March 24, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Erin Busscher did not plan to work in higher education, but has found her career in helping others navigate college.
Busscher started as a student employee at Grand Valley State University and really enjoyed the environment and helping students succeed. She worked in various positions at GVSU for more than 10 years. She came to GRCC to serve as the Transfer and Articulation Coordinator. She quickly missed working with students and was able to step back into an advisor role.
Now Busscher serves as an Associate Professor/Academic Advisor in the Academic Advising and Transfer Center. Academic advisors help students navigate their entire journey at GRCC. They help with career exploration, returning to school, transferring, and graduating. Academic Advisors are a crucial piece to ensuring student success.
Helping students is Busscher’s favorite part of her role. She considers advising to be a lot like teaching. Advisors teach students what they need so they have the skills to be successful on their own.
“Ask for help, always!” she said. “We do not know you are struggling, or if you need help, unless you reach out. We are here, waiting in the wings, to help you succeed! We may, also, annoy you with how much we reach out to offer help and try to be proactive to assist you, but it is only because we care.”
Busscher recalls one specific student who struggled with math. The student was in the lowest levels of math and english and spent several semesters remediating to get to a college level. The student persisted, earned high marks, and transferred to Grand Valley State University to earn her master’s degree in social work.
Busscher continues to support and stay in touch with the student. Writing letters of recommendation along her educational journey to help her get into the School of Social Work.
Busscher finds joy in having the opportunity to help, and seeing the long term impacts of her work only makes her work harder.
Busscher earned her Bachelor of Arts from GVSU in Professional Writing with a minor in Public Relations. She then earned her Master of Education in College Student Affairs Leadership at GVSU. Erin is also certified as a Global Career Development Facilitator.
To connect with an advisor in the Advising Center visit grcc.edu/advising.