With the absence of a core curriculum in mind, the dean of new students assigns a class adviser to every first-year and transfer student on the basis of the personal and academic interests the student indicates in his or her application and selection of classes. According to Dean of the Faculty Gregory Call, all tenured and tenure-track professors not in their first year at the College and who are not on leave are required to be advisers.
A brief history of college advising
Although the administration has instituted minor changes in the advising system since its inception, the College has maintained strong dedication to advising for over a century.
"Programs for advisers didn't exist until the curriculum began to include a good many electives," said Professor Emeritus of History Hugh Hawkins. "Harvard was a leader in adopting the elective system, and its adviser system dates from about 1880. Amherst moved toward electives sooner than smaller, poorer colleges with small faculties."
According to Hawkins, 56 percent of courses an Amherst student took were free electives in 1895-96, and by 1905-06, 75 percent were free electives. "Probably out of concern that students were picking their courses for unworthy reasons (time of day offered, ease of grading, charming professor, etc.), Amherst adopted an advisor system in the spring of 1900," said Hawkins.
Positive advising experiences
Faculty and students agree that an advising system serves a crucial function.
"At colleges where there are more requirements, those requirements provide some guidance to students when they are choosing courses," said Professor of Mathematics Daniel Velleman, who serves as chair of the Committee on Educational Policy. "At Amherst, students have to rely more on their advisers for guidance in choosing courses."
Some students respond positively to whatever amount of guidance they have received.
"My adviser has always been accessible and ready to help," said Margaret Wallace '06. "While she's a French professor, she seems to know a lot about other departments, and what she doesn't know she'll willingly call and ask about. She's actually recommended a couple of really good classes to me when I was unsure about a fourth class to take. She also makes me feel free to explore and not worry about being undecided on my major."
"In my first year, [my adviser] wrote me an email asking how my classes were going," said Aeri Cho '06. "He was concerned and wanted to know how I was doing."
"It's almost like [my adviser] gives me more confidence in my own assessments of my abilities and instincts about my interests," said Bonnie Lin '07. "He doesn't add to the pressure. He just encourages me to trust myself and try out new things."
Faculty members also speak positively about the system. "One of the incredibly enriching aspects of a College like this is the one-on-one relationship between faculty and students," said Chair of the Spanish Department Ilán Stavans. "It enriches both students and faculty. The advising system is really the best way to begin that relationship. After all, when education is personalized, it is far more enlightening."
"On one point, the Amherst faculty seems inclined to hold the line: we still aim for a face-to-face conversation rather than moving to online registration," said Associate Dean of the Faculty Rick Griffiths.
The College's system differs from those of comparable institutions in that it requires all post-first year faculty to act as advisers. "Even at some liberal arts colleges it's not expected that all faculty would be advisers, and I think that's a mistake," said Professor of Biology and Neuroscience Stephen George. "I think our system is much better."
Although almost all professors must serve as advisers, the size of the faculty limits even that number to 106 this semester, according to Dean of New Students Allen Hart. One factor that reduces the number of available advisers each semester is the College's policy that allows professors to take a semester's leave once every three years. According to Hart, he had to reassign more than 90 undeclared sophomores this year in addition to assigning the entire incoming class and transfer students. Hart's job is made more difficult by the large number of students with undeclared majors.
Hart is also responsible for offering guidance to new advisers. He held a workshop at the end of August to prepare them as much as possible. "Frankly, without the workshop it would have been much more challenging," said Assistant Professor of French Laure Katsaros. "[However,] I think it's really the contact with the advisees that opens your eyes to certain problems. I think that's the real training, besides the original training we had."
Problems of the advising system
Essential as it is, few consider the College's current advising system flawless. "My sense is that about every ten or fifteen years, folks realize that the system isn't living up to the hopes of its designers, and then some sort of reform takes place," said Hawkins.
