Advisory Council for Comprehensive Academic Advising

Guiding Questions for Advising Assessment

The Faculty Senate’s Advisory Council for Comprehensive Academic Advising (ACCAA) has the responsibility of reviewing and providing feedback to departments and programs on their advising practices, as described in biennial department/program assessment reports submitted to the Associate Vice Chancellor, Curricular Affairs and Student Academic Achievement.

This is the recommended template for the Advising portion of that Assessment Report. It is intended to make the report as easy as possible for departments/programs to complete and for the ACCAA to review.  The ACCAA recommends that a faculty advisor or ad hoc committee of faculty advisors in the department be involved in writing this portion of the report.

1. Assessment Report Information
   1. Name of Department/Program:
   2. Name(s) of Department/Program members completing Advising portion of Assessment Report:
   3. Date report submitted to Provost Office:
2. Basic Description of Department/Program Advising
   1. When and how do students get assigned a faculty advisor?
   2. Is faculty advising mandatory for students?
      • If so, how often is it mandated?
      • If so, by what mechanism is this enforced?
   3. Is advising built into your curriculum in any way (e.g. in a course for majors)?
   4. Is there large-group advising? If so, please describe the form that takes.
   5. What advising resources do you provide for students (e.g. department handbook, course catalog, four-year plan, etc.)?
   6. Do faculty advisors use Navigate (formerly Student Success Gateway)?
      • If so, for what purposes?
   7. Do faculty advisors use the Advisement Report (formerly STAR)?
      • If so, for what purposes?
   8. What do advisors discuss with their advisees?
      1. Major or minor requirements?
      2. General Education and degree requirements?
      3. Career and graduate school plans?
      4. Other?
         • What is the purpose/goal of advising in your department?
         • What are faculty/IAS advisors expected to know and do?
         • What are students expected to know and do?
3. Questions about Faculty/IAS advising load
   1. How many faculty advisors and student advisees are there in your department and program this semester?
   2. What is the mean advisor load and the standard of deviation in advisor loads?
   3. Is there any compensation to faculty for advising or for uneven advising loads?
   4. What happens if faculty advisors do not advise students assigned to them?
   5. What happens if a student is unsatisfied with their faculty advisor?
4. Questions about Assessment of Advising Learning Outcomes
   1. Map university and program specific advising objectives to the three University Advising Learning Outcomes.
      • Outcome 1: Students are able to locate and use academic information and campus resources.
      • Outcome 2: Students are able to understand and describe graduation requirements.
      • Outcome 3: Students are able to select and plan an academic program based on research, interests, skills, values and career goals.
   2. What are the objectives of advising in your department?
   3. How do you assess if students are meeting the Advising Learning Outcomes?
   4. If you have any assessment evidence, please attach, without student, faculty, or staff identifying information.
5. Reflection on Advising
   1. Please reflect on your department/program advising model. What works well? What would you like to improve? Is there anything you need help with?
      • Please, do not append any information here that is not specifically related to advising or mention any student, faculty, or IAS member by name in this report.

Thank you. The Advisory Council for Comprehensive Academic Advising looks forward to reading and providing feedback on your report.

Co-Chairs, Gabriel Loiacono and Victoria Haydock