WHAT DOES AN ACADEMIC ADVISOR DO?

Published: Nov 19, 2024 – The Academic Advisor guides undergraduate business students on course selection, program planning, academic concerns, and graduation requirements while maintaining knowledge of college policies and procedures. This position assists with academic advising for transfer students, supports students facing academic difficulties, and connects them to career and co-curricular opportunities like internships, study abroad, and research. The advisor also monitors student progress, maintains accurate advising documentation, and conducts proactive outreach to ensure timely degree completion.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Academic Advisor

1. Academic Advisor Responsibilities

  • Advising: Provides and manages the advising, retention, and success initiatives of a cohort of CCB undergraduate students.
  • Student Tracking: Proactively tracks students identified as 'at risk' and provides additional support.
  • Program Explanation: Explains program requirements to enrolled and potential students as well as provides information about appropriate resources and opportunities.
  • Reporting and Analysis: Provides general reports and summary analysis of collected student data to Deans, supervisors, and faculty.
  • Workshop Development: Develops and/or delivers workshops on transition to university life and student success strategies.
  • Academic Advising: Provides academic advising to student advisees and students transitioning between majors, and develops academic plans.
  • Retention Planning: Develops and implements retention plans for students who are on academic warning, academic probation, and subject to dismissal and potential impact on financial aid.
  • Consultation: Consult with University departments and other units on campus to assist student success.
  • Communication: Communicates and meets regularly with advisees.
  • Material Development: Assists in the development of advising and academic mapping materials and workshops, and participates.
  • Committee Participation: Participates in College and University committees such as those devoted to enrollment management, retention, academic advising, etc.

2. Academic Advisor Job Summary

  • Academic Monitoring: Monitor student academic performance, behavior, and attendance and connect students to appropriate supports.
  • Goal Setting: Help students process their problems, plan goals, and act upon them.
  • Liaison: Serve as liaison between parents/students/teachers regarding academics/behavior/attendance.
  • Record Management: Maintain student records and run reports.
  • Teacher Communication: Communicate with teachers regarding assignments, and student concerns.
  • Study Skills Development: Work with students to develop study skills and organization skills.
  • Collaboration: Collaborate with the student services department.
  • Parent Education: Educate parents on academic expectations of their students, and how to access student information.
  • Team Participation: Attend grade team meetings.
  • College Support: Support students through the college application, financial aid, and selection process throughout their senior year.

3. Academic Advisor Accountabilities

  • Policy Interpretation: Helps students understand and interpret policies impacting their enrollment and progress toward their degree.
  • Technology Adoption: Adopts new advising technologies/software and understands trends in the higher education field.
  • Email Management: Monitors the departmental email account for general inquiries.
  • Waitlist Management: Manages the waitlist process for all undergraduate business courses and assists with registration.
  • Liaison: Liaises with other departments in AS and E and the Simon Business School, student clubs/organizations, and assists in alumni engagement.
  • Event Coordination: Coordinates with the Undergraduate Business team on event management and coordinates student engagement plan to outline the student experience.
  • Event Planning: Plans and coordinates student events each semester, including Admissions informational sessions, alumni panels, open houses, departmental graduation ceremonies, etc.
  • Content Creation: Coordinate with various departments to gather content and create the bi-weekly e-newsletter “Business Buzz” to communicate with students.
  • Marketing Preparation: Prepares marketing and informational materials.
  • Communication Improvement: Helps to continuously improve student communications.
  • Club Liaison: Liaises with student undergraduate clubs/organizations affiliated with business such as Forté, Alpha Kappa Psi, Finance and Economics Council (FEC), etc.
  • Policy Awareness: Maintains awareness and understands relevant policies and processes of the Simon School, AS and E, and departmental policies and procedures.
  • Project Contribution: Contributes to program projects and new initiatives.
  • Report Preparation: Prepares written reports, analyses, and proposals.

4. Academic Advisor Functions

  • Advising: Advising current students and meeting with prospective students and families.
  • Academic Planning: Guiding students in developing a plan of study that meets degree requirements.
  • Course Assistance: Assisting with course selection, class scheduling, and co-curricular opportunities.
  • Academic Support: Communicating with students who are having academic difficulty, including those on academic probation and who have gone through the re-entry/readmission process.
  • Progress Auditing: Conducting audits on student's progress toward completion of their plan of study.
  • Collaboration: Communicating and working with the College of HHS, the Registrar, the Dean of Students, and other University Offices to maximize student access and success.
  • Event Coordination: Develop and administer events as assigned by an advising supervisor or director.
  • Committee Participation: Participate in unit, department, and/or campus-wide committees.
  • Strategic Planning: Participate in future development and long-range planning for AAC.
  • Recruitment: Participate in new student recruitment activities.
  • Representation: Represent the AAC, including possible presentations, at potential events offered by other campus offices.
  • Record Keeping: Maintain accurate, detailed records of all advising contacts.
  • Team Collaboration: Collaborate with others as part of a team environment.

