dphillips

This post serves to introduce you to Wesleyan’s Academic Peer Advisors, students who work under the umbrella of the Office of Student Academic Resources to enhance students’ access to academic resources and promote their academic success.

Especially in such tumultuous times, APAs are here to serve as a resource to all Wesleyan students. Although life at Wesleyan will look quite different than it has in past years due to the pandemic, APAs are available to address any concerns you may have, ranging from queries about course selection to questions about getting involved on campus! Over the summer, we are available to answer your questions via email (peeradvisors@wesleyan.edu). Please don’t hesitate to reach out!

During NSO, which will be taking place mostly virtually before arriving on campus, APAs will focus on helping students plan and schedule their fall semester courses. We are part of a large network of academic support that you will be able to access once on campus, which includes pre-major advisors and deans. Before classes begin,  you — and every other first-year student — will meet with an APA to discuss course selection for your first semester, as well as any other questions you might have. Throughout the entire academic year, we will continue meeting with students individually as well as hosting group workshops. We are as available as students want us to be, whether you’d like to meet once a week, once a semester, or once a year! Also, we are always extra available during the Pre-Registration and Drop/Add periods of each semester, and you will see us work in conjunction with other offices on campus.

In our one-on-one meetings with students, we help with various academic skills like time management, organization, study strategies, and reading or note-taking, as well as with course registration, major planning, and a variety of other academics-related skills and topics! In our workshops — which can be with different Residence Halls, class deans, athletic teams, or other liaison groups, campus groups, and communities — we also help students become familiar with the various academic processes and skills that were mentioned above, but in a group setting instead of an individual one. We also serve as liaisons to other campus resources, both general and specific, helping to connect students with any and all resources they might need, from peer tutors, math and writing workshops, and the library, to the Resource Center, CAPS, and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life — plus everything in between. Basically, we are here not only to help you but also to help you help yourself!

This year, more so than many others, will be a challenge for the Wesleyan community as a whole. The APAs are here to enhance your access to academic resources and help you reach your academic goals at Wesleyan, despite the extraneous circumstances that make this year especially difficult. But how do you get connected with the peer advisors? All of our bios are posted on the website (with our emails), so if you read through them and think that you would connect well with a certain peer advisor, feel free to reach out to them directly. Otherwise, as we said before, we are available over email at peeradvisors@wesleyan.edu to answer any and all of your questions that you might have — please do not hesitate to reach out! While this was just a quick overview of our roles on campus, we are happy to help with whatever we can. We look forward to working with you, and welcome to Wesleyan!