Undergraduate Advising
The Psychology Department hopes to make registration an easy process by providing insight and direction to each student who walks through the door. Normally, Freshmen and Sophomores are cleared for registration by Dr. Yvonne Wells, Coordinator of Undergraduate Advising for the Psychology Department. In the Sophomore year, upper level mentor/advisors will be suggested for each student for their Junior year, based on interests and future plans. The upper level advisor will then clear the student for registration and provide any other advising needs. It is important to note that students may seek advising at any time from whichever Professor they feel most connected with, in order to optimize professional and career goals.
The objective of the Psychology Department advising procedure is to increase advising availability and continuity for Freshman and Sophomores, and to allow Juniors and Seniors to connect with faculty advisors who work in their areas of interest. Junior and Senior year advisors can better guide students toward graduate school or other professions after graduation. Juniors and Seniors may also choose to keep Dr. Wells as their advisor. Dr. Wells will be a point person for all undergraduates if they have specific questions about courses and course registration. Dr. Gary Fireman, the department chair, will also be available should any students seek more mentoring or advising beyond that provided by Dr. Wells and other faculty members.
Additional Information:
Advising Procedure
Outline of Procedure for Freshman and Sophomore Advising:
All Freshman and Sophomore students will meet with Dr. Wells at least once each semester during the academic year, either:
- during Dr. Wells' open office hours
- during one of many group advising sessions
- during extended advising office hours during the advising season (will be announced once advising for spring registration formally opens)
- during in-class advising sessions in Dr. Wells' Freshman Seminar section (psychology majors who are enrolled in that class will receive information about when this will occur during regular class time)
- via email after a phone conference, (in rare cases where a student cannot make any of the other times and the Chair, Dr. Gary Fireman, has approved this option)
- by appointment for those students who cannot meet with Dr. Wells' at any of the above times or by any of the above means
Outline of Procedure for Junior and Senior Advising:
All Junior and Senior students will meet with their assigned Psychology Faculty advisor at least once a semester. The format for these meetings will be face to face meetings during pre-arranged advising times, scheduled appointments, or office hours.
|
Date
|
Time |
Location |
| Thursday, March 21, 2013 |
2:30pm - 4:00pm |
Donahue 638A |
| Friday, March 22, 2013 |
1:00pm - 2:30pm |
Donahue 638A |
| Tuesday, March 26, 2013 |
1:00pm - 2:30pm |
Donahue 638A |
| Friday, March 29, 2013 |
1:00pm - 2:30pm |
Donahue 638A |
| Tuesday, April 2, 2013 |
1:00pm - 2:30pm
|
Donahue 638A
|
| Thursday, April 4, 2013 |
2:30pm - 4:00pm
|
Donahue 638A
|
| Tuesday, April 9, 2013 |
1:00pm - 2:30pm |
Donahue 638A |
Academic Challenges and Questions
The following are a list of topics that are often discussed with Dr. Wells:
- Courses and registration
- Courses that are closed and possible options
- Course evaluations
- Strategies to connect with professors who work in an area of particular interest
- How to talk with professors when you are struggling in the class
- Ways to head off potential worries regarding GPA and academic performance
- Planning for direct research and study opportunities-using Dr. Wells as a sounding board to get a sense of which faculty may be a good match
- How to approach professors to request recommendation letters
- For freshman: how the psychology courses will come to fit in with the core courses they are taking
- For sophomores: professors they might want to approach for long term mentoring in their junior and senior years
At any time, all students can still feel free to talk to or continue to talk to the Chair of the Department, or any faculty member with whom they have already connected.
