4310 - Academic Advising and Counseling

CONTENTS:

A. Policy
B. Definitions
C. Responsibilities
D. Procedure

A. POLICY.

A-1. Under the freedom of choice that is inherent in the American system, career objectives are each person's own choice. Having enrolled at UI as a means of attaining career and educational objectives, the student agrees to meet the requirements of a curriculum as specified by the faculty and the regents.

A-2. Each matriculating student is provided with the assistance of an academic adviser. Advisers are faculty members established in their chosen fields and are assigned because of their experience, interest, and desire to aid students. The role of advisers is to aid students in further evaluating their career objectives and to help them select courses required in their chosen curriculum.

A-3. Students who are uncertain regarding career objectives or are having difficulty with required courses should be referred to the Counseling & Testing Center or to the Career Services Center. The specialists in these centers provide further aid to students in reaffirming or in modifying their career objectives and personal goals.

A-4. In all these matters, the primary responsibility rests with the students themselves. They are responsible for meeting curricular requirements as specified. The role of advisers and the specialists at the Counseling & Testing Center or at the Career Services Center is to assist students.

A-5. The responsibility of faculty members to serve as advisers is second only to teaching. To this end, advisers are available a reasonable number of scheduled hours each week to aid individual students. When schedules require, faculty members may ask that students make appointments in advance.

A-6. For their part, students are responsible for making appointments during scheduled conference hours and for meeting appointments promptly. Moreover, they must use discretion in the amount of time that they spend with the adviser.

B. Definitions. Student advising and counseling consist of three phases: preregistration advising, curriculum advising, and counseling and career planning.

B-1. Preregistration Advising. Preregistration advising is done by faculty members during the scheduled preregistration periods. The purposes are: (1) to see that students enroll in the courses that they should be taking that semester as determined either by the standard curriculum as published in the catalog or as distributed by the subject-matter area or by individual programs worked out during the preregistration period or during curriculum advising sessions at some other time; and (2) to see that the registration packets are filled out properly.

B-2. Curriculum Advising. Curriculum advising is done by faculty members at a convenient time. The purposes are: (1) to provide students with information to assist in determining goals within the framework of a particular curriculum; (2) to assist students in choosing among the various options available within a given curriculum with a view to students' career goals; and (3) to assist students in selecting the elective courses best suited to support the basic curriculum and their other educational goals.

B-3. Counseling and Career Planning. The purpose of counseling is to assist students in understanding and resolving their educational, vocational, and personal problems. Counseling is carried out by members of the faculty, the Counseling & Testing Center, and the Career Services Center as the needs of students require.

C. Responsibilities.

C-1. Students. The principal responsibilities of students are: (1) to select educational goals and the curriculum to follow in order to achieve these goals; (2) to be informed on rules, regulations, and curricular requirements in the catalog; (3) to take the initiative, when the need arises, to consult with advisers before problems become critical; (4) to take into account the advice given concerning the curriculum; and (5) when a change in goals or curriculum becomes desirable, to weigh the matter carefully, to seek the services of the Counseling & Testing Center if necessary, to make a decision, and to follow through on the decision.

C-2. Faculty Members. The principal responsibilities of members of the faculty are: (1) to be informed on rules and regulations in the catalog; (2) to be thoroughly acquainted with departmental curricula; (3) to be aware of developments and opportunities in their own fields that would have a bearing on the student's choice of options and elective courses; (4) to provide information concerning graduate study or extended professional preparation; (5) to be ready to call upon the resources of the university, such as specialists in other curricula, the Counseling & Testing Center, and the Career Services Center, in assisting students; (6) to be patient and to offer advice in a pleasant, considerate, and professional manner; and(7) to be available by appointment and at an appropriate number of posted, scheduled office hours.

C-3. Administrators. The principal responsibilities of administrators are: (1) in consultation with their faculties, to develop plans of preregistration and curriculum advising suited to the educational philosophy of the college, its curricula, and the needs of the students; (2) to assign well-prepared faculty members and adequate physical arrangements to the advising programs so that advising may be accomplished with maximum effect and maximum convenience to both the students and the faculty; (3) to take advising duties into account in assigning routine tasks to the various members of their faculties; (4) to give due credit for student advising in evaluating the performance of faculty members assigned advising duties, bearing in mind that with these members of their faculties, advising is second only to actual classroom teaching in the priorities of duty; and (5) in recruiting new faculty members, to keep in mind the need of possible additional advisers.

D. Procedures.

D-1. Each student should be advised by an established faculty member in the student's field. Only carefully selected faculty members--those who have the personality, interest, and incentive for advising students--should participate.

D-2. During the regular preregistration period, faculty advisers should not attempt to advise by individual conferences more than about 25 students, including graduate students. (This number may be adjusted upward or downward in the light of the complexity of preregistration advising in a particular subject-matter area.)

D-3. If a faculty adviser's load must exceed 25 students, it would be advisable to separate preregistration advising from curriculum advising, to advise lower-division students in groups, and to arrange individual curriculum advising conferences, particularly with new students, as soon as possible after registration.

D-4. When group preregistration advising is used, the faculty adviser may be assisted by well-prepared upper-division students who are majoring in the curriculum. The assistants should work directly with small groups of students while the faculty adviser exercises general supervision and resolves problems. When the student's study list is completed, the faculty adviser should check it and, at that time, schedule a definite appointment with each new student for an individual curriculum advising conference.

Version History

Amended August 2009. Updated department names and minor editorial changes.

Amended July 1989. Editorial changes.

Adopted 1979.