Academic Advising

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Academic Advising
Vision
Mission
Goals
Commitments
Purpose of Academic Advising
Head Advisors/Advising Directors by College and Program

Academic Advising

OSU recognizes that quality academic advising is integral to the academic development and well-being of students. Quality academic advising includes both the prescriptive elements of advising (assisting with course selection, maintaining curriculum checklists, tracking degree progress and completing degree audits, etc.) and the developmental aspects of advising (major and career decision making, integration in campus and academic cultures, assistance with and referrals surrounding issues affecting a student's academic success, etc.).

While each college has developed an advising system sensitive to the needs of its academic disciplines and departments, there is consistency in that each also has a head advisor. Undeclared students receive advising through the University Exploratory Studies Program (UESP).

Vision

As a collective, the academic advising community at Oregon State University aspires towards providing the highest quality support to both the learning efforts and experiences of our undergraduates.

Mission

Oregon State University academic advising promotes persistence, engagement, completion, and advancement through an inclusive and mutually-constructed teaching and learning process centered on each student’s educational, career, and life goals, and we support the institutional opportunities and responsibilities OSU has as the land grant institution for the state of Oregon.

Goals

OSU academic advising reflects the institutional goal of providing "transformative education that is accessible to all learners." Our goals are to:

Assist students in understanding the nature, purpose, and potential of higher education.
Mentor students as they explore and clarify their values and their educational, career and life goals.
Collaborate with students as they make meaning of their experiences, work to actualize their academic interests, and implement their educational plans.
Provide timely and accurate information, requirements, opportunities, policies, and procedures to students and colleagues.
Teach students to utilize university resources to maximize their unique educational and personal potential.
Engage in ongoing assessment of student learning and our advising programs to assure the efficacy of our efforts.
Work continuously on our competency as academic advisors and educators with regard to:
- inclusive and socially just practices
- the conceptual, informational, and relational components of our work.

Commitments

We will be actionable and accountable to our students through timely, accurate and intentional advising.

We will foster inclusivity and belonging and seek to mitigate and dismantle systematic barriers that negatively impact student persistence, degree completion, and well-being.

We will work to establish a reciprocal relationship with students based on an ethic of care, shared responsibility, and accessibility.

We will be stewards of a culture of critical thinking, sustainability, growth, and social responsibility.

We will engage in data-informed practice and support solutions and innovations to meet the evolving needs of our students.

We will create and perpetuate an engaged community of advising practice that will be a collaborative umbrella over our diverse academic colleges, schools, departments, and programs.

Purpose of Academic Advising

Academic Advisors act as interpreters of the OSU learning environment and facilitators to the undergraduate degree experiences. In working toward degree completion, an advisor can help make sense of options, obligations, and opportunities related to student’s academic interests. An advisor can also help students start to think about how undergraduate learning relates to career opportunities. An advisor can help in the decision-making process, especially when the relationship is based on openness, honesty, and trust. Above all, an academic advisor is a person who is invested in helping students create rewarding learning experiences.

For the advising relationship to be effective, students and advisors both need to be engaged in the process. OSU advisors have created this list of Advisor-Advisee Responsibilities to outline the obligations of each:

As an advisee, you should:

Understand and accept that you are ultimately responsible for your education and your own decisions.
Initiate a purposeful relationship with your advisor and make appointments when requested and/or when necessary.
Utilize the technological resources available to inform yourself on your degree requirements and options.
Prepare for and be active in your advising session, and ask questions when you have them.
Work to clarify your personal values, abilities, and goals and share them with your advisor.
Provide accurate and truthful information when being advised.
Keep your local address and phone up to date in OSU's Student Online Services and utilize and check your Oregon State email account daily for important information coming from your advisor and the institution.
Learn and understand OSU’s policies, procedures, and requirements as they relate to your academic success and/or degree completion.
Be aware of and abide by academic calendar deadlines.
Cancel appointments that cannot be kept.

Advisors should:

Develop a purposeful relationship with and be an advocate for their advisees.
Inform their advisees of the nature of the advisor/advisee relationship.
Assist their advisees in defining and developing expressed educational, career, and life plans.
Provide timely and accurate educational information.
Promote learning opportunities that will help students define or meet personal goals and plans.
Assist their advisees in preparing a program that is consistent with their abilities and interests.
Monitor progress toward educational/career goals.
Interpret and explain institutional policies, procedures and requirements.
Guide their advisees to campus resources and special services available to them.
Refer their advisees to those resources that can enhance or supplement their academic or personal experience.
Cultivate expertise on shared technological resources that are part of their advisees' academic journeys.

Head Advisors/Advising Directors by College and Program

Health

Doris Cancel-Tirado (Interim)
105 Women's Building
Phone: 541-737-8900
Email: collegeofhealth.peer@oregonstate.edu
Website: https://health.oregonstate.edu/advising/

Honors College

Kassena Hillman
450 Learning Innovation Center
Phone: 541-737-6414
Email: uhcadvisor@oregonstate.edu
Website: https://honors.oregonstate.edu/academic-advising/

Liberal Arts

Karen Sullivan-Vance
214 Bexell Hall
Phone: 541-737-0561
Email: liberalarts@oregonstate.edu
Website: https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/advising/

Pharmacy

Eliza Allison
209 Pharmacy Building
Phone: 541-737-3424
Email: pharmacy@oregonstate.edu
Website: https://pharmacy.oregonstate.edu/

Science

Jennifer Olarra
109 Kidder Hall
Phone: 541-737-4786
Email: sciencesuccess@oregonstate.edu
Website: https://science.oregonstate.edu/academics/advising

University Exploratory Studies Program (Undeclared Majors)

Kerry Kincanon
102 Waldo Hall
Phone: 541-737-8144
Email: uesp.advisor@oregonstate.edu
Website: https://uesp.oregonstate.edu/

Academic Catalog

Academic Advising