Mary Ann Rasnak

One way to think about Kansas University is as a small city, with its own sprawling bureaucracy and a population of more than 25,000 people nine months out of the year.

In any population that size, some people are bound to be going through a rough time, says Mary Ann Rasnak, who has been working with students at KU for more than 15 years.

“They’re all carrying backpacks with a variety of loads in them,” Rasnak said. And she’s not talking about textbooks.

At any given point in time, KU students might face personal issues, family issues, illness, a death in the family, military deployment and other hazards of life. With college already stressful, the added tension of major life events can set students back in their courses and college careers.

Now Rasnak, who previously served as director of KU’s Academic Achievement and Access Center, is filling a newly created position at the university to work with struggling students and help them get back on track.

Since the spring semester began, Rasnak, as KU’s “Student Special Advocate,” has worked with about 120 students at the university, many of whom have come back for follow-ups, she said. About a third of those students have suffered long-term sickness and another 25 percent have had family member’s die during the semester.

Rasnak might do any number of things to help students. Much of her time is given to guiding students through the university, which — with resource centers, writing centers, tutors, libraries, advisers, offices of undergraduate studies, first-year experience and student affairs, and so on — has no shortage of services to help them.

“To a certain extent we have a wealth of assistance, but it can be difficult to navigate,” said Lucy Russell, KU assistant vice provost of undergraduate studies, who helped create the position. “Students and faculty and staff may not know how to get students to the right person.”

That’s where Rasnak can help. She can point students to the best place to go next, whether they’re trying to withdraw from a class, get a refund, request an extension on a deadline or receive academic help.

She has walked students to an office to make an in-person introduction and emailed instructors, touching on a sensitive issue so that the student doesn’t have to bear all the burden of bringing it up. She’s even helped orchestrate out-of-state makeup tests for students who have been hospitalized.

The idea behind the advocate position is that having one person to go to, who is a familiar face, can lighten the load of a student, especially in the complex, stressful, information-heavy world of college.

“All universities are throwing a lot of technology at students,” Rasnak said. “As convenient as all that is, there are times when you just need a human explanation of things.”

Even so, she can’t do everything for students. “I have to let them know I have no magic,” she said. “I have no power. I can only advocate.”

Modeled after Indiana University’s Student Advocates Office, KU’s advocate position is part-time, with Rasnak filling the role in partial retirement. When she’s there, she’s busy. Rasnak said that by the end of the year she might work with 200 students or more.

This semester Rasnak has gotten referrals from faculty, staff, counseling centers and other students. As more people on campus learn about her, that number could grow. Already she sees a permanent place for a student advocate, or advocates, at KU.

“The need for this isn’t going to disappear,” she said. “From my perspective, where else would these students go?”