5. Academic Advisor Job Description

  • Advising: Advise current and prospective students on College of Education degree requirements.
  • Group Advising: Participate in small group advising sessions during Freshman and Transfer Orientation sessions, as well as Internal Transfer Advising sessions.
  • Strategy Evaluation: Participate in bi-annual Advisor retreats to evaluate current advising practices and the implementation of new advising strategies for CoE students.
  • Program Coordination: Coordinate one or more 1st-year interest groups and serve as an advisor to the Student Council for Exceptional Children student organization in the CoE.
  • Record Management: Maintain updated student records through the use of writable PDF documents stored on the UT Box system.
  • Documentation: Submit clear and precise notes of student visits in the Advisor Toolkit.
  • Degree Evaluation: Assist in the evaluation of degree progression via the Interactive Degree Audit system (IDA) and submit overrides to the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs to ensure the audits are true and accurate.
  • Appeal Management: Submit student appeals to the CoE Appeals Committee for review and follow up with the student about the Committee’s decision via the Secured Academic Note (SAN) system.
  • Career Support: Collect and submit internship and career opportunities for CoE majors to the Texas Education Career Engagement office.
  • Major Advising: Advise all the SED majors and track their progress to degree.
  • Application Coordination: Coordinate and administer the SED Foundations application to students planning to enter the Foundations semester.
  • Scholarship Management: Collect and process information for SED majors eligible for the AISD scholarship, regularly meet with the SED Faculty to update them on student progress towards graduation, and address student needs.
  • Student Meetings: Meet one-on-one with prospective students and parents in appointments set up by the office, the Freshman Admissions Center, or the Dean's office.
  • Recruitment: Participate in various recruitment activities such as conducting prospective student sessions, attending TX Preview weekend events, participating in phone call projects, and/or email campaigns.

6. Academic Advisor Overview

  • Relationship Building: Develop trusting, supportive relationships with individual students.
  • Point of Contact: Serve as the primary point of contact for academic questions or concerns.
  • Student Support: Work with students individually through in-person, individual appointments and group meetings, drop-in hours, video conferencing, telephone, and email.
  • Academic Advising: Review students’ academic records and discuss appropriate course choices.
  • Co-curricular Guidance: Offer co-curricular guidance that complements academic path and goals.
  • Goal Setting: Lead students in intentional goal setting appropriate to their developmental stage.
  • Student Tracking: Proactively track, contact, and work with special student populations (i.e., high-risk, first-generation, students who have not been in for an appointment, students in academic difficulty, high-achieving students, etc.).
  • Workshop Leadership: Lead small groups, workshops, and seminars for the purpose of academic exploration, developing academic success strategies, etc.
  • Coverage: Provide ad hoc coverage for any advisor on the same disciplinary team.
  • Recruitment: Participate in New Student Welcome and other recruitment activities.
  • Degree Monitoring: Monitor degree audits and, in collaboration with appropriate offices, certify degree completion of assigned students.
  • Program Development: Develop support programs and materials for student success and persistence initiatives.
  • Faculty Collaboration: Collaborate closely with departmental faculty to ensure understanding of curricula, departmental goals, and career/research opportunities.

7. Academic Advisor Details and Accountabilities

  • Academic Advising: Responsible for providing expert academic advising to undergraduate students.
  • Advising Expertise: Provide expert, credible, and sensitive academic advising to all undergraduate students.
  • Major and Career Advising: Advise students regarding selecting a major and courses, career objectives, academic success strategies, and personal goals.
  • Policy Interpretation: Interpret probation and suspension policy and implement proactive advising plan with at-risk students.
  • University Policy Communication: Communicate and interpret University policies including general education requirements, major and minor requirements, graduation requirements, curriculum modifications, course waivers, and substitutions, late course adds/drops/withdrawals, and credit overloads.
  • Advising Load Management: Manage an advising load of 300-400 students.
  • Diverse Student Support: Diverse student load may include declared, exploratory, online, traditional, non-traditional, at-risk, probationary, honors, multicultural, and international.
  • Orientation and Group Advising: Conduct orientation sessions, group advising, and meetings for new, continuing, re-entry, and transfer students.
  • Process Collaboration: Collaborate with the advising staff in developing, implementing, and improving administrative processes necessary for successful developmental, proactive, and exploratory advising initiatives.
  • Document Management: Organize and maintain documents (e.g., forms, handbook, planning sheets) used by advisors in the course of performing their professional advising responsibilities.
  • Event Representation: Represent the UARC at various University events and meetings.
  • Faculty Liaison: Serve as a UARC resource person and liaison with faculty advisors.
  • Communication: Communicate and share information to keep advising colleagues informed.
  • Resource Knowledge: Maintain current knowledge of campus resources to refer students appropriately.
  • Registrar Collaboration: Work with the Registrar’s Office regarding curriculum demands, basic data reporting, registration procedures, feedback about degree audit, and SIS/TitanWeb.
  • Professional Development: Actively participate in advisor training and professional development.

