Excellence in Academic Advising

This initiative is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to refocus and enhance student advising. Effective advising throughout a student's academic career is crucial to ensuring student success.

-FSU Past President Ronald Nowaczyk

NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising (NACADA) and the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education (Gardner Institute) have joined to advance student success, persistence, retention, and degree completion through a comprehensive, standards-based assessment process to promote excellence in academic advising.

Frostburg State University is one of twelve institutions completing this Excellence in Academic Advising (EAA) project as part of the charter cohort. Participation in this project is a major action item for FSU's 2018-2023 strategic plan, supporting Action Item 3: Frostburg State University supports student success through comprehensive academic and career services that are focused on the needs of students from admission through their years as alumni.

This project at FSU was led by:

Dr. Benjamin Norris, Professor of Chemistry
Dr. Jay Hegeman, Assistant Vice President and Registrar (Retired)

We are pleased to be supported by our EAA liaison, Dr. Susan Poch, Assistant Vice Provost Emerita at Washington State University, and the EAA core team. We also appreciate the support and engagement of FSU leadership and more than 90 student, faculty, and staff taskforce members.

Progress at FSU

Click on the links below to read about our progress through this project.

2018 Advising Town Halls
2019 Comprehensive Advising Self-Study
2020 Transition to Action

Key Communications 

• 2018 Advising Town Hall Final Report (PDF)
• 2019 Comprehensive Advising Self-Study Report (PDF)
• 2020 Action Plan and Progress Report (PDF)

EAA News

• FSU joins the EAA charter cohort (press release)
• FSU launches new academic advising model (press release)
• Drs. Jay Hegeman and Ben Norris participate in EAA panels at the 2019 and 2020 NACADA Annual Conferences
• Drs. Ben Norris, Jeff McClellan, Kate Kinsinger, and Jay Hegeman present at 2022 NACADA Annual Conference on managing advising change and aligning advising model to institutional goals.
• Dr. Ben Norris serves as EAA Fellow for Cal Poly Humboldt in 2023-2024.
• Dr. Kate Kinsinger, Director of Academic Advising, wins student award for Outstanding Faculty or Staff in 2024 (press release) 

For more information, contact:

Dr. Benjamin Norris, Professor of Chemistry
bnnorris@frostburg.edu