CS Advisor to serve as a mentor in the NACADA's Graduate & Professional Studies Mentoring Program

Cindy Wolfer, an advisor for the Master's program for the Department of Computer Science, was selected to serve as a mentor for the NACADA's Graduate & Professional Studies Mentoring program.

Cindy was also featured in the August 2021 addition of the NACADA newsletter:

The newsletter states:

"My name is Cindy Wolfer. For the past nine years, I have served as a professional Academic Advisor in the Computer Science MS degree program in the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Our program consists of the largest graduate student population on campus, the majority of whom are international and full-time.

My graduate advising cohort consists primarily of international students who share many similarities developmentally to undergraduate first-year students. It is often their first time in our educational system and our culture. Students tend to be anxious upon arrival and concerned about how they will find their way so acknowledging and advising around ‘imposter syndrome’ is common. They are often expected by academic and student affairs to jump right into an educational and social culture that is vastly different than they have experienced (they are graduate students so surely they know how to ‘be a student’, right?). My advising approach acknowledges and shows concern for a student’s personhood while asking them to academically ‘hit the ground running’. I understand to grow, students need to bring their most prepared and focused self to their studies. The ebb and flow of guiding students developmentally through our academic culture, no matter their background, is the most rewarding component of my role.

Out of interest and necessity, and with gratitude to the Advising Community on Graduate & Professional Students, I have done informal research and literature reviews regarding the challenges faced by graduate students; more specifically, challenges and opportunities for advisement of international students in the graduate setting. Along the way, I have shared what I have learned with my university advising colleagues. I continue to push myself to share with a greater advising audience and to keep adding to my own educational growth. I am excited to begin serving as a mentor in this advising community’s inaugural Graduate & Professional Advisor Mentoring program as I am sure I will learn even more than I am able to share."