By Jess Kusak
Navigating the collegiate world can be an adventure ride full of ups and downs for new college students. The Centralized Advising Academic Center
Providing consistent and effective advising is the cornerstone of the Centralized Academic Advising Center, a newly established full-service advising program at NSC. This new delivery model of advising is now headed into its second semester of operation.
As NSC grows as an institution, this centralized advising system will allow for better tracking of a student’s progress through their majors, said Lee Young, NSC Associate Vice Provost of Enrollment Management.
The CAAC staff, currently comprised of academic advisors and support staff from Student Experience, mainly serves declared, undeclared, or pre-major students who have earned between 0-59 credit hours. The CAAC staff guides students entering their NSC core curriculum requirements, selecting introductory and/or elective courses as students progress toward the upper-division courses within their respective majors.
The impetus for focusing on the early stages of a student’s coursework is rooted in establishing a solid
The CAAC is currently located in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Building. As Young explains, since the college has three locations, locating the center in the LAS building was the most effective way to reach their target audience students with 0-60 credit hours, as the bulk of the classes will take place there.
Every students needs are different. Many work full-time and have commitments outside of school that must be maintained, said Young. To answer the wide-ranging needs of the NSC student body, the CAAC also has representatives from the Registrar and Financial Aid offices on site regularly, so the full spectrum of a student’s needs can be addressed in one place. Additionally, the hours of the advisors are staggered, so students who can only come to campus during the early morning or in the evening can still receive the same one-on-one time with an advisor.
Young is quick to point out the assistance students receive from their advisors is not simply limited to selecting classes and a major. On the contrary,
As the NSC campus community grows, the landscape of advising grows as well. Young notes, we want to use the CAAC as a way to make certain the initial foundation the student has at NSC is very strong, successful, meets their needs and guides them in the right direction.