For approximately the past five years, the University of Rhode Island’s Early Alert Services has only had two full-time employees, despite serving more than 16,000 undergraduate students at the University.
In 2014 and 2015 respectively, John Carl Cruz and Shirley Consuegra, transition and retention advocates for Early Alert Services, joined the department as new full-time employees. Prior to their arrival, the department was functioning through the work of two part-time employees who have since left.
According to Consuegra, due to a limited budget, it has been difficult to expand the department.
“We can’t just ask for a staff member and receive one overnight,” said Consuegra. “We understand that the dean is filling up needs as they rise in different departments, so [they have] to prioritize which department receives how much with a limited budget.”
One main reason Early Alert Services has not been subject to such prioritization is because only a portion of URI’s student body uses the department as a resource. The ratio of one transition retention advocate to 8,000 students is an inaccurate depiction; instead, the ratio is much closer to one advocate to 250 students.
However, while the number of employees has remained stagnant, the amount of cases Cruz and Consuegra undertake per year has increased gradually since they’ve joined Early Alert Services. Last year was the highest number of cases they have had to deal with since working at the department. There were 559 cases during the last academic school year, although 49 were redirected to other student resource centers.
“At the end of the day, we know the work needs to get done,” said Cruz. “So we find ways to make it work.”
There are a few resources that Cruz and Consuegra access in order to manage their workload. Some of these resources include a referral and a self-sign up system.
Prior to meeting with the two transition and retention advocates, a form must be filled out. It asks a few questions, most notably the potential nature of the meeting and the urgency of it. This allows for them to respond to the more urgent cases.
In addition, the referral system also provides Cruz and Consuegra with information that allows them to coordinate, if possible, with other student resource departments in order to better support the student. This allows for them to potentially redirect students completely to another department that focuses in the area that the student requires guidance in.
The two also utilize Starfish, which helps create a more structured approach to managing their cases. It gives them a sense of how the students are feeling by providing them with a list of other students resources they have accessed. They can also communicate with professors to better understand the student.
Another source of support comes from the graduate students during the spring semester, who help Cruz and Consuegra keep the students on the path to success through proper guidance.
Also, in servicing a much smaller portion of the student body than some of the other department, Cruz and Consuegra have a degree of flexibility. Unlike other departments, there isn’t as much of a need to book consecutive appointments. As a result, most cases can be resolved fully, although some do require extra time.
Despite these supportive systems and their flexibility, Cruz and Consuegra still have a significant amount of work left. However, for now, they have been able to manage the workload.
“There’s always a need for more staff,” said Consuegra. “But I think, for now, our job is to keep our supervisor and dean informed that our number [of cases] are increasing and if an opportunity to expand our department, then a proposal will be brought up.”