"Advising, like the curriculum, is always under review," said Griffiths. "But attention has notched up for number of reasons, including the report of the Special Committee on the Amherst Education (SCAE), which drew attention to what we may not know about the skills of incoming students. This semester's problem of pre-registered students being closed out of courses also indicates a strain in the system of which academic advising is a part."
Questions also surround the requirement that all faculty advise. "The choice any college ultimately has is either to restrict advising to those faculty members who are best at it, or as we do, to require all faculty members to do it," said Lieber. "But the downside of that is that there will always be some faculty members who aren't very good at it or very interested in it or both. And I think that's a very difficult problem to resolve."
According to George, the advising system might also be falling short of the expectations of some trustees and alumni who hoped that it might serve as a substitute for a core curriculum. "Some people … are not happy with the lack of requirements. They think the advising system can be like a replacement system for requirements. But I think that's unrealistic. I think you're going to have trouble trying to dragoon people into taking classes," he said.
The SCAE report released in May 2003 suggests that students are limiting their course selections. Of the members of the class of 2002, 30 percent took no foreign language courses, 20 percent took no course in the fine arts, music, or theater and dance departments while an additional 19 percent took only one and 19 percent did not take any natural science classes while 24 percent took only one. Some suggest that students might choose a broader array of courses if they had more guidance from their advisors, who could encourage students to take classes in new fields of study.
Some professors also note a lack of positive reinforcement for being a good adviser. "The advising system doesn't help junior faculty," said Assistant Professor of Psychology Catherine Sanderson. "There is no credit for doing it. If you're a good adviser, nothing particularly good comes of it for you. If you're a bad adviser, nothing particularly bad comes of it for you. The College hasn't set it up so that there's any real motivation to do it well."
Griffiths, however, has noted the relevance of advising in tenure review. "In my experience, when assistant professors are reviewed for reappointment and tenure, there is almost always substantial testimony from majors in the department and thesis advisees about how effective the professor was as an adviser," he said. "Inaccessibility and indifference get dealt with harshly. Testimony about advising coincides closely with evaluations of teaching."
The many roles of advisers
Regardless of its influence on tenure decisions, professors treat the role of adviser in a variety of ways, from prescriptive to lax, relative stranger to faculty friend.
"[My adviser] was really concerned about me," said Cho. "So he didn't let me take five classes. He was really strict about that."
Other professors take a more laissez-faire approach to advising. "If the student wants to [take a particular class], it's probably a good thing because they're enthusiastic about it," said George. "In the sciences there are some things [an adviser should enforce]. You shouldn't take three lab science classes in a semester. But most of the stuff is really up to them."
"My adviser essentially gives me my space but is always available for help, which seems to me to be the ideal advising relationship," said Kate Biblowitz '06.
The SCAE was composed of President Emeritus Tom Gerety and eight professors. Its report made references to the advising system and course selection. "The local statistical data reveal that most students take courses distributed across the curriculum, while simultaneously exploring in depth one or more major fields of study," said the report. However, it goes on to say that some students limit their courses to a narrow range of subjects. "Large numbers of alumni returned surveys indicating that they were not adventurous enough in their choices of courses while at Amherst. Some wished their advisers had 'forced' them to broaden their selection of courses."
Whatever role students expect advisers to take, they must bear in mind that advisers' knowledge about certain aspects of the curriculum can be limited. "We don't know everything about every single class offered at Amherst," said Katsaros.
Sanderson tried to counter this problem by arranging a dinner where her advisees can consult one another. "Students are a really good source of advice to other students," she said. "I sometimes don't have as good advice as students for particular professors or particular classes."
"I believe the advising relationship should play a crucial role in helping each student formulate their plan of study," said Call. "I've always enjoyed working with my advisees and helping them determine ways to achieve their goals. One of the most exciting aspects of Amherst is the creativity evident in our open curriculum. Our curriculum is constantly evolving, and I look forward to working with the faculty to ensure that our students are obtaining the full measure of the opportunities it provides."