UVU ADVISEMENT LEADERSHIP:

RESPONSIBILITIES, COLLABORATIONS, AND REPRESENTATION

Advisement Leadership Council

Advisement Forum Planning Council

Advisor Training & Development

Advisement Forum

To improve retention, recruitment, and better prepare students for achieving educational goals that lead to careers and fulfilling lives, President William A. Sederburg in December 2005, established “an advisement steering council which would continue to provide the leadership and guidance necessary to inform a dynamic and effective advising program” at the institution. The newly created Advisement Leadership Council (ALC) was charged with the following duties and responsibilities:

• Routinely monitor advisement activities and make recommendations to the college administration concerning matters of process and administration.
• Coordinate advisement activities between the academic schools, and their respective departments, the Career and Academic Counseling Center, and Career Services and Student Employment.
• Oversee the activities of the Advisement Forum Planning Council (AFPC).
• Establish programs for enhanced training and communication for all college advisement functions.
• Develop appropriate benchmarks for advisement performance at all levels.
• Implement a program for consistently monitoring and assessing performance against established benchmarks on an individual and collective basis in furtherance of an effective advisement program.

Developing refinements to ALC charge:

• Establish specific advisement standards and directing an advisor certification program (implemented 2007-08)

In 2007-08, an Advisement Leadership Council task force further defined relationships among the Advisement Leadership Council (ALC), the Advisement Forum Planning Council (AFPC), and Advisor Training and Development (ATD) and addressed issues of roles and interaction between the bodies, as well as issues of representation.

Primary Functions of ALC, AFPC, ATD

The Advisement Leadership Council is a decision-making body regarding advisement that should fully involve and include representation from advising administrators and practicing advisors both in academics and in student affairs. The Advisement Forum Planning Council is intended to coordinate advisement forums and to inform the ALC’s decisions and processes as representatives of practicing advisors. Advisor Training and Development, created in 2001, serves in a consulting role to the AFPC and ALC in relation to decision-making and a partner to the AFPC in training and the administration of training.

The basic “leadership relationships” among these entities are described as follows:

• ALC – Advisement Leadership Council: The oversight board that monitors, assesses, and coordinates the work of all advising on campus; makes and recommends advisement policy to the President’s Council; and oversees advising and advisement activities at UVU.
• AFPC – Advisement Forum Planning Council: A representative body of practicing advisors who, under the direction of the ALC, fosters information sharing among all advisors and provides advisement training and development on a practical level through Advisement Forum Meetings and the UVU Advisor Conference. Leaders of the AFPC are members of the ALC.
• A network of all university advisors, staff and administrators involved or interested in student advisement. The Advisement Forum is a public meeting held regularly for all who are involved and interested (including faculty) in advisement to receive information, training, and development for helping students become successful and persist to graduation.
• ATD – The Advisor Training and Development Office coordinates the certification and training of advisors and consults with advisors and administrators on advisement issues.

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Advisement Leadership Council (ALC)

The ALC is conceptualized as a representative body addressing issues that emerge in relation to advisement at UVU. All members of the ALC should be viewed as equal contributors and participants in the decision-making process. ATD is involved with the ALC as a consultant regarding advising issues as well as an administrative body for implementing change, training, and assessment of advising.

In its decision-making processes, issues may be brought forward from any ALC member. Before addressing such issues, a discussion should take place among members to determine:

1)       Whether or not the issue is one that can and should be handled by the ALC (Is it a policy-level issue with primarily advisement-focused implications?), the AFPC (Is it a practice level issue that could best be addressed by practicing advisors), advisor training (Is it a training issue), or is it an issue that should be handled elsewhere.

2)       If the issue can or should be handled by the ALC, it can be determined whether or not it should be included on the current agenda or a future agenda as a discussion and decision-making item or if it is a larger issue that will require a task force to address it.

3)       If a task force is required, consideration should be given to who should be involved and what level of involvement is required.  Representation on task forces should include the major groups that compose the ALC (advising administrators and practicing advisors in academics and student affairs) and may include non-members as appropriate. The ALC must carefully ensure that appropriate input is sought from strategic sources for its discussions.

