Guidelines for Advisers
- Provide a professional, confidential, and caring atmosphere that encourages and respects interaction with students.
- Keep informed of information and resources that can be used to address questions on academic matters. Participate in educational advising programs offered throughout the year.
- Be knowledgeable of institutional policies, procedures, and academic requirements. Provide accurate information to assist students in selecting, scheduling, and registering for courses.
- Stay informed about non-academic resources (e.g., Counseling Center, Career Services, Student Development and Academic Services hub, etc.).
- Maintain a confidential file on each advisee showing the student′s academic progress. Forward this file to a new adviser if one is chosen.
- Post and keep office hours. Be available beyond those times for special appointments.
- Assist advisees in selecting courses that will satisfy requirements, fit their strengths, and contribute to their career and life goals.
- Assist advisees in an honest self-assessment of academic strengths, skills, and interests as they make academic decisions.
- Work with the Student Development and Academic Services hub to monitor advisees′ academic progress and give appropriate advice, encouragement, or assistance if any student is experiencing academic difficulty.
- Initiate contact with advisees on a regular basis, especially in their first year.
- Contact and advise students whose academic success is at risk, especially those who have received notifications of deficient work, low mid-term grades, academic probation, and the like.
- Do not criticize other faculty, staff, or students in the presence of students.
- Keep a sense of humor.
Guidelines for the College:
- Value academic advising as a necessary extension of the teaching/learning process.
- Provide ongoing training opportunities for new and continuing advisers.
- Ensure that academic advising is fully integrated into other programs of the institution (e.g., admissions, orientation, registration, counseling and career planning, etc.).
- Collect data on the impact of effective advising both on recruitment/retention and as an effective intervention for students in academic difficulty.
- Develop and implement strategies to evaluate academic advising as part of the faculty′s annual assessment of performance.
- Communicate academic policies to students and provide supporting rationale for such policies.