Overview
To address student persistence and retention, and to ensure students take courses in a specific sequence, departments in the Arts and Digital Media (ADM) Division have designated certain staff to the role of “department advisor.” In most cases, an instructional associate is given these duties, in some instances a program specialist will carry out this function. The division has seen significant results with these roles in the 2021–2022 academic year.
Accomplishments
Below are the results for departments that have such advising roles on their staff:
| Department | Number of Students Advised |
|---|---|
| Art | 150+ students with the Permission Request form used to place students in the appropriate level of a studio art class. |
| Dance | 8 |
| Drama | 50+ |
| Game Development, Animation, and Motion Graphics | approx. 75 |
| Music | 130+ |
| Music Business & Performance Technology | 75+ |
| Professional Photography | 100+ |
| Radio, Television, and Film | 135+ |
| Visual Communication | approx. 60 |
With the support of department advisors, the division has seen roughly a 15% to 20% increase in enrollment. Data is still being collected as this position is new to some departments, and this also takes into account enrollment recovery efforts from the decline caused by the pandemic.
Impact
The Arts & Digital Media Division plays a vital role in partnering with the creative, artistic and entertainment industry in Austin. With our new industry-standard facilities, we anticipate marked growth in all departments in the division. What our division does to educate, train and prepare our students for creative and artistic careers will make us a prominent figure in meeting the demands of this industry.
These advising positions will not only serve as academic advisors, they will also serve as career advisors to connect students to industry professionals and to help our future professional artists thrive in their chosen craft.
Next Steps
The division wants to develop an approach to data that can track enrollment, persistence, retention, and completion rates to better assess the effectiveness of these roles. The goal is to see a clear pattern of increased rates that not only shows a full return to pre-pandemic numbers, but a steady increase in overall enrollment and completion divisionwide.
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