Academic Advising
Responsibilities of the Student
Academic advising is a partnership. Understanding your role and responsibilities as an advisee is essential to developing a productive relationship with your advisor.
- Be Proactive! Contact your advisor to schedule meetings. Don’t forget to schedule an advising meeting before registration week–check the academic calendar for the advising week dates!!
- Be Prepared! Come to your advising meetings ready to communicate your interests and goals. Review the requirements for graduation, including general education requirements. When you declare a major or minor, learn the requirements for that major or minor. If an upcoming meeting will include semester planning, construct a tentative course plan and bring it to the meeting.
- Be Receptive: At some point, your advisor will refer you to another resource or office on campus. While advisors are expected to understand graduation requirements and be knowledgeable about academic policies, no single advisor can be expected to provide all of the information students will need during their years at PC. Be sure to note these recommendations and share with your advisor the steps you took and the guidance you received.
- Be Engaged: Take time to think about the goals you would like to accomplish this year and beyond. Actively seek information needed for your academic success and appropriately use academic and other campus resources. Use DegreeWorks to chart your progress toward your degree.
- Be Connected! Advisors and administrative offices send important information to students’ PC email addresses, so check your PC email regularly. Share your goals, thoughts, questions, and concerns with your advisor, and update your advisor if there are changes in your academic progress, schedule, or goals. Using DegreeWorks, review your progress toward your degree with your advisor.
Responsibilities of the Academic Advisor
An advisor is central to the academic success of each student. While no single advisor can be expected to provide all of the information a student will need during their years at PC, academic advisors have the following responsibilities:
• Orientation to PC: Advisors help students become familiar with the college’s academic rigor. Advisors introduce students to the mission of higher education and PC, the purpose of academic requirements, the expected achievement standards, the amount of work to reach those standards, and how and why things happen as they do at PC.
• Dissemination of Information: Advisors provide advice and consultation about registering for classes, educational opportunities, support services and programs, co-curricular programs, degree requirements, academic policies and procedures, and other administrative information.
• Academic Guidance and Success: Advisors aspire to develop supportive, mentoring relationships with advisees by empowering them to discover their interests and strengths and
develop their unique paths to success. Advisors help students understand the avenues to success, recognize their individual needs and concerns related to academic progress, define their
personal and educational goals, and monitor their progress toward degree. Through this individualized guidance, advisors encourage critical thinking, a desire for knowledge, and a lifelong commitment to learning.
• Short-Term Educational Planning: Advisors assist students with semester planning, selection of specific courses, registration, and schedule adjustments.
• Long-Term Educational Planning: Advisors provide advice and consultation about career and professional objectives and the relationship between courses, majors, and occupations.
• Referral to Campus Resources: When needed, advisors refer students to campus resources for additional assistance with academic support, career planning, wellness, financial aid, roommate concerns, social challenges, and/or personal problems.
• Inclusivity: Advisors create an inclusive advising environment that values and respects the diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all campus community members.
• Maintaining records: Advisors maintain accurate records of advising meetings that provide a history of interactions with each student, documentation of academic guidance given, and an assessment of the student’s progress toward meeting their goals.
• Confidentiality: Advisors maintain confidentiality by adhering to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act* (FERPA) and other regulations. FERPA guidance is available on the faculty resources page of the PC website.