A wide-ranging strategic plan at Western Kentucky University would transform student advising over the next 10 years as one of its main goals to boost retention and degree completion.

“My hope is that individuals will be able to see something that they can attach themselves to in the plan,” said WKU President Timothy Caboni, referring to months of work from stakeholder groups in compiling the plan. “If you look through the plan, I think that it captures beautifully well the aspirations and shared aspirations of the university community.”

WKU’s Board of Regents weighed in on the plan during its annual retreat Thursday in the Downing Student Union. The board didn’t take any action during the retreat but discussed consequential issues affecting WKU, including the strategic plan, a new budget model and changes to its bylaws.

The board is expected to make a decision on the plan during its quarterly meeting Friday. The plan also prioritizes pay raises for staff, increasing diversity of students and employees and many other goals. A draft is available at bgdailynews.com with this story.

The plan puts out a call to “centralize and transform advising” by focusing heavily on the first two years of enrollment.

After admission, WKU will work with each student to create a Personal and Professional Development plan “that will lead toward selection of a career pathway.” It calls for a more holistic advising program that incorporates students’ financial, mental, physical and social wellness.

By their junior year, students will be transferred to more specialized advisers familiar with a specific college and its career paths.

Along with streamlining advising, the plan also promotes a “first-year village” with living learning communities that connect students to campus and extracurricular learning experiences, such as internships and study abroad. It also sets targeted goals, such as increasing the number of baccalaureate degrees awarded by 20 percent.

During the discussion, some regents raised questions about the role faculty would play in the new advising process.

Bruce Schulte, who co-chairs the steering committee overseeing the plan’s development, said the plan’s intent isn’t to diminish the role faculty or staff play in advising. Instead, it will provide a centralized, physical space where students can get advice on “much more than just, ‘What’s my major, what’s my course?’ ” he said.

The new process would end WKU’s practice of sending students to different units without anyone playing “the traffic monitor,” Schulte said.

Caboni echoed that view in his response, arguing that “if what we had in place was working, then our persistence rate would be a heck of a lot higher.” He said the change is informed by what other universities are doing.

“One of the things that we’ve seen nationally … is that having a central location that provides advice, not just course-taking advice, but provides support and advice is a way to help particularly challenged students but every student go to a single one-stop shop to get the support that they need,” he said.

Instead, the centralized approach could provide help with paying for college costs and career advice, along with what courses to take, he said. The goal is to not give students the run-around, he said.

Stephen Mayer, WKU’s student body president and student regent, endorsed the approach. He said he remembers struggling as a new student to navigate campus services.

Mayer asked about the availability of specialized advisers for majors.

Caboni said the approach would offer a mixed of both specialists and general advisers. “The students that we admit, if we’re going to admit them, we got to everything in our power to help them do college right,” he said.

– Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @BGDN_edbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.