner without having to wait until the next appointment isÿavailable,” academic advisor coordinator Kathy Zarges said.

Students can still schedule meetings with their adviser, as well as go to “Walk-in Wednesdays.” According to the college’s Web site, on-call advising should last about five minutes, walk-ins about fifteen minutes and scheduled appointments about half an hour.

“We have wanted to offer this to our students for some time but have not had the resources available,” Zarges said.ÿ”A combination of new advisers and graduate assistants, paired with juggling the schedule a bit has allowed us to give this a try.”

“One of the things we have been very fortunate with is our higher education student masters program here,” added Daniel Mahony, dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Services. “Over the years, we have been able to hire some of our really good students right from our program and a lot of them funnel right into our advising staff.”

The program will be monitored closely throughout and at the end of the semester to see how well it is working for students. The hope is to continue with the program for semesters to come.

“The entire university may end up going in this direction,” Associate Dean Joanne Arhar said. “We are looking at our program as kind of a pilot and trying to see what the kinks are.”

Contact College of Education, Health and Human Services reporter Kelley Stoklosa at [email protected].