Fischer focuses on strengthening academic advising at Lawrence

After two strong years leading Lawrence University's academic advising reform efforts, Jacklyn John Fischer is now providing additional leadership in the Center for Academic Success.

Fischer, associate dean of academic success and director of academic advising, oversees the academic advising experience at Lawrence. Much of her work thus far has focused on reforming the academic advising experience at Lawrence - gathering data, researching best practices, and collaborating with campus stakeholders to enhance the academic advising experience. One of her key partners has been the university's Academic Advising Committee. Together they have made improvements that include overhauling the new student advising experience, developing student learning outcomes for academic advising, and launching an expanded advisor training program for all new faculty advisors.

"Academic advising helps students make the most of their college experience," Fischer said. "With effective academic advising, students are given space to reflect upon their goals and interests with someone who can help them think through plans for realizing those goals."

Fischer is responsible for assigning students their "pre-major" advisors before they arrive on campus for their first year at Lawrence and helps ensure students are matched with a "major" advisor once they declare a major. She also works with campus partners and academic departments to develop and expand resources for undecided and exploratory students as they chart their academic path at Lawrence. One example is the "Meet Your Major" series, in which students can learn about various majors and minors by meeting faculty and other students involved in different departments and programs in an informal setting.

Learn more about academic advising and other student support at Lawrence

Looking ahead, Fischer aims to develop new assessment tools to ensure the continuous improvement of academic advising at Lawrence.

"I am looking forward to implementing a formal assessment process for academic advising, where we'll use multiple measures of assessment to gauge whether we're achieving our identified student learning outcomes for academic advising," she said.

In her recently expanded role as the associate dean of academic success, Fischer is now supervising the academic coaching team in the Center for Academic Success. Academic coaches meet with students to talk about mindset and motivation, values and goals, and how to overcome hurdles to academic success. This combined position allows her greater perspective on how faculty academic advisors and academic coaches can effectively collaborate to promote student academic success at Lawrence.

Fischer, who holds a Master of Education in Higher Education from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said she's always been passionate about equity and student success in higher education. She is excited that this expanded position will allow her to improve university systems and structures while still allowing her to meet with individual students.

"My favorite part of the job is identifying advising 'pain points' and working collaboratively with colleagues to find solutions that improve the student experience," Fischer said. "I love having the opportunity to bring people together to help our systems work more effectively in the ever-changing higher education landscape."

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