Undergraduate and graduate students request advice, clarification of procedures, approvals, and may need to initiate and have reviewed appeals on a wide variety of matters. It is important that these requests are processed in a timely manner. Departments and schools are responsible for providing faculty and staff who are suitably trained and informed to respond to student requests.
The dean, department chair or school director or program director has the ultimate responsibility to supervise and monitor the academic advising provided to students for the programs provided by an academic unit.
The dean, chair or director normally will appoint faculty and staff to provide the day-to-day advising for students. Therefore each academic unit or program will normally have an "Officer" to whom operational responsibility will be devolved. In addition, the dean, chair or director may assign advising duties to suitably experienced and trained professional staff and may have them operationally supervised by the appropriate "officer". Normally the "officer" chairs the unit or program's operations committee that deals with admissions, standings, and appeals. This does not remove the final responsibility from the dean, department chair, school director, or program director.
Professional staff are well positioned to provide regular advising for the largest portion of student requests. This is clearly demonstrated by the Registrar's Office staff who do not hold faculty appointments but still make decisions about student requests. At the departmental or school level, the professional staff are normally available for the largest portion of the normal business hours each week. This can provide students with timely access and response to many matters. In most cases the professional staff have been operationally involved with student matters over many years, and have often participated in staff training programs offered by the Registrar and other administrative areas of the University. They can therefore provide a valuable source of sustained and up-to-date information on university, faculty and academic unit (program) policies and procedures. They also have good knowledge of the support services that can be called upon to assist students. In many cases, they provide an important guide and coach to the faculty members who serve as "officers".
Faculty "officers" for programs are normally appointed for limited periods (1-3 years). Many are not deeply experienced in academic policy, procedures, and decision making. They often need to call upon professional staff at the unit, faculty, and university level for procedural and policy advice. Their particular strength is an understanding of program and course content and academic requirements. Their substantive knowledge is very important in determining allowable substitutions, academic standards for awards, and other matters that relate to program and skill content.
Advising Guideline: An academic unit or program dean, chair, or director may formally devolve operating responsibility for academic advising to one or more faculty officers, who in turn may devolve operational advising responsibility to suitable experienced and trained professional staff. The actual responsibilities devolved to officers and staff may vary from unit to unit and program to program depending upon the needs of the unit or program and the experience of the faculty officers and professional staff. These responsibilities are to be specified in writing and maintained on file in the unit or program office and in the Dean's Office. They should be reviewed and updated on an annual basis.
Last updated on November 3, 2003