Advising Relationship
A productive faculty-student advising relationship depends upon a shared understanding of and commitment to the advising process. In this interactive partnership, the advisor enhances student success by serving as a facilitator, teacher, mentor, and guide. Advisors endeavor to develop ongoing working relationships with their advisees based on mutual respect, supporting students as they advance through their academic programs. Advisees realize their educational potential through regular communication and follow-through with their advisors.
Expectations for Advisee
- Develop a collaborative relationship with your advisor
- Be respectful in your interactions with your advisor
- Contact your advisor with questions and concerns as they come up
- Inform your advisor of any academic difficulties or personal problems as soon as they arise because the advisor can connect you to university resources that can help
- Be responsive when your advisor reaches out to you with concerns or to schedule an advising appointment (be aware that different advisors have different sign-up strategies for meetings)
- Give careful thought to your short-term and long-term academic, career, and life goals and share this information with your advisor
- Be familiar with Stetson’s catalog, academic policies and procedures, and curriculum as they relate to your degree
- Know the academic calendar and important deadlines
- Complete Online Advising Labs, as required
- Schedule an appointment with your advisor prior to the registration period (typically, your advisor will reach out to you to do so)
- Arrive on time for your scheduled appointment or notify the advisor in advance if the appointment needs to be rescheduled
- Arrive at the pre-registration advising meeting with a good sense of the requirements, a preliminary course schedule, and any questions or concerns you have
- Discuss with your advisor any changes to your academic major, minor or future goals
- Explore with your advisor and be open to curricular and co-curricular opportunities (such as summer courses, study abroad, research opportunities, and internships)
- Ask questions! If you are unclear about a policy or procedure or degree requirement or advising hold on your account or information presented during the advising meeting, request clarification from the advisor
- Follow through on the plan you and your advisor developed together, including registering for agreed-upon courses, contacting other faculty or offices for more information, and/or accessing campus resources
- Take responsibility for decisions made during the advising process. Your advisor will provide you with advice and guidance, but ultimately you are responsible for making your own decisions about educational planning, course scheduling and completion of all graduation requirements. Follow up with your advisor if you have questions.
- Consult with your advisor if, after your advising meeting, you would like to make changes to the schedule you and your advisor agreed upon. Sometimes there can be unintended consequences to adding or dropping classes or electing Pass/Fail. Your advisor can help you make decisions that will keep you on the path to timely graduation.
- Consult with the Financial Aid office if you have questions or concerns about how your academic decisions will impact your financial aid package. Your faculty advisor does not have details of your financial aid package. Understand that it is your responsibility to ensure that you are meeting the requirements of the student’s financial aid package, as your advisor will not be aware of the specifics of a student’s financial aid package
Expectations for Faculty Advisor
- Establish a rapport and foster a collaborative relationship with advisees: create a welcoming, safe, and positive environment in which students are free to explore with you their ideas, interests, aspirations and concerns
- Help students think about and formulate what is important to them in their academic, professional, and personal lives
- Assist students in setting short-term and long-term educational goals; discuss ways and realistic timeframes to achieve these goals
- Monitor students’ progress toward goal fulfillment and degree completion
- Be accessible to advisees throughout the semester (provide clear guidelines for contacting you and scheduling a meeting with you)
- Respond in a timely manner to student inquiries
- Meet with each advisee, preferably face-to-face, at least once per semester (during the pre-registration period) to provide comprehensive academic planning advice
- Schedule advising appointments with each advisee
- Inquire about academic problems and special challenges being experienced by advisees
- Actively listen and respond to student's questions, providing necessary information and support
- Mentor and guide students as they work toward becoming empowered graduates who pursue meaningful lives and productive careers after they graduate
- Inform students of their responsibilities in the advising process
- Craft a coherent educational plan for each advisee based on an assessment of the student’s abilities, aspirations, interests, and values
- Clarify for advisees their course prerequisites, course sequencing and appropriate course loads
- Build awareness of and encourage students’ participation in high-impact educational practices and out-of-classroom experiences, such as research, internships, and study abroad
- Be proactive about reaching out to the student if the student receives a midterm grade warning or has a cumulative GPA (or GPA in the major) that falls below 2.0
- Know the campus services and resources available to support students, and refer students to the appropriate ones, as needed
- Provide career planning advice
- Keep a record in the form of notes of decisions made during the advising meeting
- Know, understand, interpret and effectively communicate to your advisees university policies and procedures, and the curriculum (degree requirements related to graduation, General Education, majors and minors, cultural credit, etc.)
- Participate in advisor training/professional development sessions to keep informed and current about best advising practices, university policies, procedures and requirements