Advisers Angelica Medina and Gretchen Henley have taken over as the new hosts of the Advisers Ask podcast. Medina and Henley are replacing former Assistant Director of Advising Services Candice Copeland and retired Adviser Herschel Neal as hosts for the podcast that aims to give West Texas A&M University students, faculty and staff a new way to reach out to advisers. Senior Adviser Frank Navarette produces the podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Advisers Ask began as a lunch workshop hosted by Copeland and targeted toward answering questions about advising from faculty and staff. When the lunch break shifted to 45 minutes, Copeland and Advising Services brainstormed how to adapt.

“And so we figured, what’s the best way that we can reach faculty, staff and students in a way where we’re not necessarily taking their lunch hour because we don’t really have one anymore?” Medina said.

Before recording each episode, Medina and Henley set an objective and think of some questions to ask their guests. Other than these preparations, Henley said that the hosts try to keep the conversation organic.

“So, for example, next week, we’re hosting Dr. Lance Keith to talk about agriculture and how their focus is on retention,” Henley said. “And that way, if any other faculty or staff are interested in seeing what ideas that Ag is bringing to the table. So yeah, we will invite people based off of an objective that we’re hoping to meet, so the idea for that is retention.”

Episodes are released on Fridays, and the advisers aim to release at least three episodes a month and episodes typically range from 30 to 45 minutes. Episode content is aimed at both faculty and student audiences.

“Candice and Herschel quickly transitioned it to kind of be half and half, so there are episodes that are designated for students and then episodes that are designated for faculty and staff,” Medina said. “So, for example, I think on Friday they released our most recent episode, and it is a student expectations versus reality episode and we had an incoming – well, we had a current freshman who is a freshman on our campus and she came and just talked about what her expectations were coming into college and how they differ from when she really got here, and what resources that she has found most valuable in her experience here. So yeah, I think that, like I said, we’re trying to do a balance.”

Henley encouraged listeners to reach out and interact on Advising Services’ social media. There is also a whiteboard in the HUB for listeners to write feedback.

“I think we’re funny,” Henley said. “I think that we’re engaging; I think we’re approachable. And so if I could say anything, it’d be number one, like please listen, but also please give us like feedback. Like if we touched on something but didn’t elaborate on it and you think it could be a full episode.”

This article was sponsored by Advising Services. To advertise with The Prairie News, please view our advertising page or email us at [email protected].