ACADEMIC ADVISING POLICY

FAM 480

FSD 87-30.R1
Educational Policy Committee

I.  The responsibilities for student advising are distributed as follows:

A.	Each student is responsible to know and meet graduation requirements and other requirements contained in the Bulletin, Class Schedule, and other publications. Further, each student needs to make every reasonable effort to obtain academic advising.
B.	The office of Admissions and Records is responsible for providing accurate and timely transfer credit summaries, transcripts, and other necessary student records prior to the time of advisement.
C.	Declared majors should receive their primary academic advising from their school or major department or program. Each school, department or program may organize its advising program in a manner best suited to its unique requirements and in conformity with the policies stated in this document. Departments or programs with degree programs at the satellite campus in Palm Desert will be responsible for coordinating on-site advising for their students.
D.	Undeclared students will receive their primary academic advising from Advising and Academic Services. These students will be encouraged to declare a major or school of interest prior to completing 45 units of course work.
E.	All students should confer with an advisor on a regular basis, specifically:

1.	All students in freshman status are required to attend an Academic Information session and meet with an advisor prior to their first registration.
2.	All transfer students are required to attend an Academic Information session and meet with an advisor prior to their first registration.
3.	All students are strongly encouraged to meet with an advisor each quarter of attendance.
4.	All undergraduate students on first-time academic probation must confer with an Academic Advising Center advisor prior to registration and adhere to that advisor's specific recommendations designed to improve their grade point average. 5. Students in categories 1, 2 and 4 who have not received advising during their first quarter or first quarter on academic probation will not be permitted to register.

II.  The functions of academic advising include assisting students in the following areas:

A.	To understand policies, procedures, and programs of California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB);
B.	To develop a comprehensive educational plan;
C.	To understand General Education and graduation requirements;
D.	To make appropriate use of the wide range of services and educational opportunities relevant to their educational objectives at CSUSB;
E.	To explore career options within their disciplines;
F.	To explore major career alternatives (The University will maintain special career advisement programs to provide assistance to students in this area.);
G.	To understand the possible short- and long-range consequences of their choices.

III.  Academic advising is based upon complex policies, procedures, publications, and services that are supervised on a University-wide basis by the Dean of Undergraduate Studies who is responsible for:

A.	Coordinating the many components of the academic advising program, including each academic school, program or department, and Academic Advising Center;
B.	Reviewing and evaluating the academic advising program;
C.	Developing appropriate procedures for the academic advising program; and
D.	Arranging for additional resources to assist departments or programs with disproportionately high ratios of majors to faculty members.

IV.  The responsibility for providing yearly orientation regarding advising for faculty shall rest with the School Dean.

V.   The responsibility for implementing the advisement policy within an academic department or program rests with the department chair or program coordinator under the supervision of the school dean. In order to facilitate faculty-student advisement, advising holds may be placed on a student's computer file at any time by the department or program. These holds can only be released by the academic department or program.  The chairs will provide:

A.	A clear delineation of responsibility for academic advising;
B.	A system for maintaining advising files of majors in the department or program; and
C.	Information about the various majors/programs to students through a brochure, handbook, and/or checklist of major/degree requirements.

VI.  Advising and Academic Services will:

A.	Gather and disseminate appropriate academic advising material to assist school, department, and program advising coordinators;
B.	Act as a referral service and information center for schools, departments, programs, and students;
C.	Be familiar with campus wide advising problems and formulate suggestions for improvements of the advising program;
D.	Provide academic advising, orientation, and in-service training for faculty members and advising coordinators;
E.	Be responsible for and coordinate the academic advising program for undeclared majors; and
F.	Coordinate advising and counseling services for students on academic probation or subject to disqualification in cooperation with academic units.
G.	Coordinate Academic Information sessions for all new freshmen and transfer students and review the mandatory Basic Skills policy.

VII.  Students shall have the opportunity to evaluate academic advising in which they have participated under procedures recommended by the Faculty Senate. The results of these evaluations may be included in the personnel file exclusively at the discretion of the faculty member.

VIII.  Academic advising is a major responsibility of faculty and should be integrally related to the educational process.  Academic advising shall be a specific item of review in the evaluation process.