Advising Mission Statement
The goal of academic advising in the College of Arts and Sciences is to provide an ongoing and dynamic relationship between each student and advisor, to facilitate the student's adjustment to and development within the academic environment.

Responsibility for the administration of advising is placed in the office of the Dean. The Dean's Office is responsible for ensuring a) that all students know who their advisors are, b) that faculty know the identity of their advisees, and c) that both advisors and advisees have the information they need for effective advising relationships. The Dean's Office also gives attention to students with special needs. The Dean's Office is "primary care providers" for all A&S students. This administrative arrangement is designed to provide support for the faculty, with whom rests the essential responsibility for academic advising.

Good advising is characterized by four understandings:

1. Because advising is usually done with an intended result in mind, it is important to establish early in each conversation with advisees the result desired. The intent might range from determining whether a given course should be added or dropped, to agreeing upon the course schedule for a subsequent semester, to selecting a major, to considering career options.

2. Advising sessions have a larger purpose than making out the next semester's schedule, important though that task is. They provide opportunities for faculty members to help students integrate their intellectual or artistic development with their social development and their academic goals with their larger purposes in life.

3. To be effective, each faculty advisor must: a) master program peculiarities, university procedures, and degree requirements; b) determine the interests and abilities of students; and c) demonstrate to students that their well-being is a matter of genuine concern. Students have little difficulty in discerning whether the necessary efforts have been expended, and the results almost always reflect the advisor's investment in sound advising. The most frequent complaints about advisors are that they were not sufficiently familiar with requirements to advise effectively. The frequent complaint of advisors, in turn, is that advisees too often expect the advisor to do their thinking for them.

4. An important function of advising is to refer students to the services available to them across the University. A copy of the "Faculty and Student Guide to Selected Drake Resources" is printed below.