Growing Advisor Turnover Prompts New Program
By: Trey Dallas
After losing 50 percent of advising staff over a three year period, the University of Oklahoma has implemented a new program tailored towards combating advisor turnover rates.
The Career Ladder program, implemented in July 2022, is a way for advisors to work their way through development programs designed to enhance their skills and experiences, while also working their way up the ranks within advisor roles. Within that career advancement, an advisor can advance from an entry level advisor to a senior associate advisor over the span of six years. The program is not a requirement for OU advisors. It is optional based on someone’s desire to advance their career.
The program is cutting edge in its design, so much so that it has turned heads and received recognition on a national level.
“We presented our program at a national conference and people were just like ‘oh my gosh!’” said Kathleen Shea Smith, associate provost for Academic Advising at OU.
“So many other programs have been based on top down development. With ours, people get to choose their own professional development based on their own professional identity” Shea Smith said.
Making it through the program and moving into an advanced role also brings a salary increase into play. Currently, starting pay at OU for advisors is $40,000, which was increased from $36,000. Advancing through the program and into a senior associate role generates a $10,000 salary raise and brings the advisor’s pay rate to $50,000.
As the program nears its first birthday, early results and experiences bring great promise and optimism for the future.
“I’m feeling so good about it. Immediately, we have seen a drop in turnover. We have seen a couple people go, but some of those were instances such as retirement. But overall, there has been such a radical difference from a year ago” said Shea Smith.
Deyna Aragon, senior Academic Advisor at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication recalls thoughts of confusion when the program was first introduced in writing.
“But, when it was finally presented to us, my thoughts became ‘this is a program that is going to lead people to advising and is going to entice them to stay in the program’” said Aragon.
Aragon is in her seventh year as an academic advisor. Starting her advising career at the University of Texas at El Paso, she understands the struggles of working on a starting wage that is not sustainable. Aragon commends the equitable wages associated with the Career Ladder and believes that to be one of the stronger aspects of the program.
“Being able to be in a spot where it’s actually a comparable wage, and knowing that other people are going to come in and know that they’re at a comparable wage has probably been the most impactful piece for me” said Aragon.
Aragon believes giving advisors comparable wages university-wide will bring a sense of fairness back to advising. She hopes this fairness will keep advisors retained and engaged with their roles and the university.
All eligible advisors are entered into a Canvas course where they can begin the programs and training to advance up the ladder. To be considered eligible for the program, someone has to be a full-time professional undergraduate advisor at the university. Upon entrance into the Canvas course, each individual advisor can decide if they want to participate in the program or stay where they are.
Story Reflection: This multimedia story was my final project for my JMC 3003: Multimedia journalism story. I completed this assignment in the spring semester of my sophomore year. The goal of this story was to learn more about embedding videos into my writing pieces to round out my journalism skills. With this class, I learned valuable writing skills while also learning more valuable camera skills that I have enhanced through my years at Gaylord.