Helping Students Find Their Way with Wayfinders
Navigating the varied academic landscapes of the University of Arizona can be a tremendous challenge for students, especially for those in their first year on campus. With so many possible resources available to help students succeed, the need to highlight those options has been identified by the strategic planning process as a priority for enhancing the academic journey. Wayfinders are a collection of some of the University’s most engaging academic advisors, representing all fifteen University colleges, whose vast knowledge of how to connect with the campus community is being channeled into numerous exciting partnerships.
The need for Wayfinders emerged out of the knowledge that most students will change their major at least once during their time in college. Uncertainties about how to match interests with viable academic paths can be daunting enough without the added pressure of how to negotiate the change-of-major process. Wayfinders help students by walking them through these steps in spaces that are comfortable and familiar by meeting in residence halls, student resource centers, and at pop-up events all throughout campus.
Not all students are contemplating changing majors and Wayfinders fill other needs by providing programming on how to effectively build course schedules, particularly targeting priority registration with a series of computer lab seminars designed to help students navigate UAccess. Interactions may be as simple as helping a student locate a hard-to-find building during those first weeks of the semester or identifying a key faculty member for class consultation. Roxie Catts, director of the Advising Resource Center, explains that Wayfinders are “ambassadors to the advising community” and that the primary objective is to “ensure students are building relationships with their major advisor, whose expertise and knowledge of available resources is invaluable to academic success.”
Future interactions with students include targeted focus groups designed to gather important information regarding student perceptions of how to improve their experience at the University and how to best serve them through academic advising. Wayfinders are learning how to effectively communicate with students through various forms of technology and social media while always promoting the importance of face-to-face interactions. Academic advisors are challenged to be on the cutting-edge of how to engage with students while offering the tools to successfully traverse the exciting programs that the University has created to help students find their academic home. Wayfinders, in meeting students where they are, are poised to open new avenues for improving the collegiate experience at the University of Arizona.