Advising in a Pandemic

By Tracy Holloway, Malin Collins, Katie Watkins

We’re all planners and organizers by nature. That’s why we like advising. The job allows us each to keep track of around 200 students and their plans. The pandemic certainly disrupted everyone’s plans! We had to pivot from our prepared natures to being much more flexible. Thankfully, it has worked. We now meet with all of our students via Zoom, which has become second nature. Although we miss our students, Zoom advising does have its benefits. For example, we' ve been able to meet virtually with students outside traditional 8 a.m. -5 p.m. office hours.

We' ve also loved meeting everyone’s wonderful families and pets. It goes both ways. Our students have seen our homes, our families and our pets as well. We hope to incorporate a mix of traditional in-person and more flexible virtual appointments when we are back on campus so that students can choose which format works best for them. Our hope is that this flexibility will allow students with additional responsibilities, such as part- or fulltime jobs and family commitments, to have more access to their advisors, and to increase the communication between students and our office.