How do we help incoming students make the transition into student life here at MBKU? We have a program we call Peer Advisers.

Peer Advisers provide non-academic advice and personal student perspectives about life and learning in an informal way to all enrolled students, primarily in the 1st academic year. Peer advising is the student complement to academic advising provided by faculty advisors and the Office for Student Affairs. New students gain informed student perspectives on MBKU that is based on their Peer Advisor’s personal experience that is coupled with the formal training they receive in preparation for their service as advisors.

Peer Advisers are students who are committed to student leadership. They show strong commitment to helping new students make the transition from undergraduates to informed, successful professional students who will be responsible for their academic goals and professional growth. This program will create a culture of positive and accurate sharing of information and strengthen the Peer Adviser’s leadership skills. Incoming students will be less intimidated to ask their peers questions and may be more likely to trust in the information provided. Both incoming student and Peer Adviser will have an increased sense of membership in the University community as well as pride in the University.

Peer Advisor groups are made of one upperclassman, one faculty advisor, and nine incoming students.

In addition to having an official role in Orientation for the incoming class, Peer Advisers will host regular office hours beginning the fall term.

Peer Advisors have a blog hosted on the Student Portal system (MBKU’s in-house intranet system for the campus community) where various topics are discussed between incoming class members.

Here is just a partial list in a flyer introducing the Peer Advisors to the incoming class for Fall 2019: