Provost

3.2 ACADEMIC ADVISING POLICY

Academic and nonacademic advising is considered vital at a small liberal arts college. Advising plays an important role in helping students determine their academic interests and their academic strengths and weaknesses. Sound advice is essential as students elect courses, develop a Program of Emphasis, and explore options in careers and post-graduate education. Advising is also important in increasing students' satisfaction in their college experiences and in retention.

3.2.1 Assignment of Advisors

Assigning freshman advisors to incoming students is the responsibility of the Registrar. S/he will attempt to assign students to advisors based on the criteria below, ranked in order of importance.

  1. Assign "high risk" students to advisors interested in and trained for work with these individuals. "High risk" students are identified by the Retention Committee as:
    1. Conditionally admitted students;
    2. Students with exploratory programs of emphasis;
    3. Students with an apparent aptitude-aspiration mismatch (those with poor academic credentials who aspire to enter the most competitive academic fields).
  2. Assign freshmen in cooperative education programs (Allied Health, Pre-engineering) to a designated professor for that area.
  3. Assign those freshmen not in any of the above categories(about 60% of incoming class) to a faculty member teaching one of the courses the student takes in the fall semester.

If possible, students will be assigned to a faculty member in the student's area of academic interest.

Generally, freshmen will be assigned to those faculty who currently have the lighter load in advising.

If the logistics can be worked out, students will meet with their Freshman Advisors during Summer Orientation.

The Freshman Advisors may continue as either a student's Program Advisor or Liberal Arts Advisor if so elected by the student.

3.2.1.1 Advisor Qualifications

Normally, only those persons with faculty rank may serve as advisors. Should the Registrar and Assistant Dean/Director of Academic Support Services not have faculty rank, they may serve as advisors in appropriate circumstances, including advising transfer or Program for Area Residents (PAR) students during their initial semester at the College, advising conditionally admitted students until the end of their third semester, and advising students in academic difficulty while the progress of these students is closely monitored by the advisors. In such cases the Registrar and Assistant Dean/Director of Academic Support Services may serve as liberal arts advisors only. Any exceptions to this rule must be approved by the Student Academic Development Committee. In all cases, the quality of assistance to the student should be of primary consideration.

3.2.2 Types and Functions of Advisors

There are three types of advisors, which differ by the timing and processes by which they are assigned and/or elected and their different functions.

3.2.2.1 Freshman Advisors

Freshman Advisors, who are assigned during the summer and become active upon students' arrival to campus, will be trained to address the special needs of first-year students. Freshman Advisors will be required to maintain a file on each advisee to be passed on to future advisors and to cover the following topics with their advisees:

  1. At the beginning of the first semester:
    1. choosing Program and Liberal arts advisors;
    2. special programs (urban semester, foreign study, internships, etc.);
    3. interpretation of reading test results and Baldridge Reading Skills Course;
    4. academic integrity and procedures for reporting dishonesty.
  2. By the mid-term of the first semester:
    1. grading;
    2. course withdrawal;
    3. criteria for Dean's List;
    4. criteria for academic probation and dismissal.
  3. By the end week of the first semester:
    1. credit-by-examination and tutorials;
    2. the construction and alteration of POEs (due date, relationship between POE and career plans, etc.);
    3. eave of absence policy;
    4. degree requirements;
    5. choosing a second advisor
  4. Formal introductions to the Counseling Center, Career Planning and Placement, and co-curricular transcripts will be made by the Student Services staff during Summer Orientation. However, Freshman Advisors should still touch on these opportunities.

Instead of adding other duties to advisors, orientation to the library and the writing center as academic resources will become the responsibility of the EN 100 staff. Likewise, introduction to the computer center will become part of the CS 100 course.

3.2.2.1.1 High Risk Student Advisors

High Risk student advisors are assigned to freshmen during the summer and become active when students arrive on campus in the fall. The duties of these advisors are the same as those of Freshman Advisors. High Risk student advisors are expected to maintain especially close contact with advisees so that students academic difficulties are dealt with in a timely manner.

3.2.2.2 Program of Emphasis Advisors

The POE Advisor is elected by the end of a student's first semester. Students will use a "change of advisor" form available in the Registrar's Office for this purpose. Program Advisors should be determined by academic field and hold the primary responsibility of advising students on their Program of Emphasis.

Duties of Program Advisors also include the following:

  1. Maintain a file of information on each student, which shall be passed on to future advisors.
  2. Advise students on course selection, POE development and changes, career planning, graduate and professional schools, study skills, and other related academic and career matters.
  3. Refer students to other personnel who can assist them on academic, career, financial, housing, and personal matters. Use the "Notice of Concern" form to share concerns with appropriate persons.
  4. Write letters of recommendation regarding internships, job placement, graduate schools, study abroad, etc., when these letters are requested.
  5. Inform the advisee's instructors of any special situations that could affect the advisee's academic performance.
  6. Sign all POE forms, registration forms, and drop/add forms.
  7. Participate in advisor training sessions whenever they are held.
  8. Inform students that they may or should change advisors when academic changes or personal factors so warrant.

3.2.2.3 Liberal Arts Advisors

Like Program Advisors, Liberal Arts Advisors are elected by the end of the first semester. By definition, a Liberal Arts Advisor teaches in a discipline outside his or her student advisee's Program of Emphasis. The Liberal Arts Advisor has the explicit responsibility of advising and monitoring the student's performance on and completion of the College's graduation requirements excluding the POE.

Duties of Liberal Arts Advisors also include the following:

  1. Encourage students to select courses that will widen their horizons.
  2. Serve as a secondary advisor as needed on POE concerns.
  3. Refer students to various campus personnel for advice on academic, career, financial, housing, and personal matters.
  4. Sign course registration, drop/add, and POE forms.

3.2.3 Advising Students on Academic Probation

The College has an obligation to give students placed on academic probation (AP) additional assistance. As a College we should utilize available resources to help these students maximize their potential and increase our efforts to retain these students if doing so is mutually advantageous to both the student and the College.

As soon as advisors are notified that an advisee has been placed on academic probation, the two advisors should review the relevant information about the student's poor academic performance. This review shall include a conference with the student and contact with instructors. Hypotheses about the student's poor performance might include: lack of ability, lack of motivation, deficiencies in reading, writing, or quantitative skills, problematic study habits, and personal and/or family problems.

Then, the advisors and the student should develop a specific plan of action to deal with the problems identified. This plan might include meeting with the advisee on a regular basis, obtaining grade and attendance reports from each of the student's instructors during the semester the student has performed poorly, and asking the advisee to meet with his/her instructors in any courses where s/he is experiencing difficulty. Specific follow-up steps could include referral to Academic Support Services, the Writing Center, the Baldridge Reading Program, and the personal counseling services.

3.2.4 Advisor Training and Evaluation

The Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs shall have the responsibility for setting up training programs for the various types of faculty advisors. All new faculty shall receive training and/or orientation on the operation of Juniata's advising system. Each year there will be one or more training sessions for Freshman Advisors to cover the timetable and content of the advising program for new students.

The Personnel Evaluation Committee shall develop methods for evaluating advisors. The Committee should provide feedback to the Dean and the Student Academic Development Committee on the ways the advising program could be strengthened.