By Terri Carroll, M.Ed., Executive Director, Academic Advising

UNG’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) for academic advising will phase in Political Science and International Affairs on the Dahlonega campus beginning with new students matriculating in the summer of 2017. The QEP is one of the requirements for the university’s reaffirmation of accreditation and describes a course of action for enhancing educational quality that focuses on student learning and/or the environment supporting student learning. UNG’s QEP, “On Time and On Target,” is intended to integrate academic advising into the teaching and learning mission of UNG. The plan is designed to improve student learning by expanding advising resources and implementing a blended advising model using both professional advisors and faculty mentors.

The QEP will support students so that they can define academic goals and take personal responsibility for developing educational plans, utilize appropriate campus resources to support educational goals, and engage in appropriate learning experiences to achieve educational goals. Under the plan, students in QEP programs will have mandatory advising appointments, until they have earned 45 credit hours, with professional advisors assigned to specific academic programs, after which students will transition to faculty advisors in their programs of study. Faculty advisors will emphasize program requirements in the students’ major and mentor students regarding learning opportunities such as internships, research, study abroad, and plans for graduate or professional school.

Master faculty advisors (MFAs) are selected as departmental representatives and complete a QEP Advisor Development Program along with professional academic advisors assigned to their major programs. The MFA for Political Science and International Affairs is Dr. Cristian A. Harris. MFAs and professional advisors work closely to construct advising tools, including a departmental advising syllabus; an online, fillable program of study sheet; and a year-by-year course planning guide. All advising tools are accessible in a single location on the academic advising website.

Additional components of the QEP include Inspire for Advisors, a predictive analytic software used by professional advisors to monitor students’ academic progress and provide targeted, intentional advising to students who are at risk for non-persistence. MFAs, along with professional advisors, also collaborate to develop “Maximize Your Major” PowerPoint presentations for use at new-student orientations.

Since the beginning of its implementation in the spring of 2016, the QEP has successfully partnered professional and faculty advisors to provide a context for learning that helps students make sense of their education as a whole and not just as a series of isolated events. For more information about the QEP, visit “On Time and On Target” on the UNG website.