Emily Vedder

College: College of Science
Years as an academic advisor: 5.5
Why did you choose to be an academic advisor? I accidentally stumbled upon academic advising during my practicum in graduate school. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up working as an advisor for that same department for almost 4 years!
What do you wish students knew about academic advisors? We're very chill and down to earth people! We don't want you to feel embarrassed about scheduling appointments with us.
What is one of your favorite parts of your role as an advisor? I love hearing my students' aspirations and how they are progressing to reach their goals, as well as when they want to share the celebration with me when they do reach those goals or have a big success!
What is one piece of advice you would offer to a brand new advisor? In other jobs, you may hear that "it takes 6 months to fully adapt". I definitely don't think it's that way in advising with the ebbs and flows of the academic calendar, and the sheer amount of information there is. We can never know it all and are always learning - don't feel bad that you're asking questions!