A case study examining an academic advising system at a large institution using systems theory constructs /

by Musser, Theresa K.

This case study examines the academic advising system at a large research university in the eastern United States using systems theory constructs as its foundation. For one academic year, the researcher studied the primary advising unit at Eastern State University* and all of the related units within the university that worked together with academic advisors to conduct programming for undergraduate students. The purpose of the research was to describe the interrelationships between various student service providers. Systemic change was also examined as major changes were made in the academic advising system at ESU during the study. A detailed and rich description of the advising system is included in this paper as well as a discussion of the change efforts that were observed. *pseudonyms used to protect the sponsor institution. iii