#WeAreAllUVa: Peer Advising Groups

#WeAreAllUVa

Peer Advising Groups

by Hawa Ahmed

The University offers a slew of advising opportunities for first-year students. In addition to an area adviser and academic adviser, first-years have the opportunity to seek peer advising in a number of affinity groups. These students can certainly advise on classes, but more often are older mentors serving as a “Big Brother” or “Big Sister.” Some of these groups have extensive family trees tying all the “sib” pairings together!

Peer Mentoring Program (PMP)

 

 

Close to 6% of students identify as Hispanic and there are 12 Latino-interest organizations. The Peer Mentoring Program, or PMP is the only advising group where upperclassmen advise Latino/Hispanic first-year students. In addition, any student – whether Latino or not – can sign up to be a mentor or mentee! The students are split into several familias, creating smaller communities amongst the sibling pairs.

 

Asian and Pacific-American students comprise of 12% of our student body. Dean Guzman (pictured above), serves as the faculty program coordinator for these students. The Peer Advising Family Network (PAFN) is comprised of upperclassmen that serve as big siblings to first-year Asian/Pacific-American students. Their families are organized as P, A, F or N. Again, all students can sign up to be a member!

Incoming students identifying as Black/African-American automatically become matched with an upperclass peer advisor. Many events throughout the year are catered for advisors and advisees to attend together.

Other groups that have a mentoring system include the Muslim Student Association and Organization of Young Filipino Americans (OYFA).