Advising department looks for new leader

A search committee will begin a hunt for a new head of the advising department this week.

Carolyn Cannon, the current associate dean of academic advising, announced her retirement plans at the end of last semester. She will continue to work to the end of the academic year.

Cannon’s replacement will come into UNC’s advising department at a time of significant change and will have the chance to shape the future of advising at the school.

“The new director’s going to have an opportunity to look at the advising structure in place and bring new ideas with how advising could be better,” said Steve Matson, chairman of the search committee and dean of the Graduate School.

Bobbi Owen, senior associate dean of undergraduate education in the College of Arts and Sciences, said Cannon’s replacement will need to be responsive to changes in the advising world and experienced in working with students.

“Carolyn is going to leave behind a legacy of working with students and being able to change as times change,” Matson said.

The director of the academic advising program is responsible for leading advising for the College of Arts and Sciences, which oversees all freshmen and sophomores and 80 percent of juniors and seniors.

The 10-person search committee, which consists of faculty, staff members and an undergraduate student, is meeting for the first time this week.

The new director will be charged with continuing the department’s reforms to personalize the advising process. The changes came in reaction to negative feedback from students and a frank external review in fall 2008 which found advising at UNC to be ineffective in some ways.

Owen added that she does not expect the search committee to prefer a current UNC employee for the position.

Matson said the group will discuss the director’s role in the first meeting, which is scheduled to take place this week.

He said he hopes the new director will focus on improving the level of advising for juniors and seniors and strengthening communication with the College of Arts and Sciences.

Matson said the director needs to be able to maintain the core mission of academic advising while adjusting to changes such as new technology.

“The guts of advising don’t change. There’s a student and a knowledgeable adviser, and they have a conversation,” Matson said. “What they talk about and how they talk, those things change.”

The application for the job was posted online Friday. The deadline for applicants is March 15.

Owen said the committee will review applicants in March. She said the committee will interview fewer than five finalists in April and try to make a decision by the end of the semester.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.