Slides created by Kristopher Infante, Academic Advisor, PACE Advising Services. Presented by Ashley McCall, Kristopher Infante, and Margaret Garry at NACADA's Annual Conference, October 2015

1. Opening The “GAIT” For
Future Academic Advisors
Developing A Meaningful
Graduate Assistant and
Intern Experience
Margaret Garry, Kristopher Infante,
Ashley McCall

2. Before We Get Started…
❖ GAIT is the Graduate Assistant and Intern Training
Team, one of of PACE Advising’s internal teams
❖ Our vision for a meaningful experience encompasses
the development of roles that prepare graduate
assistants (GA) and interns for marketable experiences
in higher education and advising.

3. What is PACE?
Personalized Academic and Career
Exploration (PACE): A Focus on Freshmen
❖ Developed as our Quality
Enhancement Plan (QEP) theme for
Southern Association of Colleges
(SACS) accreditation in 2010
❖ The PACE Center opened in May 2012
Components of PACE
❖ Academic Advising
❖ Career Counseling
❖ Mentoring and Academic Coaching
❖ University Seminar
A “one-stop-shop” for first-year Texas State
students

4. How GAIT Was Started
GA duties prior to GAIT:
❖ Answering phones
❖ Scheduling appointments
❖ Scanning documents
❖ Filing papers
❖ Other administrative duties
*No experience to prepare students for a position in
Academic Advising. Minimal student interaction.

5. Graduate Assistant vs. Intern
Graduate Assistant
❖ Year long commitment
❖ Required enrollment at the
institution
❖ Limited to graduate students
❖ Receives a monthly stipend
Intern
❖ Semester long commitment
❖ Can but does not have to be
affiliated with institution
❖ Open to undergraduate students
❖ Paid hourly (if applicable)

6. The Benefits
For Interns:
1) Create a foundation
for employment in
higher education
2) Receive a general
understanding of
advising as a profession
For Graduate Assistants:
1) Gain direct experience
advising students
2) Receive a specialized
understanding of
advising as a
profession
For Both:
1) Given
opportunities to
develop
professional skills
2) Given a change to
enhance
employment
prospects

7. The Benefits for the Advising Center
❖ Additional staff to assist with students and projects
❖ Opportunity to develop new professionals
❖ More economical than hiring full time staff members

8. Budget
SPACE
Training
Supervision
Job Duties
Recruiting
Considerations
for Building
Our Program

9. Eight Steps To Building Our Program
Assess Research Create Recuit Hire Train Evaluate Modify

10. Is there a need in your office?
What does your budget look like?
Do you have the space to accommodate interns and
graduate assistants?
What need could a GA/Intern fulfill in your office?
What does supervision look like for your center?
Assess
Step One

11. What university and departmental policies will affect your
decision to hire?
Research
Step Two

12. Create
Step Three
Job Description
Interview QuestionsApplication
Matrix
All of these documents
can be found on the
website provided in your
handout.

13. Online student database
Recruit through relevant programs
Social media
Outreach through colleagues at different universities
Recruit
Step Four

14. Create subcommittees to work on hiring GA/Intern
Determine Logistics (Scheduling/Planning Interview/
Offers, etc.)
Matrix Candidates
Hire
Step Five

15. Train
Step Six

16. Evaluate
Step Seven
Intern Evaluation
Intern Exit Interview
GA Evaluation

17. ❖ Hiring Process
❖ Modified Timeline
❖ Modified Interview Questions
❖ Added additional GAs due to demand
Modify
Step Eight

18. My Experience

19. Any Questions?

20. Thank You For
Attending!
Margaret Garry
mgg62@txstate.edu
Kristopher Infante
ki1023@txstate.edu
Ashley McCall
am1601@txstate.edu