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Art Preciado
Department of Sociology & Social Work
1995
"Professor Arthur 'Art' Preciado's advising philosophy can be
summarized with two major premises: first, people are important;
second, social work is a worthy intellectual endeavor. These two
philosophies were the beacons that guided Art's approach to advising,
his professional career and his life.
Art
simply loved people and he felt that each individual was worthy of
attention and assistance. He saw each individual as a whole person,
not just a student; in this context, he listened beyond words and
fettered out academic and other individual problems and concerns to
more fully meet student needs.
He was
knowledgeable, helpful, patient and concerned; however, he realized
that the college experience was an opportunity for growth and
development. As a consequence, he followed a simple axiom, "never do
for students what students can do for themselves." He guided, stood
beside, instructed and encouraged students to develop their skills in
meeting the challenges of academic life and life in general. He had
faith in students and their ability to grow and develop by doing. He
believed in being a "..doer of the word and not a hearer only." In
this context, he helped students deal with real life situations in a
meaningful and productive manner. In other words, he was a social
worker's social worker.
Art
loved social work as a profession and as an intellectual enterprise.
Hence, he required students to perform to the best of their ability.
He recognized differences in student capacities and brought out the
best each student could produce through mentoring and conscientious
advising. He would not settle for less than each student's best.
In
summary, Art gave of this time, talents and energy to enrich the
lives of his students. He was a role model as an advisor and deserves
to be recognized for his outstanding accomplishments in this facet of
his career."
-- Clark A.
Davis
Chair, Department of Sociology
"For
most professional educators, academic advising is an acquired art
(sometimes with reluctance). I don't think that Art ever knew you had
to 'work' at 'advising'. Not that he didn't know his stuff; he did
and he did work at keeping up on all the current rules whether the
regulations pertained to the university or with national
accreditation or with the program's impacted status. If anyone had
told Art that was what advising consisted of he would have been
dumbfounded. He thought that advising was an extension of life, not
just academic life you see, but life! He thought that a student or
even a potential student (to tell the truth, anyone) who had an issue
that was interfering with the pursuit of a degree, a career, or just
life, was fair game for his time, his humor, what he had learned, and
if the person wanted it, his advice. Of course, by the time you got
that far down the list, the person already had benefited and seldom
had to "ask". It made Art totally approachable and left the
individual feeling like an equal, because Art didn't see it any other
way. Of course, he was available, with a smile and an open hand. Yes,
people got in jams, lacked resources, needed a vision, made mistakes
and misunderstood each other. So had Art, so had we all!"
-- Kathleen E.
Kaiser
Professor of Sociology
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