Advisor Spotlight: Carl Barfield, UF's Bug Man

by Mae Kiggins

Carl Barfield is a professor and the Undergraduate Coordinator in the Department of Entomology and Nematology. He has been advising undergraduate students full-time for the past six and a half years and is in the unique position of having a 100% teaching/advising appointment. His prior six years were spent in the Provost’s office as an Associate Provost. These wide ranging experiences are an asset to both his students and the University.

Why be an advisor
Dr. Barfield loves being an advisor. He originally became a professor because he loved working with students. He did research because it was required of faculty members. He wants students to be as happy and excited about their careers as he is about his. Dr. Barfield is finally getting to focus solely on students, which is exactly what he has always wanted to do.

Approach to advising
Dr. Barfield focuses on helping students find their passion and advising them in how to be successful in reaching their academic and professional goals. The first time he advises a student he teaches them how to read an audit so that subsequent visits can focus solely on student growth and development.

Favorite part of advising
Watching students find and follow their dreams.

Least favorite part of advising
Dealing with the increasing percentage of students who are in over their heads and play games to get out of stuff.

Motivation
Watching students mature. The best thing a student has ever told Dr. Barfield is that he received his own National Science Foundation grant.
Accomplishments while serving as Associate Provost
Some of Dr. Barfield’s accomplishments include designing the first online transfer manual, creating the first “Choose Your Major” brochure, and developing a scholarship program for community college transfer students. He assisted in implementing a teaching improvement program and drafted the UF faculty and advisor awards criteria.

In addition to advising
Dr. Barfield teaches ENY3005 – Introduction to Entomology and ENY1001 – Bugs & People, assists with Freshman Preview, taught First Year Florida for six years, and teaches an upper-division Honors Colloquium course for the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. At Preview, he gives a presentation to incoming students about faculty expectations. He says he is the only faculty member who gives out his email address at Preview and answers any question that students email him. He usually ends up getting around 1,000 emails during the fall semester from freshman Preview students.

On a personal note
Dr. Barfield has been at UF for over 33 years and will be retiring July 31, 2011. When he was involved in research, his work focused on crop protection strategies in developing countries that did not involve the use of pesticides. He has been married for 34 years and has two sons. His favorite pastimes involve the outdoors, especially sports.

Dr. Barfield quote
“You have the right to be adventuresome, but not the right to be stupid.”

CLAS Hosts Inaugural Majors & Minors Fair

by Ella Tabares

With the wide breadth of majors that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has to offer, students can become overwhelmed when trying to make an informed decision about their major. For that reason, AAC advisors partnered with faculty to hold the inaugural CLAS Majors & Minors Fair, which was held from 11AM-1PM on Wednesday, March 17 in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom.

Students in other UF colleges benefitted from attending the fair. Representatives, including faculty undergraduate coordinators, showcased the many opportunities their departments have to offer, including combined-degree programs, minors, internships, research, and field experiences.

Liz Kazungu, a CLAS advisor serving on the event planning committee, provides more insight into the goals of the fair: “Our aim was to provide an opportunity for students both within and outside CLAS to get as much information as possible to enhance their education and future prospects.” The committee advertised the fair through partnerships with Residence Life and other departments on campus. CLAS Ambassadors, a newly-formed student group, tabled and passed out flyers on campus leading up to and at the fair.

Faculty and staff from the various CLAS departments are enthusiastic about what the fair offered. Here is what some of them had to say:

“UF has a plethora of opportunities just waiting for students to stumble across. The CLAS M&M fair enabled students to discover these opportunities. We hoped to spread the message that a minor or certificate in Latin American Studies is an excellent option for students who wish to concentrate their work in a specific discipline yet maintain a Latin American focus in their coursework.” —Aimee Green, Program Coordinator, Center for Latin American Studies

“Geography deals with important issues at the interface between society and the environment, including natural hazards, urban sprawl, conservation, climate change, development, biodiversity, disease and health, water, agriculture, population and land use change, housing and real estate, and much more. Our majors use GIS and other technologies for inquiry and problem solving, and the knowledge and skills acquired in our major are directly related to many career paths. Most people think that geographers are concerned naming countries and their capitals or making maps, and that all you can do with a geography degree is teach. They are wrong! We hope that the CLAS M&M Fair enlightened students about the geography major and its potential career avenues, and our friendly, flexible, and fairly small department.” —Dr. Joann Mossa, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator, Department of Geography

“The fair gave us an ideal opportunity to talk to those students who are still shopping around for a major or minor. Many students have probably already explored their options online, but they needed someone like an advisor or faculty member to talk over their options to finally make a decision.” —Branislav Kovalcik, Lecturer, Modern European Studies

UF Advisor Hot Topic: The Requirement Formerly Known as CLAST

by Robin Rossie

In 1984, the Florida Legislature mandated administration of the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) to verify that all college sophomores were demonstrating basic skills in math and English. All students were required to sit for and pass the exam. Eventually, it was determined that the SAT/ACT was also an acceptable measure of math and English skills, as were grades earned in college-level math and English courses. Exemptions from CLAST were granted based on SAT/ACT and GPA in specified courses; waivers were granted (by committee decision) with extenuating circumstances.

