May 12, 2024
Every year, about a quarter of the faculty in the department go on sabbatical, either for a whole year or for a single semester. That means that, on average, every year at least a quarter of the concentration advisors will shift.
By the way, concentration advisors might change for other reasons as well. In some cases, advisors take on other service roles in the department (e.g., I was Cognitive Science concentration advisor before I was the DUS, and I couldn't be both). In other cases, they become a graduate advisor or take on a significant service role in another part of the department or university. But the most common reason advisors change is sabbatical.
Very soon (July 1), the new sabbaticals will start and I'll change all of the concentration advisors on this page. They will usually change each July. This will usually be updated in ASK by the department. You might get an email to the effect that your advisor has changed. And hopefully, you'll get an email from the advisor introducing themselves.
Change can be scary. So, what does a change in advisor mean and what should you do about it.
1) The main thing that it means is that you will be working with a new person. So, you probably want to meet that person and have them meet you. Introduce yourself to your new advisor. If you have the time (and this is strongly recommended), meet them in person. Find out when your new advisor has office hours (EVERYONE has office hours). Plan to go and introduce yourself, even if you have nothing to talk about. Only emailing them is a bad idea; emails are impersonal. You want your new advisor to know your face along with your name.
2) If your concentration declaration has been approved, there's not much for you to do. No advisor should change an approved concentration. Your advisor is there to talk to if you need to change your declaration. Preregistration or shopping are good times to discuss any deviation from your concentration declaration. This is particularly important regarding electives, and particularly important for electives taken outside of the department.
3) Your advisor is also a person to go to if you need to talk about other issues related to the department, such as research opportunities, clinical experience, or jobs after Brown. All faculty in the department are aware of the departmental resources and resources at the University, and they may guide you in places that you haven't looked yet. If you still need advising help, then I would encourage you to come see me (as DUS, my office hours are listed on the home page of the blog) or a faculty member you know from classes. Keep in mind that some of faculty who are also concentration advisors are very busy with their advisees, so they might not be able to handle requests in a timely manner. This is a place where you might want to email your advisor to tell them that you are coming to office hours, but trying to do all of this over email is a bad option, and IN PERSON VISITS are much more encouraged.
4) Above all, don't worry about this too much. If you have a good relationship with your advisor and they are going on sabbatical or taking on a new career challenge, be happy for them. But I'd like to think that the advising structure that we (the department) have put in place will meet everyone's challenges. However, that trust has to go both ways. We are going to try our best to help you. But you have to accept that we are also trying our best, and that sometimes we know things that require us to say no to requests. Sometimes, students want things that we cannot provide. For example, one of the requests I often fielded when I was a concentration advisor was students asking to take fewer classes than the requirements of the concentration (i.e., the Cognitive Science concentration requires 12 courses for the AB; students would often ask if it was OK to just take 11). I always denied this request (and I'm always going to, so if you're thinking about asking for it, just don't). There are some rules that advisors cannot break.
But there are also guidelines that advisors adhere to. Another good example is whether courses from other departments count as electives for a concentration like psychology. A rule of thumb that I have is that courses in most humanities (except Philosophy) will not count (so courses in English or History are almost always not appropriate as electives). I'm not discouraging you from taking a class in these departments, but I will say that taking a Freudian or Lacanian analysis of a piece of literature is not the same as studying psychological science.
Finally, I will also mention that if you are really concerned about something, you can talk with me (as DUS) or David Badre (as chair).
I'll end this post by saying that in the coming months, we will be rolling out some new advising guidelines for students. I will provide links and updates in this space, but also through the undergraduate listserv when it is all ready.