AA/PPS 02.02.30 - Undergraduate Academic Advising Policies

POLICY STATEMENT

Texas State University is committed to providing students with academic advising that ensures successful educational planning.

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

   1. The provost and vice president for Academic Affairs (VPAA) has supervisory responsibility for academic advising at Texas State University. Personalized Academic and Career Exploration (PACE) academic advising primarily serves first-time-in-college students with 15 or fewer earned college credit hours, with each undergraduate college advising center serving its own majors with 16 or more college credit hours. Routine administrative responsibility for coordinating advising services at Texas State is delegated to the dean of University College.

2. ADVISING AT TEXAS STATE

   1. Academic Advising Mission Statement:

      As an integral part of teaching and learning at Texas State, advising is a student-centered, collaborative process that engages students in educational planning to promote academic, personal, and professional development, while considering diverse interests, abilities, and goals.

   2. Texas State embraces the National Academic Advising Association’s (NACADA) concept of advising. Advisors and students meet individually or in small groups, assisted when and where appropriate by technology. Both have responsibilities and rights in a learning environment that fosters the retention and graduation of students. This interaction is best understood as a special opportunity for teaching, learning, and mentoring where each individual student’s aspirations and skills are the focus of the conversations or communications. Serving as a guide and mentor to the students, the advisor helps students establish or refine academic and career goals, while learning the value and responsibilities of higher education. The advisors’ responsibilities include the transmission and translation of policies that affect students’ completion of their undergraduate degrees.

3. PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC ADVISORS

   1. Professional academic advisors are hired by the undergraduate colleges. Professional academic advisors, functioning as teachers and mentors, must hold at least a baccalaureate degree and preferably an advanced degree or coursework toward such a degree. Their primary responsibilities are:

      1. to advise and interact daily with undergraduate students;

      2. to process the information derived from these interactions; and

      3. to provide communication and information for others with supporting advising responsibilities.

   2. Professional positions related to academic advising are:

      1. Supervisor or Director of an Advising Center – directs advising services and manages daily operations and personnel of the Center. This position is selected and hired by the college dean or representative. The supervisor or director may also advise undergraduate students.

      2. Academic Advisor II or Assistant Director – encompasses all the responsibilities of the academic advisor I; also performs unit supervision responsibilities and specific project responsibilities assigned by the Center’s supervisor or director; is selected and hired in consultation with the college dean.

      3. Student Development Specialist I – has primary contact with undergraduate students; encompasses all the responsibilities of the academic advisor I; performs specific project responsibilities assigned by the Center’s supervisor; is selected and hired in consultation with the college dean.

      4. Academic Advisor I – has primary contact with undergraduate students; may provide indirect supervision of administrative assistants and student workers in the Center; is selected and hired by a Center’s supervisor or director.

4. ADDITIONAL ROLES IN ADVISING

   1. Faculty may serve as mentors to students seeking consultation about careers or graduate education. Some faculty, however, continue to serve as departmental or school advisors, functioning as teachers and mentors.

   2. At the discretion of the dean of each respective college, administrative staff may exercise some responsibilities normally performed by professional or faculty advisors.

5. EXPECTATIONS FOR ADVISING, ASSESSMENT, AND RECORD-KEEPING

   1. Texas State has established the following expectations for professional academic advising, assessment, and record-keeping:

      1. academic advisors will advise each new student who attends New Student Orientation;

      2. academic advisors will encourage new students to meet with them during the students’ first semester following entrance into the university;

      3. academic advisors will contact students on academic probation prior to registration;

      4. academic advisors will meet with student athletes prior to registration. In consultation with a representative of the Athletic Academic Center, academic advisors will review the student athlete’s degree programs, guide their course selections, and verify their records (changes in majors, minors, teacher certification plans, etc.) so that certification officers can ascertain these students’ academic progress, status, and eligibility;

      5. academic advisors will encourage students to meet with them prior to each registration period to ensure that students are engaged in planning their course selections. Students will also be encouraged to use the degree audit prior to these meetings to use as basis for course progress and to determine that other standards such as grade requirements for courses, major and minors are maintained;

      6. academic advisors will develop and keep secure advising records for students, either in their advising centers, or in official electronic repositories;

      7. academic advisors will affirm and update the catalog of record for students and monitor application of credit to degree requirements in the degree audit;

      8. academic advisors will facilitate the maintenance of program audit updates for their colleges;

      9. academic advisors will attend regular meetings at college- or institutional-level where changes in policies and procedures will be explained and their implications discussed;

      10. academic advisors will provide students with access to an electronic assessment instrument to provide feedback on advising services;

      11. assessment of advising services will be coordinated by the dean of University College; the results of the assessment and recommendations for change will be shared with the college deans, the provost and VPAA, and the university community; and

      12. academic advisors and others with advising-related responsibilities will take reasonable precautions to ensure the security, retention, or appropriate destruction of all convenience copies or non-permanent student records under guidance from the person charged with oversight of records retention, in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA).

6. ADVISING SUPPORT OF INSTITUTIONAL PRIORITIES

   1. Academic advisors provide support to administrative priorities of institutional significance, such as:

      1. affirming coursework applicability to the degree for federal financial aid, NCAA, Education Abroad, and Veterans Affairs programs;

      2. commencement ceremonies;

      3. developing and approving plans designed to promote continued eligibility for Title IV financial aid according to Satisfactory Academic Progress guidelines;

      4. evaluating functionality and accuracy of technologies used within the academic advising program on campus;

      5. new student outreach and recruitment activity, including preparing and approving transfer planning guides;

      6. receiving and forwarding transfer equivalency requests to the appropriate faculty;

      7. processing of students for graduation; and

      8. responsibilities associated with UPPS No. 03.01.13, Tuition Rebate Program and UPPS No. 03.01.17, Undergraduate Excessive Hours Fee.

7. STUDENT ADVISING APPEALS PROCEDURE

   1. Supervisors or directors of the advising centers will investigate student allegations of inaccurate or misadvising, report their findings, and communicate their recommendation to the appropriate college dean or representative and to the student. Students will have the right to appeal such recommendations to the appropriate college dean, whose decision is final.

8. FUNDING OF ADVISING SERVICES

   1. Texas State uses a student success fee to fund professional academic advisors, to provide necessary training and professional development associated with undergraduate advising, and to purchase and maintain necessary equipment and supplies for professional academic advisors.

   2. In consultation with the other undergraduate college deans, the dean of University College is responsible for providing to the provost and VPAA recommendations for the allocation of the student success fee, which will be apportioned to advising centers so as to provide equitable services to all students receiving advising services.

9. REVIEWER OF THIS PPS

   1. Reviewer of this PPS includes the following:

      Position	Date
      Associate Vice President for Academic Success and Dean of University College	June 1 E2Y

10. CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

    This PPS has been approved by the following individuals in their official capacities and represents Texas State Academic Affairs policy and procedure from the date of this document until superseded.

    Associate Vice President for Academic Success and Dean of University College; senior reviewer of this PPS

    Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs