Update on New Advising Model

Over the past several years, NOVA has convened summits, working groups, task forces, and committees comprised of staff, faculty, and students with the goal of developing a seamless and meaningful student experience. Despite the best efforts of dedicated faculty and staff, however, technology infrastructure and system challenges continue, and they negatively impact both our students and our employees.

One of the areas consistently identified as in need of redesign has been advising. NOVA’s last QEP was an attempt to improve advising, and improving advising is a cornerstone of NOVA’s 2017-2023 Strategic Plan. This plan committed to developing a college-wide approach to advising and to implementing Navigate (then called VIP-PASS) to allow for students to self-advise, to assign and coordinate advisors, and to provide for more effective course registration by students.

Yet, by 2020, these goals were still incomplete, and most of the work needed to address them had stalled. Thousands of students had no advisor, and others did not know who their advisors were. Accessing almost all enrollment functions at NOVA required connecting with a person: very little could be accomplished via self-service. And, as students increasingly enrolled at multiple campuses while we were remote, they also increasingly fell through the cracks, with each campus believing another was serving them.

So, during the pandemic, more groups were convened to develop a new advising model, one that would provide all NOVA students with a college-wide academic advisor. My division has been working to implement this model for the past few months, but doing so has been an uphill effort given that, for many reasons that are now being addressed, NOVA still has not implemented Navigate. In addition, feedback from the College Senate, employee surveys, and college-wide meetings has identified concerns with resource capacity, stakeholder inclusion, and viability of the model. These concerns are valid: I have heard them and thank you for sharing them.

My message today is that Student Services is pausing the implementation of the new advising model.

Student Services is filled with good people at every single level working as hard as they can within a system that is broken: it no longer works for our students or our employees. The solution proposed in spring is not a good fit for NOVA, but we do need a solution. One that moves us forward.

So, we’re going back to the drawing board. Over the 2021-2022 academic year, I personally will convene and lead a college-wide group, one that includes advisors, counselors, faculty and students. Together, we will design and implement NOVA’s advising model and our approach to holistic student supports. The work of this group will also support our College’s commitment to the following VCCS Opportunity 2027 objective:

Develop the knowledge and strengthen the skills of student support leaders and their staff through intentional and strategic professional development, with emphasis on equity and student success; fully utilize Navigate to provide proactive academic advising, early alerts, and a coordinated care network.

We will review successful advising and support models at colleges recommended by Achieving the Dream and NACADA: the Global Community for Academic Advising. Given the essential role that Navigate must play, the group will also work closely with EAB to ensure NOVA completes its implementation. Together, we will identify strategic professional development for faculty and staff that models inclusive excellence. Our process will be transparent and public: with agendas and minutes published to the NOVA community and clear expectations that those at the table will communicate the work to their constituents and bring any ideas or concerns back to the table. I will regularly update both Administrative Council and College Senate on the team’s progress.

In “Pathway to the American Dream,” NOVA committed that every student would succeed and every program would achieve. With your expertise and engagement, I know that we will design programs for student advising and support that live out this commitment. Thank you for the honest feedback that is allowing us to re-imagine student services at NOVA as a collective and collaborative team of dedicated professionals. I look forward to the work ahead.

Submitted by:
Frances Villagran-Glover, VP Student Services, FVillagranGlover@nvcc.edu