8. Academic Advisor Additional Details

  • Academic Advising: Provide academic advising, programming, and monitoring of degree completion for group scholars that are first-generation underrepresented students from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds.
  • College Transition Support: Assist students with their college transition including understanding Indiana University's educational system and assimilating to the Bloomington campus environment.
  • Opportunity Identification: Identify internal and external opportunities that support academic growth.
  • Student Success Facilitation: Facilitate student’s academic success through individual conferences and referral to appropriate personal or academic support services.
  • Record Management: Maintain accurate records and generate reports.
  • Collaboration: Collaborate with students, staff, faculty, parents, and others.
  • Policy and Compliance Knowledge: Provide a good understanding of university policy and procedures, federal and state regulations, and grant and scholarship provisions, as well as ensure compliance.
  • Long-Term Advising: Provide advising, registration advice, and individualized assistance to assigned students from point of admission through graduation which could include up to 4 years.
  • Program Implementation: Implement specific advising programs that ensure academic progress and success such as Registration Outreach, transitional Student Guidance, Early and Mid-Semester Warning systems, Probationary Student Support, Major and Career Decisions, Campus Academic Support and Resources, and others.
  • Student Contact: Maintain contact with all advisees during each semester through in-person meetings, group meetings, phone calls, and email.
  • Support Communication: Communicate available student seminars, workshops, and other support programming for student development.
  • Career and Graduate School Guidance: Advise, counsel, and educate students about career resources, job search engines, and graduate school application strategies.
  • Policy Familiarity: Maintain familiarity with all relevant academic policies and procedures.

9. Academic Advisor Role Purpose

  • Course Guidance: Provide a clear understanding of the required course sequences, prerequisites, internship, and other educational and career opportunities.
  • Advising Documentation: Maintain clear and concise advising notes reflecting all advising meetings.
  • Collaboration: Collaborate and communicate with various departments, units, student support offices, faculty, staff, and others ensuring joint program development and optimal student support.
  • Team Support: Collaborate with other advisors, staff, and faculty to ensure strong support for all of the group scholars.
  • Student Support: Respond constructively and timely to a wide range of student inquiries and concerns related to academic needs, and also to personal or private issues, health concerns, family matters, personal relationships, financial concerns, and other matters.
  • Active Listening: Actively listen and assess the inquiry or situation.
  • Judgment and Referrals: Use sound judgment in responding, referring, and/or calling for additional assistance as the matter dictates.
  • Performance Tracking: Track performance, retention, and graduation rates of assigned students and generate appropriate reports.
  • Confidentiality: Maintain confidentiality and comply with university policies, federal and state regulations, and grant and scholarship provisions.
  • Student Organization Support: Provide support for the Group's student organization - Student Ambassadors.
  • Event Coordination: Assist with organizing events and advise the student leaders on university policies and procedures.
  • Professional Development: Attend internal and external meetings, workshops, programs, and conferences to support the position.
  • Presentation Development: Create and deliver group scholars' presentations.

10. Academic Advisor General Responsibilities

  • Academic Advising: Advises undergraduate students pursuing a major or minor in the undergraduate business program on academic matters including program selection, course selection and prerequisites, extended course planning, academic difficulties and concerns, transfer credit, major/minor declarations, and making progress toward meeting graduation requirements.
  • Policy Knowledge: Maintains current knowledge of College policies, Rochester Curriculum, academic programs, and policies and procedures.
  • Student Advocacy: Advocates for students’ needs and provides referrals for specialized assistance.
  • Transfer Student Support: Serves as College Advisor for a cohort of assigned transfer students.
  • Program Information: Provides information about program planning, academic resources, special academic opportunities, rules and policies, financial aid, and graduation requirements.
  • Academic Support: Provides support to students with academic difficulty and serves as a primary resource for students placed on academic probation within this cohort.
  • Academic Planning: Guides students on the development of four-year academic plans and connects students to academic and career development opportunities such as study abroad, research, internships, clubs/organizations, and other co-curricular activities.
  • Career Counseling: Assists students seeking preliminary career counseling and special academic programs.
  • Career Exploration: Educates students on the process of career exploration and the steps of connecting with career advisors in the Greene Center.
  • Post-Graduation Tracking: Assists with tracking student outcomes post-graduation.
  • Policy Communication: Effectively communicates and explains policies and procedures to students, parents, colleagues, and other stakeholders.
  • Advising Documentation: Assists with proper advising documentation in OnBase and business major/minor curriculum planning in FileMaker.
  • Proactive Outreach: Implements proactive outreach throughout the year for each student.
  • Progress Monitoring: Monitors student progress as they work toward degree completion including review of senior audits.
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