In 2009, a cash-strapped Florida Legislature trimmed the state budget by discontinuing administration of the CLAST, but did not drop the requirement that students must demonstrate competence in math and English. So, CLAST as we’ve known it changed from a ‘test with exemptions’ to a ‘requirement involving no test.’ In essence, only exemptions or waivers would now satisfy the requirement. After months of negotiations, a final draft of expanded options to satisfy the requirement was adopted and ‘CLAST’ was renamed ‘CLASR.’

Standards for satisfying the CLASR are clearly stipulated. A majority of UF students have met the requirement with SAT, ACT, AP, or IB scores; however, a small population of students will have to meet the requirement through course enrollment or additional testing. Determining the most appropriate path for a student to take will require collaboration between the advisor and student. Dr. Mair, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, has tasked the Registrar’s Office with developing a standardized contract for college advisors to use when working with a student with a CLASR hold (placed at 45+ credit hours), and it is the advisor who will be able to lift that hold.

Please share your questions, tips, and tidbits on the BLOG.

Did you know…?

• CLEP is acceptable to meet the CLASR requirement but ONLY if non-redundant UF credit is awarded for the CLEP exam. This might work for a first-term freshman (fall and spring admits must submit scores before the end of first term of enrollment; summer admits before the end of fall), but not for established students. (Ditto for AP, IB, and AICE scores.)

• CPT (College Placement Test aka Computerized Placement Test) = ACCUPLACER. It’s available at UF and at Santa Fe College for a fee.

• Students can repeat the SAT/ACT even if already in college. The CPT/ACCUPLACER is a less expensive option than the SAT/ACT and is offered with much more frequency than the SAT/ACT.

Warrington Advisors Present at 2010 NACADA Region 4 Conference in Atlanta

Congratulations to Lindsey & Robbie: Winners of the "Best of Region" Award at the NACADA Region 4 Regional Conference!

by Lindsey Dedow

This past weekend, at the NACADA Region 4 conference, Robbie Shields and I presented a session detailing the development of our new Career and Academic Peer Mentoring program, titled “Get Ready To Work! The Development and Implementation of a Career Focused Peer Mentor Program.” I wanted to share the gist of our session here with the UF advising community.

When asked to identify their reasons for going to college, the top three reasons students identified were "to get a better job" (78%), "to get training for a specific career" (75%), and "to be able to make more money" (70%) (CIPR Freshman Survey, 2005). And 76% of employers who hire college students prefer to hire someone with relevant work experience (NACE, 2009). Armed with this data, in 2009 the School of Business implemented a requirement for all students to complete at least one internship before graduation. While we have always encouraged our students to complete an internship, requiring nearly 4,000 business majors to do so necessitated a significant increase in the administrative time required to successfully administer the program. We began to look at ways that we could provide additional support to our students going through the internship search process and also process the additional paperwork necessary to track the requirement.

Realizing that our students are one of our most effective resources for reaching out to other students, we implemented a peer mentoring program called ‘CAPs’ for Career and Academic Peer mentors. Utilizing successful student mentors to guide our students through the process is beneficial for everyone involved: the mentees, the student mentors, and the School of Business. The benefits to the mentees are that the mentors are selected and trained to be experts in the internship search process. They are upper-division students who have successfully found and completed at least one internship and are enthusiastic about helping their peers find the same success. They have time to individually guide students through all aspects of the process. For the mentors, the benefits are both professional and personal development. Professionally, mentors gain experience in public speaking and presentation skills, network with University staff and College faculty and develop their leadership skills. They also benefit by the enhanced stature of their degree in professional circle when UF business students graduate more prepared for their careers. Personally, our mentors find satisfaction in giving back to the students in their school. And finally, the School of Business benefits because our advisors have more time to spend on working with students on career advising and development and other student contact such as teaching and mentoring.

CAPs work throughout the year in small teams, by major, with a supervising advisor. They meet students through involvement in preview sessions, by co-leading required small group advising sessions, class participation and by email invitations sent by the advisors. They work with students to develop their resumes through leadership and involvement, serve as resources and support through the internship search process, critique resumes and cover letters, and conduct mock interviews. They have developed and presented workshops for students about the internship requirement and search process and will assist advisors in pre-screening internship applications. We began this year, our pilot year, with 15 CAPs and hope to increase our team to 20 next year. Initial results indicate that the majority of the students who worked with a CAP mentor this year found the mentor to be helpful in the areas of their internship search, resume, interviewing, and in giving academic suggestions. We are excited about the opportunities to continue to work together with such highly motivated students to provide all our students with the tools they need to be successful.

