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Director's Note

The CRC student coordinators need to have experienced the CRC-related opportunity in order to advise on it; therefore, they tend to be juniors and seniors who, alas, graduate after only one or two years. Yet here is the strength that lies in this yearly turnover:  We don’t become complacent about the work, and we view it with fresh, critical eyes. We try to adapt to change and implement solutions when needed.
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In 2017-2018, we continued to progress with our diversity and inclusion action plan:

 

  • We forged ahead with efforts to intentionally liaise with various campus programs, offices, and people, such as with Academic Support Services, CAPS, SEAS, Dean of the College and Student Support Services deans, and the CareerLAB, Writing and First Generation College / Low-Income Centers. 

  • We held staff training sessions throughout the year about the open curriculum and class / classism, advising undocumented/DACA students, and what is means to do self-directed research; additionally, the Coordinators attended other centers' staff meetings (Academic Support Services and Brown Center for Students of Color).

  • Our peer advising work related to fellowships and research opportunities is purposefully targeted toward serving underrepresented students and communities, and for the first time this year our leavetaking coordinators held two information sessions in the FLi Center.

Director's Note (con't)

 

During our last staff meeting, I asked the staffers to reflect on our work during the year by naming programmatic or office-wide Roses, Buds, and Thorns.  We said we were confident about efforts to provide students in our programs or who dropped by the office with our full attention and support, and we believed we confirmed an ongoing commitment to a reflective practice about how we advise and try to ensure the accessibility of our programs and advising community. 

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Some of us noted that while the CRC has an increased visibility on campus, more students should know more about us, especially first years. And for those prickly thorns or tough nuts to crack, we discussed the challenges of managing our capacity as a small office with big goals; for example, this year we needed to limit sophomore participation in MAPS for the first time since the program was established, and the IC team felt the strain of keeping pace with the number of in-depth advising conversations for this year's 77 IC proposals.

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In her year-end evaluation, one coordinator observed many of her advisees lacked confidence in applying for competitive opportunities.  I continue to see how the CRC and its peer advisors play an important role in cracking this toughest nut of all.

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With gratitude, 

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