FACULTY ADVISING FOR STEM STUDENTS AT A TWO-YEAR COLLEGE

During the 2013-14 academic year, Bergen Community College, a two-year college in the New York City metropolitan area with a diverse student body and total enrollment of approximately 17,000, began a new advisement program for incoming STEM students, assigning them to a faculty member in their discipline to help keep the students in the right courses, right majors, and on the right career path. Prior to this program, most students got advising for their majors by showing up in person at a drop-in advising center staffed by random faculty members, so there was no guarantee that the person they would speak with would be knowledgable about their field of interest. Currently, 303 students are advised by 28 faculty members (an average student:advisor ratio of 10.8:1) across such fields such as Physics, Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics. In addition to meeting students face-to-face or online, faculty can keep track of students' progress through an online database system, allowing us to see their transcripts and program evaluations. Beginning in the summer of 2014, BCC began a pilot program within the faculty advising program requiring the advisees of 4 faculty members (37 students in total, excluding those who already receive special advising through other programs) to meet with their advisors prior to registering for their Fall 2014 classes. To ensure compliance, these students had holds placed on their registrations which would only be removed once the meetings were held. It is hoped that this pilot program will be expanded to all STEM students and that the entire program of faculty advising will be enacted for all students at Bergen.