Temple University is launching a series of sweeping initiatives this fall to improve undergraduate advising, the process of guiding students as they develop and follow a plan for their academic experience at the university.

Two new programs debuted in September that will increase the amount and the timeliness of interactions between academic advisors and students: the Risk-based Retention Program, which helps advisors identify students who need immediate intervention to keep them on track for graduation; and the Critical Paths Program, which helps students clearly and easily plot out a path to complete their degree programs, regardless of major. Later this semester, Human Resources will implement a new professional development system for advisors at Temple that will help the university keep its best advisors.

The new initiatives “are sharply focused on student success,” said President Ann Weaver Hart, who recently committed funds to hire 10 new academic advisors over the next two years.

“What we’re trying to do here is change the culture,” said Peter R. Jones, senior vice provost for undergraduate studies. “By making advising more proactive, strategic and focused — and by hiring and retaining top-class advisors — we will make our students into better decision makers.”

The Risk-based Retention Project is built around a statistical model custom-developed by  Temple administrators. The model identifies students who are at greatest risk of dropping out and leaving the university during their first year. Once identified, high-risk students are targeted by academic advisors for multiple, highly personalized contacts: one-on-one sessions, e-mails and phone calls. When the Risk-based Retention Project was piloted in 2009-10 in the College of Liberal Arts, the attrition rate among students in the highest-risk group dropped below the university-wide average for all students.

The Critical Paths Program helps students stay on course toward graduation by creating eight-semester academic maps for every major at Temple. The paths clearly plot out milestones that are critical for maintaining academic progress for each major so that students can make informed decisions about taking courses at the right time and in the right sequence. Advisors are able to identify students who miss too many of the critical markers and intervene before the students stray too far off course. The Critical Paths Program was piloted in the College of Science and Technology and the School of Communications and Theater before its university-wide launch this fall.

The university also is developing more opportunities for professional growth for advisors. In the past, Jones explained, Temple lost some advisors to opportunities at other institutions. With a new performance-based career ladder and training programs beginning later this fall, Temple will be able to retain top advisors by creating more incentives for them to stay and advance their careers at Temple.