Aaron Burns | News Co-Editor

The academic advisors at Buena Vista University (BVU) always have their advisees best interest in mind, but they may not always be knowledgeable in certain interest areas. This is the why the second advisor policy was created. One hundred and fifty-two students are currently taking advantage of the policy.

“The idea behind the second advisor policy is to ensure that every student has access to an advisor that is completely knowledgeable in the major that the student is working towards,” Associate Dean of Faculty Peter Steinfeld said. “The program really started with the transfer students. Faculty members that might not necessarily be in the field that the students are in were running the transfer seminars. There was some of the transfer students that didn’t have adequate advising in their major.

The policy was put into effect late October 2011, but not all students initially knew about it. The policy was initially focused on transfer students. They were to work with the instructor of University Seminar,as well as with someone within their major. Steinfeld says this is because transfer students already have part of their schooling done and are closer to graduation.

“The transfer students are in the situation where they are trying to get through programs quicker because they only have two or three years left. Some may only have one. We need to make sure they get all the courses they need,” Steinfeld said.

The University Seminar instructors have the same situations with indirect advising. The incoming freshmen may be placed in a seminar that is not necessarily part of their major; they may chose to take a particular course because of a different interest, which is what is encourage with the program.

“In order to ensure that every student has adequate advising in their major, we wanted to ensure that they also have access to a second advisor. So every student on the Storm Lake campus has access to one,” Steinfeld said. “They can choose and change the second advisor as much as they would like with the appropriate form. All it takes is going and asking that person if they are will to do it. They should explain to them what their interest and their career plans are.”

The rules for the primary advisor are stricter for the transfer and first-year students. The transfer students are required to stay with their seminar instructor for their first semester. After that, they are welcome to change to anybody else or can pick up a second advisor.

As for the incoming first-years, they are required to stay with their university seminar instructor for the first whole year. The second advisor can be added at any time.

“I do think that we need to promote it more, and I do think that is why there was questions arising. It was clear that there wasn’t enough,” Steinfeld said. “We promoted it pretty well with the transfer students, but not so well with the rest of campus. We just need to do more to make sure everybody knows what is going on.”