By Jason Freund 21

Students interested in changing or choosing majors can find out what the different schools and colleges at SIUC offer during an open house this afternoon in the Student Center.

John Jackson, vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and provost, said the idea for the open house came from discussions relating to recruitment and retention of students.

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It occurred to Dr. (Yvonne) Williams that we have the stress of recruitment and retention, and we often focus on students outside the University, he said. But we have a large delegation (of students) on campus that haven’t declared a major and need some help doing so.

Yvonne Williams, associate director of the Center for Basic Skills and chief academic adviser, said the University thought about starting such an event during meetings early this year.

We go off campus to advise students coming here, and now we want to keep them here, she said.

Williams said the open house will consist of representatives from academic units on campus who will answer student questions.

The units to be represented are the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, Med Prep, Pre-Major Advisement, the College of Science, the College of Agriculture, the College of Applied Sciences and Arts, the College of Business and Administration, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts.

We want to make the new student experience positive, Williams said. We are here to serve them.

Williams said the open house is for continuing students as well as new students.

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We would like the opportunity to talk to students from other academic units, like those who are unsure of their current major, she said. We don’t have the opportunity to talk to other units’ students often.

Jackson said advisers and faculty are donating time to make the open house happen.

This is part of the effort to make them (students) connected and comfortable enough to stay at SIU, he said. It is a great idea.

Williams said the event will consist of 12 to 15 tables where representatives of the various academic units will sit and answer questions from students who stop.

Gail Robinson, the Health Professions adviser, said the College of Science will have a guest speaker in addition to the advisers.

We’re having a special person from rural medicine come, she said. They do rural internships and are a community-oriented medical school. It’s just one thing the College of Science is offering.

I’ll be there to explain the different pre-professional majors, and there will be regular College of Science advisers to help science and math majors.

Charlotte Gibson, academic adviser for the College of Agriculture, said her college will have advisers and an enrollment specialist, who deals with recruitment and retention, present for the open house.

We also plan on having a couple of students, what are known as Agbassadors, there, she said. We feel students can talk easier with students, so they will be there to make them (students) feel at ease and answer their questions.

Gibson said the program could be a good idea, but it is too early to tell.

Right now the dilemma is what effect it will have, she said. I can see that people who have a question about the major they’re in or other majors, and this event could be advantageous to them.

Williams said if the open house is successful, the University will consider having more.

The plan is if this goes well, we’ll have one early in each semester, she said.

Jackson said more open houses would benefit students in the future.

We always have a large number of students in pre-major advisement that need to take that next step, he said. And there will be a new group next year, so if all goes well, we’ll do it again.

Kevin O’Leary, an undecided sophomore from Barrington, said such an event would help students like himself.

It would be cool because it’s a pain to figure it out (advisement), he said.

O’Leary said he would take advantage of the event if he is nearby.

After class, if I was over there I’d definitely go talk to them, he said. I would definitely take advantage of it, especially if they do it on a timely basis, like before registration begins.

The open house is from 4 until 6 p.m. in Ballroom D of the Student Center.