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Academic advising at Berea College is central to the process of educating the student about our emphasis on learning, labor, and service. Within this context, our Academic Advising Program supports the mission of the College and its holistic development of students. Moreover, the Advising Program promotes the development and effective communication of accurate information about all aspects of the College, with a particular emphasis on General Education, degree programs (majors and minors), numerous learning opportunities, and campus resources that support Satisfactory Academic Progress. This Adviser Guide is intended to be developmental in nature and to help you assist students in understanding not only the purpose and learning environment of the College, but also to help students develop an effective plan for attaining their educational goals. Further, this guide moves us closer toward best practices for academic advising as published by the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). Our Adviser Guide outlines elements of our purpose or mission for advising, highlights our delivery system, and offers ways to establish meaningful professional relationships with students as they embark upon and migrate through their educational experience at Berea College. Finally, we acknowledge that advising is a professional responsibility of faculty in that, along with teaching and other professional responsibilities, the effectiveness of one’s advising is considered in probationary review, tenure, and promotion decisions. Additionally, advising affords excellent opportunities for faculty members to mentor students and contribute to student success on our campus.
The relationship between you the adviser and the student is a crucial element in the effectiveness of our Academic Advising Program. Early in the advising process, our summer and fall Registration and Orientation Workshop (ROW) sessions, coupled with your interactions with students, are designed to:
- enhance student awareness that academic advising is an important component in learning about our institutional expectations;
- help students comprehend the mission of the College and how this mission will shape educational experiences during their first year and throughout continuing terms toward graduation;
- foster student engagement in the diverse ways of thinking and learning within their total educational experience (the Labor Program, co-curricular opportunities, experiential learning opportunities, and so forth);
- prompt students to begin thinking about effective ways to explore goals and objectives for their lives, to establish a career pathway, and discover ways to serve others as they learn and mature;
- introduce students to formal academic requirements, policies, and procedures that pertain to the liberal-arts education (the General Education Program), departmental requirements, and particular program options (majors, minors, etc.) offered at Berea College; and
- introduce students to campus-wide resources and encourage their use of this infrastructure in making Satisfactory Academic Progress.
As students transition into the College and move through the first year, advisers have opportunities to help them acquire greater depth and breadth of knowledge about the mission of the College and our holistic learning environment. There are enhanced opportunities to guide students in using our supportive technology (myBerea Web portal, BONd, degree evaluation, etc.) and major College publications, including the Berea College Catalog, the Student Handbook, the Short Term Catalog, and the Schedule of Classes, in constructing class schedules and more comprehensive Curriculum Plans. Using supportive technology and these publications as reference tools will enable the student to gain greater knowledge of College policies, procedures, and other expectations. Further, the student will gain more experience in assuming his/her responsibility for learning. You, as advisers, have more interactive opportunities in guiding students to learn how to learn, to use campus resources, and to make effective decisions.
The transition period (freshman and sophomore years) also enables you, the Adviser, to guide students in developing and refining their educational objectives, to explore a particular major, to think more deeply about career choices and gain greater understanding of particular programmatic requirements, and to move through the formal process of declaring the major.
After students declare the major and become more familiar with the academic department and program or major, they will continue to mature and assume more responsibility in selecting courses and other learning opportunities. Moreover, they will continue to benefit tremendously from your professional guidance and the wisdom of your experiences in the capacity as Adviser. This phase of student development then affords opportunities for advisers to reinforce student thinking about the enhanced use of particular learning opportunities (labor positions, independent learning, experiential learning, co-curricular, and so forth) that will support their career goals and plan for their life. As an Adviser in this final phase of their transition, you now have opportunities to offer advice about graduation and life beyond Berea College. These conversations afford opportunities to share your expertise and knowledge of graduate/professional study, the world of work outside the College, the realities of seeking and maintaining employment, and opportunities for volunteer service (Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, mission work, non-profit involvement, etc.). Hence, this phase of our Academic Advising Program supports the preparation of students beyond our campus. Advisers and the collaborative use of campus resources play a critical role in this portion of our process.
Berea College is committed to providing a high-quality Advising Program. We will continue to move forward in incorporating best practices by developing a mission statement, identifying learning outcomes, and establishing a more comprehensive assessment plan for an effective Advising Program. Additionally, we will continue to refine particular areas within our delivery system so that advisers will be able to engage students in quality interactions throughout their time of study at the College.
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