Most regularly enrolled students are assigned for academic advising to a faculty member who is normally a member of the department which is, or is most likely to become, the student’s major department. Students who are admitted into programs such as Exploratory Studies will be advised by professional advisors in those programs who will aid the students in the process of selecting an appropriate major.

Responsibilities of the Student

Students have the primary responsibility for planning their individual programs and meeting graduation requirements. This involves keeping up-to-date with university, college, and department curricular requirements through materials available from the advisors or departmental coordinators of advising; keeping informed of academic deadlines and changes in academic policies; and consulting with the advisor or departmental coordinator of advising during each registration period, following notification of academic warning status, and at other times as needed and required by academic policy; and attending class and meeting class objectives and assignments.

Responsibilities of the Advisor

Although students have the primary responsibility for planning their programs, advisors are expected to:

• be available for conferences at appropriate times and places about which their advisees have been informed;
• provide accurate information about academic regulations and procedures, course prerequisites, and graduation requirements;
• assist students in planning academic programs suited to their interests, abilities and their career objectives;
• discuss with their advisees appropriate course choices in fulfilling curriculum requirements as well as possible consequences of various alternative course choices;
• inform their advisees when the advisee’s proposed course selections conflict with university academic or curricular regulations;
• assist advisees with following proper procedures for such things as Progress Toward Degree and the possible consequences of changing a letter graded course to a pass/fail status without speaking with an advisor, exceptions to the course drop deadlines, auditing a course before or after taking it for credit, taking a course under the credit by examination policy, registering for 19 or more credit hours, registering for inter-institutional courses, the availability and rules for the First Year Course Repeat Policy, and referring their advisees for special testing or counseling as needed;
• assist their advisees in considering the appropriateness of academic adjustments where these become necessary in cases of serious injury or illness, or unforeseen personal hardships.

Responsibilities of the Coordinator of Advising

Each college or department has a coordinator of advising who is responsible for: assigning, training, and supervising faculty and professional advisors; providing up-to-date, printed course and curriculum information for advisors and students; reassigning to another advisor any student who requests reassignment; and assisting any student who wants to major in the coordinator’s area of study, but is ineligible at the time to transfer into it. Students in this category keep their advisor in the department in which they are enrolled, but consult additionally with the coordinator of advising and teaching for the department offering the curriculum in which they wish to enroll. Whenever appropriate, the coordinator will advise students that they should consider alternative curricula and refer the students to  University Advising and Exploratory Studies.