Leah Girard, Carl LoConte, Juliette C. Niemi, and Catlin Michael Wojtokowski, 2010 SAA MA graduates, developed a peer advising program for the College of Natural Sciences (CNS) as their group project for EAD 875 (Issues in Student Affairs) during Fall 2009. Heidi Purdy, Academic Advisor in CNS, recently published an article touting the success of the program.
Purdy, H. (2013, September). Peer advisors: Friend or foe? Academic Advising Today, 36(3). Retrieved from [http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/Peer-Advisors-Friend-or-Foe.aspx]
“In 2009, the advising center in the College of Natural Science (CNS) at Michigan State University consisted of fewer than four full-time advisors and over 2500 students to serve. With the number of advisees steadily growing each year and the budget steadily shrinking, the office was on the verge of complete overload when a group of eager graduate students from the student affairs master’s degree program inquired about assisting with a problem as a semester project. This group was set on the task of reviewing the literature on peer advising and its advantages, as well as assessing how it might fit for CNS.”