Advisor Resources

Advising Center

Thank you, advisors, for your service to students! Bethel students say they most appreciate having more meaningful conversations with their advisors. The resources below are designed to help you navigate Bethel’s systems to open up more space for those conversations. You can also use the student-facing portions of our website to help advisees explore majors, read a transcript/degree evaluation, and more.

See below for an overview of advising at Bethel, or use the links in the left-hand navigation menu to access resources related to your specific needs. Questions? Contact the Advising Specialist (advising-center@bethel.edu, x6437).

Purpose of advising

Academic advising at Bethel equips students to take intentional steps towards lifelong service to God and the world by partnering with students as they optimize their time at Bethel through informed curricular and co-curricular choices and develop an understanding of themselves, their calling, and their whole education.

Faculty/staff advisors

Bethel’s advising model is centered around faculty and staff advisors connecting with students in their academic department. The Advising Center works with academic departments to assign incoming students and students who change their major to advisors who are experts in their field of study.

New faculty begin advising in their second year at Bethel. We pair new advisors with more experienced advisors in their department through a mentorship program designed to help new faculty develop strong advising practices and receive consistent input as they adjust to Bethel’s systems and curriculum. The program covers the first two years of a faculty member’s appointment.

Department Chairs oversee advising in each department. They are usually experienced advisors themselves and are important liaisons between departments and the Advising Center.

  • Check out our training page to build your skills as an advisor.

Departments

Departments take different approaches to advising depending on their unique department culture and the needs of their students. While some departments prefer to focus on individual advising meetings, other departments use peer advising, group advising, or other models to supplement one-on-one meetings.

  • Head over to our Ideas for departments page to learn more about different advising models and how they work.

Advising Center

The Advising Center supports students, advisors, and departments by providing a variety of resources related to advising and academic planning. Our academic advising specialist is available daily to help answer your questions and connect you with the resources you need. The advising specialist also serves as a second advisor for PSEO students, coordinates advisor assignment, maintains tools like this website and the electronic planning sheet, and meets with prospective, transfer, and exploratory students as needed to help address their academic planning questions.

The advising team includes the advising specialist and faculty representatives from each division:

  • Alyssa Hamre Kontak, director of CAS Advising, Department of Physics and Engineering
  • Jed Yang, Department Mathematics and Computer Science
  • Sam Mulberry, Department of History

We meet regularly to plan efforts such as power scheduling, advisor training, student outreach, and more.

Committee

The Advising Committee meets monthly during the academic year to coordinate, strengthen, and define goals for advising-related activities at Bethel. The Committee includes representatives from a range of departments and offices whose work relates to advising.

  • Faculty: Alyssa Hamre Kontak, director of advising (physics and engineering); Bethany Opsata, advising team representative (business and economics); Sam Mulberry, advising team representative (history); Jed Yang (mathematics and computer science); Julie De Haan (nursing); Abby Payeur (education); April Vinding (English)
  • Academic Affairs: Julie Finnern, associate provost (CAS)
  • Admissions: Katie Ferrin, PSEO counselor
  • Advising Center: Emily Dehmer, academic advising specialist
  • Career Development and Calling: Stan Thompson, director of vocation, pathways, and partnerships
  • Office of the Registrar: Meraiah Latty, registration and project specialist; Daniel Sibert, transfer evaluation specialist; Rachel Brands, assistant registrar

Related offices

Looking for more?

Be sure to click through the link in the left-hand navigation menu for resources related to: