Mission and Vision
Guided by the fundamental principle that all students have the potential to earn a degree, academic advisors at K-State build trusting relationships with students, helping them navigate degree requirements, make meaning of the college experience, and plan for post-graduation experiences. Advisors teach students skills for self-understanding and agency, adapt their approach to each student, and connect students to resources.
Vision
At Kansas State University, academic advising promotes student learning and success by teaching and connecting all students to curricular and co-curricular opportunities and support.
K-State Advising Expectations
K-State’s decentralized academic advising system is unified by a shared set of academic advising expectations. The colleges will meet these expectations through their academic advisors, student success centers, required orientation courses, or dean’s offices. These expectations are framed by what academic advisors should know, do, and value.
Curriculum, requirements, policies, procedures, systems:
- Major and degree requirements
- What courses are required and why
- How to help students make efficient progress towards graduation (knowledge of pre-requisites, toxic course combinations, complementary minors, course availability, etc.)
- University policy and procedures
- FERPA and privacy regulations
- How to use sytems such as KSIS and Navigate
Campus resources:
- Be acquainted with the various student support resources, opportunities for enrichment, and possible career and other post-graduate outcomes
Student characteristics and needs:
- Understand characteristics and needs of student populations and sub-populations (e.g., student athletes, first-generation students, adult students, veteran and military affiliated students, students from underrepresented and historically marginalized populations, etc.)
- Know the fundamentals of how students develop in college; the cognitive, social, and identity development arcs
First-responder insights:
- Recognize signs of distress related to belongingness, loneliness, depression, and finances
- The limitations and boundaries of their skills and role (and make appropriate referrals)
The curriculum:
- Teach students about their responsibilities
- Help students set short and long term goals
- Be creative and inventive in recommending coursework and enrichment opportunities in accord with student interests
- Adapt advising style to the student and circumstances
- Teach students processes such as major change, schedule change, how to enroll
- Inform students about opportunities in their field of study (e.g., internships, study abroad, undergraduate research)
- Help students make meaning of the their college experience
- Promote self-authorship in students
- Teach students processes such as major change, schedule change, how to enroll
- Inform students how their transfer work applies to their degree
Standards of practice:
- Be responsive and timely in interactions with students (including following up on information that requires investigation); timely = 1-2 business days
- Make appropriate referrals
- Take advising notes
- Use Navigate as the platform of engagement for academic advising
- Keep learning through professional development
- Share information and support advisors across the university
- Engage proactively with students at key touchpoints during the academic term (e.g., to promote enrollment, after faculty progress reports)
- Create a welcoming and open climate supportive of students from historically underrepresented and marginalized populations
- Be accessible and available to meet with students
- Check in about sense of belonging, financial needs, overall well-being
- Protect student information and preserve confidentiality
- Participate in academic advising assessment activities
- Communicate effectively
- Build trust
- Some advisors participate in recruitment activities
- All K-State students have the potential to succeed, and this success is indvidually defined
- Students come first: we help students find their path, including changes of major or transfer
- Diversity makes us stronger
- Excellent advising focuses on building relationships rather than processing transactions
- Students are multi-dimentional and excellence in advising attends to all dimensions
- Advisors should be prepared and present for each student interaction
- Advising supports student autonomy and self-reliance
- Collaboration with other advisors and referral units improves the student experience
Advising Technology
Technology enables faculty and advisors to track student academic progress as we work to assist students in their success at K-State. Using common technology platforms helps to effectively advise students and creates a shared system for those with academic advising responsibilities.
- K-State advisors utilize Navigate for many advising functions, including scheduling student appointments, sending email campaigns, advising notes, and more.
- The student information system where official student records, grades, and enrollment occurs is KSIS, or K-State Student Information System.
Advisor-Advisee Load
Ideal student to advisor ratios can vary depending on numerous factors, such as employee responsibilities, students' attributes, and even student modality, such as online versus on-campus students. K-State abides by the National Academic Advising Association's (NACADA) recommendations of no more than 300 on-campus students for a primary role advisor whose main job responsibility is advising students. Advisors who serve K-State's online population are recommended to have no more than 200 advisees to best serve students.
Assessment
Students are asked to complete an Advising Survey each fall semester where they are asked questions assessing their academic advising experience. K-State uses this data to improve advising experiences for students and to identify needs in advisor training, practices, and procedures. The survey also assesses the student's role in advising in line with the student advisee responsibilities and expectations.