IV: Consistent Advising Standards

All faculty and CAPE Advisors are designated with the “advisor role” in Banner.  All “advisors” can see basic information for all students and they have access to Banner Degree Evaluations for any student with the G# (G#s are available in Navigate).  It is important to keep in mind that official advisor status is not required to see some student academic records.  

It is important for all advisors to have a shared understanding of basic information for their students, both assigned advisees and others.  Various people from the community support students in and out of the classroom and communication is critical.  Navigate is a central resource for student support but it must be supplemented in order to build relationships and strengthen networks of support for all students.  

 
 

I. Advisor Roles

Regardless of their role, all advisors should 

  • Be aware of appropriate academic requirements and accomplishments for each level including 124 CREDIT TOTAL required to graduate (128 in the ‘98 curriculum).
  • Know how to access student records and help students access those records
  • Encourage the student to make connections on campus 
  • Help connect students with academic supports, co-curricular activities
  • Communicate with other members of the success team as a crucial to student support
  • Respond in a timely manner to student and colleague outreach
  • Elevate concerns as needed to the Associate Academic Dean or Director of Academic Support Services

​In order to maximize team-based advising, the following docs should be accessible in Stellic

  • Degree Plans (uploaded by primary advisor), 
  • SAP Appeal (uploaded by Director of Academic Support Services), 
  • Support Semester Contract (uploaded by Director of Academic Support Services)
  • Advising notes

​Primary advisors are responsible for Stellic case management, though others on the success team can submit alerts and are encouraged to respond to cases as appropriate.  Most student information is available to anyone with the “advisor” role in Banner with G# (visible on Stellic).

Advisors working together provide the most robust support and guide students to make the most of their college journey at all levels.

a. Primary Advisor

The primary advisor serves as the student’s “go-to person,” often before they arrive on campus.  They meet with their advisees at least once each semester (recommended twice for first-years).  They help students seek necessary academic support, complete Support Semester Contract planning, and write academic plans for SAP appeals, etc., as needed.  They often write letter of recommendation or other supporting documents as needed

The primary advisor is the only advisor with their advisees’ Alt PINs.   Students are required to meet with their primary advisor for academic advising in order to receive ALT PIN for registration (only the primary advisor has the ALT PIN).  In the first semester, the primary advisor also communicates with First Year Seminar instructors as appropriate.

b. Additional Advisor (including secondary)

Our current practice is to assign a Primary advisor and a CAPE advisor to all students (for first-year students they will be the same; after the first year, students with a declared major switch to a faculty advisor in their major; all students must have a faculty advisor as their primary advisor by their junior year). Secondary faculty advisors will be added in Banner for students with a double major.  Additional advisors (up to 5) include the Director of Academic Support Services and Associate Academic Dean. A student can have more advisors identified in Banner than we can see in Stellic.  All advisors appearing on the student’s success team in Stellic receive certain alerts based on their access Tier.

Students should have a secondary advisor if they 

  • participate in Honors, QLSP, MLSP, Ethical Leadership Fellows
  • are an International student, 
  • have multiple majors 
  • have multiple minors

c. First Year Seminar Instructors

Because they meet with students regularly during their first semester, First Year Seminar instructors play a crucial role in student support and retention.  If the CAPE advisor for a student’s FYS class is different from the student’s primary advisor, these instructors communicate with each other about students of concern regularly (in person, by email, or through Stellic).  These instructors submit progress reports regarding attendance and performance in their classes.  They also offer support and communicate directly with the student and connect students with additional support.  As needed, they elevate situations to the student’s CAPE Advisor or to the Dean’s office.

d. CAPE Advisor

In addition to serving as advisors for first-year students, CAPE advisors play a critical role in helping student get acclimated to campus and connect to campus resources.  They serve as primary advisors for their assigned students through the spring semester of 1st year or until the student declares a major.  After a student’s second semester, their CAPE advisor continues to serve as a liaison for CAPE communication, CAPE programming, broader academic goals and career development.

CAPE advisors meet with each advisee at least once per semester (group or individual).  They provide guidance and resources for degree planning (degree maps, curricular overview), goal discernment (especially for undeclared majors), and understanding/ completing requirements (# credits, Critical Bases, IE, basic major info).  In the first year they take care of major changes for their advisees since these students cannot make those changes themselves in Banner until their second year.

With CAPE team, the CAPE advisor focuses on building out and calling attention to career discernment and development.  CAPE advisors provide summer support for students when faculty are not on contract.
 

e. Faculty, Coaches, Program Directors, & Others on Support Team

The members of a student’s success team work closely with them to build relationships and connections.  The members of the success team receive notifications of alerts according to their access tier and proactively reach out to students to offer support. They help connect students with additional resources/departmental faculty as needed.

The success team members regularly encourage students to have conversations with faculty in their intended major.  The Success Team members encourage students to talk about their intended major, pursue their academic and personal goals, make connections with regard to their areas of interest, goals, and identify opportunities on campus.  They remind students to participate in CAPE programming.

Departments communicate with students who have declared (or intend to declare) their major.  Academic departments should make arrangements with the Dean’s Office for responding to primary advisees during the summer