UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 15, Page 3
December 15, 1994
On advising; Professor helps students find a direction

     When Roland Roth was 8 years old, growing up on a rice farm in
Stuttgart, Ark., his grandmother gave him a coffee table-style book
entitled Birds of America.
     Now a professor in the Department of Entomology and Applied
Ecology, Roth said he recalls looking at it a lot of times and being
intrigued by the pictures, but he can't say his grandmother had any
particular motive for giving it to him.
     Roth attended a one-room school for the first six grades of his
education. When he was in the fourth or fifth grade, his teacher
conducted a school project on the National Audubon Society, and Roth
used his bird book as a reference to gain a good grade.
     While attending the University of Arkansas as an undergraduate,
Roth got interested in ornithology. At the University of Illinois,
where he received his master's and doctoral degrees in zoology, he
majored in ecology and minored in vertebrate zoology.
     "It was while I was a teaching assistant in graduate school,"
Roth  said, "that I found a compatibility with teachers and that I
learned by teaching. The old saw is true, 'If you want to learn
something, teach it!'
     "I like trying to get basic ideas across and, better yet,
succeeding at it. Although I also teach and test details, I know
students are likely to remember general ideas. I hope they can apply
them later in situations."
     To Roth, an integral part of his teaching responsibilities
involves the art of advising students.
     "Advising is one of the ways we serve our students," Roth said.
"I think there is something in my upbringing that tells me to be of
service and do a conscientious job, to do things right. Probably, I
have that attitude from being raised among an extended family of
Methodist farmers in a small-town setting. My responsibility is to
advise students and to do a good job of it. I have an open-door policy
where my students are concerned and try to put them first."
     Apparently, Roth's efforts have paid off. In 1994, he was
selected to receive the University's excellence-in-undergraduate
advising award, an honor of which he is quite proud. As a member of
the College of Agricultural Sciences since 1971 and a former
department chairperson, Roth also is pleased with his department and
its positive record of responding to the needs of its students.
     "Students come here to talk about a lot of different issues. A
certain amount deals with course selection, but there also are
questions about careers, internships, graduate school, jobs. I get a
lot of students who are trying to find themselves, to find a major.
Students from other majors and colleges come to talk about what we
offer. They seem to appreciate the time I spend with them."
     The signs of appreciation are scattered throughout Roth's home
and office. One student visited after graduation and dropped off a
handmade wooden toolbox; another missed him on a personal visit but
left a note detailing her current status; and one former student made
him a framed needlepoint picture that hangs on his office wall.
     Roth's wife, Regina, is a guidance counselor at Elkton High
School, and he said he discusses advising issues informally with her.
From their conversations, he has learned to view problems from
different perspectives and apply different approaches to his advising
efforts.
     "I like helping students, seeing them find a direction," Roth
said. "I see students who don't know what they want to do or, if they
do, how to do it. Sometimes I tell them: 'Suppose you have to cross a
stream. You know you can't stay where you are. You have to choose what
looks like a path across the rocks, and sometimes it won't work and
you have to look somewhere else. You might fall into the stream,
occasionally, but if you don't jump on some of the rocks, you will
never get to the other side.'
     "I try to get students to go ahead and make some decision. But
today, there are so many majors and careers and choices, they're
almost paralyzed by the number of choices. I push them to make use of
resources available at the University, such as the Center for
Counseling and Student Development or Career Services.
     "Sometimes I think I improved my abilities as my children grew
and went through high school and college. The experiences of
parenthood are a good training ground."
                                                         -Ed Okonowicz

This story is the last of a series of articles featuring the 1994
recipients of the University's excellence-in-teaching and excellence-
in-advising awards.