WIP: Wrap-Around Advising: A Collaborative Effort Between Faculty Members and Student Success Professionals

Wrap-around advising involves a holistic methodology that puts the student at the center of attention with support from a team of academic and advising professionals. In recent years, an increasing number of academic units at universities have employed wrap-around advising practices to increase student persistence at the university and in their chosen major. To implement a successful wrap-around student advising process, it is pertinent that the faculty members and student success professionals embrace a collegiate and collaborative outlook and remain student-centric with regards to student academic success and well-being. Within a civil engineering program, a wrap-around advising model has been developed by a faculty member and a student success professional and implemented in a first-year civil engineering course. This wrap-around advising model involves a collaborative and intensive process of fluid communication among the faculty member, the student success professional, and the students. In this work, the authors discuss the history of development of this advising plan, some challenges, early results, and long-term goals.