Yesterday, the Arts & Sciences Council held an open round table meeting with Edward Ayers, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
The meeting was primarily focused on discussing and improving the University's peer advising program.
"There is a peer advising program in place, but we're working very hard to make the program more widely known among College students," said Erica Siegmund, president of the Arts & Sciences Council. "We sponsor many programs that involve peer advising, including working closely with University Career Services and co-sponsoring some of their programs."
The meeting was open to all College students, and the questions Ayers fielded varied from the formation of a LGBT minor to the validity of credits received from high school AP programs, as well as issues with advising and student-faculty relations.
The South Lawn Project was also an area of student interest. Increasing contact between students and faculty is an important goal behind the planning for the South Lawn Project and in the College as a whole, Ayers said.
"The South Lawn will be the most significant addition to old Grounds in 100 years," Ayers said, adding that "with the South Lawn project, we are trying to weave interaction with faculty into the fabric of daily life."
The plans call for 30 small classrooms and discussion rooms, which he said will create an incentive to bring more faculty members to the University and to campus.
"We've totally recast the advising program [in the past year], creating COLA classes, which are small classes in which the advisor is the professor, and students are given the opportunity to talk about the issues of being a student as well as the issues of the class," he added. "The focus is to bring advisors and students together."
Ayers also discussed the dean of the day program for faculty, which has been established to encourage ease of communication between students and their advisors.
"Most of these changes, especially in the advising system, have been made following the requests of students, and these meetings are very important to get a youthful view on the state of the University," Ayers added. "I'm always open to suggestions from students."
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