On Alan Beaudrie’s desk is a handout taped to the surface that is titled, “Lessons Learned From My Peer Advisors,” from the UA’s Student Support Services.  It’s a bulleted list of advice for students, with entries such as “Don’t procrastinate – learn to use your time,” and other sage advice for those new to a university.  Alan points out that he has this taped to his desk so students will have “something to read and think about” while they’re waiting, when he’s entering their major or courses information on the computer or helping them in some other way.  A stack of informative handouts is next to it with information on internship programs.  Alan is here to help students, and that is evidenced by everything surrounding him in his workspace.

Perhaps Alan could write his own handout for undergraduate students at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Health entitled “Lessons Learned from My Undergraduate Advisor.”  Alan works hard to help the more than 200 undergraduate students majoring in Health Education achieve success at The University of Arizona.  “I work with students from recruitment to the UA all the way to their graduation,” he says.  Others in the College also help along the way with career advising or other matters, but Alan is the only undergraduate advisor at the college. 

Alan’s title is Program Coordinator, Senior.  He works with the more than 200 MEZCOPH undergraduate students majoring in Health Education.  The students are either 1) Pre-Health education majors or 2) Health Education majors.  Pre-Health majors have to successfully complete prerequisite classes in categories such as science.  Once the prerequisites are completed, they may be admitted into the Health Education major. 

About forty percent of all students at MEZCOPH in the 2007-2008 school year were undergraduates.  For comparison, MEZCOPH had over 300 graduate students attending that year.

Recruitment: What Is Public Health?

When recruiting students, Alan says most people don’t know what public health is!  So every month Alan is a speaker at the UA UpClose Program, where high school kids interested in the University listen to his presentation about public health and what it does for us.  He also gives similar talks at other events.  So besides recruiting students to the University of Arizona, he is also recruiting new students into the field of public health!

Once an undergraduate student is admitted to MEZCOPH, Alan helps them all the way through to graduation.  He gets to know the students well while they attend school, one of the “nicest things” about his job.  If a student needs a letter of recommendation, he is able to write an informative one since he gets to know each and every one personally.  He is able to help them choose a major and minor area of studies, he answers questions about enrollment and which courses to take, and he does all of the “degree checks” for students, examining the courses they have and are taking and ensuring that they are on the right road to graduation with the correct credits and hours. 

Alan is also there for students when they are having problems, and he is happy to help detangle “life problems.”

“It’s always something new every day,” he says.  He enjoys his job and working with the students.  “I enjoy coming to work,” he adds, beaming.   Being an advisor to students means every day is a busy day, with cycles of tasks depending on the time of the semester.  Registration for the Fall is just finishing up in early May, for example.  But a lot of his work is generated by students dropping in.  When his wife asked him if he knows how busy he’ll be, he says, “I’m always busy.”  “How do you know that?” she asked, and wanted to know exactly what he would do on a particular day.  “I couldn’t tell her exactly what I'll be doing,” he said, smiling.  “That’s because a student could come in with a problem that sounds simple but takes a half hour or more to figure out.”  Since he sees each of the more than 200 students at least once each semester, and does all the advising himself,  the math is easy to do.  Alan is very busy!

A Human Compass

A big part of Alan’s work involves pointing students in the right direction, which makes him a "human compass."  He points them to the right classes, helps them choose a minor, and is even skilled at guiding students to alternate undergraduate majors if they find that Health Education isn’t quite what they wanted.  He knows the campus well and can give ready advice on where to find any needed resources.

He's had experience helping other types of students, too;  before he came to MEZCOPH, Alan was an advisor in the UA College of Nursing, for Masters and PhD degrees.  “That is all online now,” he says of those programs.  And MEZCOPH is also dedicated to offering more web-based learning resources.  "Everything changes," he observed.

Alan’s degree is a Bachelor of Science in Social Studies.  He used to be a teacher, where his first job was as a tutor to help students improve in specific subjects at the Standing Rock  Lakota reservation in North Dakota.  He taught history and social studies for awhile, then moved to Buenos Aires to teach English to business people for several years.  It was there that he met his wife, Sara, who is now on the faculty in the Spanish department at UA.  They have a 19-year-old daughter who is a biology major at the University of Arizona.

Alan says he’ll always work in education with students since he finds it rewarding and enjoyable.  “Being part of the University of Arizona is also a great thing, a large organization that is doing all kinds of great things” including missions to Mars, as well as working on the frontiers of public health.  His job requires a love of working with people, and one has to like talking to students and problem solving. 

Of the nominations and supporting letters for Alan, many were from grateful students who have appreciated all the help that he has given them.  When asked why he thought he received this award, Alan said, “I don’t know.  My other coworkers who were nominated were just as deserving,”  referring to Kathy Ott and Amy Glicken, who were also nominated from MEZCOPH's Student Services department.

Asked for a final comment about how it feels to receive the AHSC Staff Award for outstanding administrative staff at MEZCOPH, happiness and pride show on his face and Alan says, “Recognition like this is wonderful!” 

Written on May 15, 2008 by Loretta McKibben.