The Student Senate recently passed a proposal to allocate $6,700 to the College of Arts and Sciences Academic Advising Center to create new student employment opportunities.

We, at the College of Arts and Sciences, applaud the initiative shown by the Senate.

Through its action, the Senate will be providing its peers with the opportunity to enhance their college experience through student employment.

With this in mind, the college leadership has decided to match the Senate’s contribution.

The Senate’s allocation comes at an opportune time, as we in the College of Arts and Sciences are in the process of refining and reorganizing our staffing model to better serve our students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Creating additional opportunities in student employment plays a significant role in our vision for an improved Arts and Sciences experience.

Student employment opportunities serve a primary role in assuring that students have a positive college experience.

Research shows us that student employment is a major predictor of student retention. We feel that the College of Arts and Sciences, at its core, is a student learning organization.

It is no coincidence, then, that we want to expand our offering of student employment opportunities.

Student employment, when done thoughtfully, provides a series of benefits and opportunities for students.

And it provides them with a progressive experience where they are provided with the opportunity to handle increasingly complex roles in the organization.

One area in the college that is serving as our model for implementing the progressive employment experience is in our creative and technical services, The Hive.

The Hive is able to take full advantage of the multitude of interdisciplinary talent that exists in our student body.

As a result, the majority of Hive’s workforce is comprised of student workers. The Hive’s motto as it relates to student employment is “staff directed and student produced,” and students are empowered to use and test the bounds of their creativity, while receiving the support of a core of trained professionals who are committed to student development.

The Hive leadership treats students as professionals, holds them to professional standards and gets professional results.

Our new vision for the College of Arts and Sciences keeps student workers front and center in college operations.

In addition to the forthcoming opportunities in A&S Advising created by the joint Senate Student and Arts and Sciences initiative, we plan to dramatically increase the number of student employment opportunities throughout the college, beginning next fall as the new staffing reorganization takes shape.

We see student employees not as a substitute for our staff professionals; rather they are a complement. The student workers hired in the A&S Advising Center will work with our professional advisers and faculty advisers to provide a well-rounded advising experience: one that offers process-based (professional advisers), purpose-based (faculty) and peer-based help.

These student workers, as is the case for all A&S student workers, will be hired in addition to, and not in lieu of, professional staff. In fact, concurrent to the creation of the student employment opportunities, A&S is hiring four new professional advisers to replace those advisers lost to natural attrition over the past several months.

The students we hire will continue to work hand in hand with our talented staff and help us provide the A&S community with excellent service and outstanding results.

We in A&S believe that employing students allows us to tap into the best that UK has to offer, while giving students real professional opportunities. It is a win-win.