Advisor’s Responsibilities

Academic advisors should be among the most informed members of the College community. They must have an understanding of the degree requirements for the programs in which they advise, as well as career and transfer possibilities. In addition, they must be informed about College policies and regulations. They must be accessible to students and willing to consult with them. Perhaps most important of all is the willingness to seek out information and to refer students to the appropriate resources when necessary.

One of your first responsibilities as an advisor is to become acquainted with your advisees and to work out what your roles will be in the advisement relationship.  During the first week of classes, you will receive a tentative list of your advisees and advisee folders for your new advisees.  Each folder should contain the following (contact the Enrollment Services Center if you are missing information you need):

• A copy of the high school transcript
• A transcript for each college previously attended, including Tompkins Cortland
• An Assessment Checklist with placement test scores, if testing was required, and courses selected during the entering student advisement session
• The Accuplacer Report showing the results of the student's placement testing and the student's responses to the goal-themed questions in the local background information.
• An interview sheet completed by the entering student advisor
• A program audit sheet for the appropriate matriculation year for the student, indicating program requirements

Your advisee roster cannot be finalized until the fourth week of classes after the drop/add period. During the first three weeks, a number of students will change from full-time to part-time status (and vice versa) as well as change their programs. In either case, a new advisor assignment might need to be made. If you have any questions about your advisee roster, or if you need a folder for an advisee on your list, please contact the Enrollment Services Center.

It is strongly recommended that you contact your advisees early in the semester and encourage them to make an appointment to see you.

During your initial meetings with a new advisees, you should discuss how you see your role as their advisor and what your expectations are of them as your advisees. This discussion will expand to include program requirements, the student’s career plans, and the academic rules and regulations of the College. This is also an excellent opportunity to begin discussing a student’s long-range plan – how the present semester’s courses will lead to the following semester. Here you can discuss the student’s time frame for reaching his/her educational goals at TC3 and how you can work together to help achieve them.

It is important that faculty advisors hold regular office hours and also be available by appointment.  Many advisees will prefer to interact with advisors by phone or email, and these types of communication can be effective in addition to the office hours.

Advisement literature shows that new students will usually require more information from their advisors; as a student progresses through college, they will need the advisor to be more of a mentor for making decisions. All students should be reminded that they will need your approval to add or drop courses, to withdraw from courses, and to register for the next semester. It is the advisor’s job to help the student make informed choices about registration and about schedule changes. Make sure they understand that if they decide at some point they will be unable to complete a course, they must officially drop or withdraw, rather than just quit going to class. If they “unofficially” drop the class by not going, they will receive an ‘F.’

With your continuing advisees, you will want to discuss their academic progress and the courses remaining to complete degree requirements. Each advisee should have a discussion with you about the courses he or she plans to take at TC3 in the next semester. It is your job to be sure that the student is qualified to take each chosen course, according to the basic skills requirements, and the college-level prerequisite or corequisite courses listed in the catalog description of each course.

Those students nearing graduation should be reminded that they must apply for graduation (Application for Degree). The specific deadline dates and the Application for Degree can be done using the student's account on myINFO (or from the paper form from Enrollment Services). Once the application for graduation is received, the Academic Records office does an official transcript audit and sends a letter to the student indicating what courses need to be completed for the indicated degree.

It is the responsibility of the advisor to maintain the advisee folder by keeping program sheets current and by filing other documents you may receive, as well as your own notes regarding advisement sessions.

You should contact your advisees who receive mid-semester progress reports of “unsatisfactory” to help them work out the strategy they will use to deal with the warning. Under the “attendance” option in myINFO for each student you can also review the attendance status of each student in each course. Prompted by a “U” grade or poor attendance report, you may want to discuss a course of action with the student. Resources can be recommended to help the student succeed in the class, and a discussion of withdrawing from a course may be in order. Implications of withdrawing should be fully explored with the student.

Your advisees who are on academic probation will need extra attention from you. The student will need to file a probation agreement in order to avoid being descheduled for the coming semester. Often this will occur between semesters with an advisor on duty while you, the program advisor, are off contract. A copy of the agreement will be sent to you if that occurs. Once the semester begins, the student should review the agreement with you. Please read the section on advising probation students for more detail.

It is important for you to be available during the days before classes begin each semester to see your advisees who need to register, as well as to complete probation interviews with your advisees on academic probation. Students are encouraged to call ahead for an appointment, so you should make sure your suite secretary knows when you will be available.