Best Practices/Approach

Advisor Responsibilities 

The responsibilities of the advisor 

Academic advisors have an ethical obligation to advise in the best interest of students, including (but not limited to): 

• treating all students, staff and faculty with respect, decency, compassion, and care, 

• helping students find and choose efficient paths to graduation, 

• minimizing unnecessary cost and time spent on education, 

• assuming students have good intentions to succeed, 

• committing to having difficult conversations, and doing so with honesty and compassion, 

• assisting students in discerning majors in which those students are likely to succeed at Xavier, offering sound advice based on advisors’ experience as educators, and maintaining professional currency and developing advising skills. 

 

Xavier University expects that all academic advisors will achieve high quality academic advising by doing the following: 

• Maintain appropriate levels of advising availability and communicate that availability to advisees. As a general guideline, advisors should have some meeting availability each week during spring and fall semesters. Students should generally be able to schedule a meeting within the next five business days. 

• Equip students with skills for scheduling courses. 

• Meet in person or virtually with each advisee at least once per semester. 

• Group advising may be used as appropriate, with individual follow-up as needed. 

• Advising beyond course selection may occur outside of pre-registration times. 

• Respond to advisees’ emails in a timely manner (generally, within two business days during fall and spring semesters for faculty advisors). 

• Outside of contract periods, faculty advisors should refer advisees to backups (e.g., department chairs or program directors). This can be done via autoreply in emails and by voicemail greetings. 

• Department chairs, program directors or other backups should have, communicate and meet clear expectations about summer responsibilities associated with stipends, course releases, or other compensation. 

• Demonstrate basic knowledge of graduation requirements for their advisees (including University Core Curriculum for undergraduate advisors). 

• Confirm satisfactory academic progress: 

• For undergraduate students, document confirmation of satisfactory academic progress in EAB in the first two semesters and once the student achieves 75 credit hours. 

• For graduate students, document confirmation of satisfactory academic progress in EAB every semester according to the program requirements and students’ current educational plan. 

• Effectively use EAB Navigate and DegreeWorks, Xavier’s academic advising and communication systems. 

• Discuss vocational discernment and formation and career planning with advisees, including relevant experiential learning opportunities. 

• Maintain competence and currency via advisor training regarding curriculum, legal guidelines, Ignatian Belonging, and other topics as appropriate. 

• Respond appropriately to students’ non-academic concerns and connect students to relevant campus and community resources as needed. 

• Demonstrate understanding of, and respect for, both professional and faculty advisors and the respective roles of each. 

 

• Xavier University expects that all academic advisors will cooperate with campus partners like Care and Support, Career Development, and others in the following ways: 

• Respond appropriately to outreach, alerts, and cases sent by faculty and staff regarding student progress, concerns, progress reports, and student successes. 

• Submit alerts when needed via EAB, Student Concern reports, and other appropriate means. 

• Refer students to the Care & Support for academic coaching (time management, study skills, transition to college or across majors, financial hardship). 

• Refer students to Academic Support for tutoring, supplemental instruction, or study group sessions where available. 

• Refer students to Career Development for: assistance with vocational assessment and discernment planning for internships and full-time employment assistance with potential changes of major