Staff Spotlight: Robin Martin

1. What is your role in the College of Education?

I am the Director of Advising for the School of Kinesiology. I supervise the academic advisors in Kinesiology, advise Physical Education majors and fill in to help advise our other majors as needed. I coordinate the schedule of KINE and PHED classes offered each term along with the scheduling of classroom spaces used by our unit. I also assist with curriculum management for our programs in Kinesiology. I process major changes in and out of our programs and assist with coordination of the various events for Kinesiology students such as CWE, SOS, career-related events and Kinesiology-based First Year Experiences (Learning Communities.) I also coordinate our student staff of over 30 Peer Advisors and Student Leaders who cover our Kinesiology Help Desk and provide tours of our facility for visitors. Ultimately, I advocate for our advisors and students and work to provide our students and faculty with the highest level of support to ensure the academic success of our students.

2. How long have you worked at Auburn?

I began advising Kinesiology students in 2005, so almost 20 years! Time flies when you’re having fun! We had about 350 students then and I was the only advisor. Now we’ve grown to almost 800 students and have 3 full-time advisors in addition to me!

3. What are some new initiatives you are working on now?

We are constantly trying to improve our practices to better serve our students! Right now, we are training a new advisor for Exercise Science, working on ways to improve our waitlist requests during registration and plan for a career event for Kinesiology and Rehab students for the Spring term. I’m planning the Summer and Fall 2025 class schedules now, and I’m starting to plan for the Camp War Eagle freshmen orientation in Summer 2025 and working with our partners in Career Discovery to create more opportunities for engagement for our students, including the incoming freshmen who will participate in our Learning Communities next fall.

4. What is a part of your job you are especially proud of?

I am especially proud of our advising team and their dedication to providing student-centered support. Each of them loves what they do and are committed to our students and their success. We offer daily Drop-in Zoom sessions for our students, so we are available to assist our students on a daily basis without need for an appointment. We want students to know they are valued and supported throughout their time here. We think of our advisors are their compass. Our job is to get them turned in the right direction toward success in whatever way that means for each individual student. We have awesome students in Kinesiology, and we are always inspired and impressed by their accomplishments!

5. What is a fun fact about yourself?

Not only did I finish my BS & MEd in our unit, but both my parents finished their BS degrees and my dad was a GTA here during his master’s program. My daughter is named after Sandra Newkirk, who was a former faculty member/advisor in this unit and was my advisor for my undergraduate program.