Kep’s Corner

by Glenn Kepic

We will soon enter the busy summer/fall advanced registration period and advisors will be seeing many students who are likely to be anxious, frustrated, or just plain upset. We need to realize that we cannot “fix” all students’ problems, although we can try to offer options and suggestions. This can cause us to experience stress as well, so let’s remember to take care of ourselves during this time. Try to get up and walk around or go outside for a breath of fresh air during the day. Reviewing difficult cases with colleagues and/or supervisors or discussing them as a case study at a staff meeting can lead to healthy and productive communication on interpretations of rules and various advising techniques.

I’d also like to remind you of the upcoming professional development opportunities which can also provide you with a chance to de-stress and hear about the issues facing your colleagues both at UF and across the nation.

• 2010 NACADA Region 4 Advising Conference, March 21-23 in Atlanta.

• Andrew Wehle has volunteered to facilitate the next Professional Development meeting to be held at 3:00 PM on May 3rd. Location and topic will be announced soon.

• The planning committee has starting working on UF’s 5th Annual Advisor’s Workshop. The tentative date is September 17, 2010. Please contact Sara Mock if you would like to join the planning committee.

• The new issue of Academic Advising Today, published quarterly by NACADA, is now available online. Think of it as a national version of our “UF Advisor” publication. According to NACADA, this e-zine strives to “provide a venue for academic advisors, faculty advisors, and advising administrators to share their experiences and discuss their ideas about the theory and practice of academic advising in higher education.” In this edition, you will find articles on group advising, liberal arts and social sciences students, millennial students, tips for advisors, and if you ever had a student lie to you, you won’t want to miss the piece titled Student Lies, as well as many other timely articles. Please check it out today!

And finally, congratulations to the 2009-2010 university-wide Advisor of the Year winners: Janna Underhill from Agricultural and Life Sciences and Bobbi Knickerbocker from Liberal Arts and Sciences!

UAC Professional Development Workshop Series Continues

by Jaime Little

On February 15, Glenn Kepic hosted the latest segment of the UAC professional development training. The session consisted of reviewing advising vignettes from the NACADA training video “Scenes for Learning and Reflection: An Academic Advising Professional Development DVD.”

The scenarios offered the eight advisors who attended the opportunity to thoughtfully discuss and internally process their own experiences on situations relating to advising issues, including:

• Deficient academic progress (in UF terms, “tracking out of a major”)
• Transition problems among transfer students
• First generation students
• Students with personal issues (how to appropriately advise students in difficult life circumstances)
• Advisor errors

While other scenarios are available on the DVD, these five situations sparked interesting conversations among workshop participants, with personal experiences shared by all. Lou Powers from CLAS mentioned that this video could be extremely helpful in training Preview advisors as well as new advisors.

For seasoned advisors, the vignettes reminded us what not to do, as well as sparked discussion on how UF has put into place effective checks and balances to reduce potential problems or errors. With UF tracking requirements, Preview Prep, prerequisite checking on ISIS, First Year Florida, and training sessions such as this one, we can keep up-to-date on resources for students and continue to focus on best practices in advising.

If you are interested in utilizing this resource as a training tool, or would like to see more vignettes in the future, please let Glenn or anyone on the UAC Professional Development Committee know.

Advisor Tool Box

Expand your knowledge and career options
Consider UF’s Student Personnel in Higher Education (SPHE) master’s degree program. SPHE will prepare you for various student affairs positions, including professional academic advising, in institutions of higher education. The 46 credit hour program integrates academic coursework with an internship and practicum. Many of the required courses are offered during evening hours. In this program, you’ll learn about college student development, campus environments, diversity, and much more.

The Advisor Diaries
The Advisor Diaries provides an outlet for college advisors to share their experiences, advice and a laugh! Read along, submit a story, share advice/comments and get rejuvenated!

Missed an Undergraduate Advising Council (UAC) meeting?
Check out the Provost’s website to review minutes from past meetings, as well as meeting dates, times, and locations and member contact info.

Toby’s Tips

Need a student’s Gatorlink email address in a hurry? Type “S21” (no quotes) in the Jump key field of ISISAdmin, and enter the student’s UFID. The email displays on this page.

Ask an Advisor

by Ella Tabares

Our “Ask an Advisor” column allows UF advisors to share their viewpoint and experiences. I recently asked some advisors to answer the following question: “If you couldn’t be an advisor, what career would you pursue?”



"If I couldn’t be an advisor, I would like to work in public relations, probably for a nonprofit organization like a pet rescue group or a humane society.” —Karen Cody, Journalism and Communications

“If I could not be an advisor, I would go back to what I started my professional career as. I would be an environmental planner, working in issues of global importance such as climate change.” —Maria Gavidia, Design, Construction, and Planning

“If I couldn’t be an advisor, I would be a rodeo clown because I like animals and I enjoy entertaining people.” —Kris Klann, Liberal Arts and Sciences