4)       All task forces should bring recommendations to the ALC for decision-making purposes.

ALC Leadership

The ALC is coordinated by two co-chairs appointed by the President and representing student affairs and academic affairs, as specified in the original Organizational Statement and Council Charge.

Members of the ALC, as specified in the original Organization Statement and Council Charge, include: (1) an associate or assistant dean that has either first or second level supervision responsibilities for advisement within each academic college or school; and (2) a representative from each non-academic area In collaboration with student leadership, two student representatives will be added to the ALC.

Grouping of the departments and units assigned to non-academic areas are as follows:

·          Area 1:  Career and Academic Counseling Center (CACC), Distance Education, Wasatch, Off-Campus Centers, Evening-Weekend

·          Area 2:  Career and Academic Advisement Departments; School, College, & University Partnerships; Continuing Education

·          Area 3:  Multicultural; International Students

·          Area 4:  Graduation, Transfer Credit, & Veterans

·          Area 5:  Enrollment Services – One Stop Departments

·          Area 6:  Student Life; Student Government; Athletics; Center for the Advancement of Leadership

ALC Representatives of Non-Academic Areas:

·          Area 1:  Director of Career and Academic Counseling (CACC) 

·          Area 2:  Assistant VP of Career and Academic Advisement (CAA) 

·          Area 3:  Director of either Multicultural or International Students

·          Areas 4 and 5:  Associate VP of Enrollment Services

·          Area 6:  A Director with responsibility for advising students from one of the departments/units from this grouping

ALC members are appointed by their respective college/school dean or area vice president. No term limit exists for ALC members other than it is recommended that members, where appropriate based on the existence of multiple eligible advising administrators, be rotated every two years to foster broad participation and “ownership” in the advisement process.

Additional members may be temporarily added to the ALC as non-voting members if approved by the ALC. These members will typically be appointed to facilitate collaboration with major initiatives or projects taking place at the university, such as the creation of graduate school services, or development of student success and retention programs.

Graduate School academic advising in a college/school will generally be conducted by one or more advisors who currently conduct undergraduate advising in that college/school. Coordination between the work of these advisors and faculty who mentor graduate students will be essential.


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Advisor Training and Development (ATD)

The Advisor Training and Development Office coordinates the certification and training of advisors across campus and consults with practicing advisors and administrators on issues related to structure, practice, assessment and evaluation of advising, etc. ATD coordinates campus-wide assessment initiatives of advisement and works with the AFPC and ALC to implement policy and procedures suggested by the ALC.

In addition to being a member of the ALC, the Director of Advisor Training serves in a permanent consulting role to the ALC, providing insights and suggestions based on research, practice, and experience related to advising. One of the Advisor Training Office staff serves as consultant to the AFPC in a similar role. Advisor Training works closely with the AFPC as a partner on the issues and needs of advisors in relation to training and development. Such issues and needs are examined to determine how they should best be addressed, as well as by which organizational unit and at what level.

Types of Advisors

Regarding representation, three types of advisors appear to exist at UVU, based on training and similarities in work: primary role advisors, support role advisors, and specialty advisors. These interests, as well as departmental and college/school interests should be adequately represented by the structure of the AFPC and ALC. Training should be developed to meet the needs of all in collaboration with advisors and administrators of all these areas.

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Advisement Forum Planning Council (AFPC)

The AFPC is a representative body composed of practicing advisors whose responsibilities include coordination of the Advisement Forum meetings and UVU Advisor Conference. AFPC co-chairs are members of the ALC informing on practice-level advising issues and participating in the ALC’s policy level decisions and processes. The AFPC also serves as an advisory body to the Advisor Training office regarding advisor training and development. The AFPC meets regularly to discuss Forum content, needs, and issues related to training and development of advisors on a practical level. Close communication is maintained between ATD and the AFPC by retaining a representative of the ATD office on the council as a strategic partner rather than a member.

The purpose of the Advisement Forums is to promote discussion among advisors, provide updates on policies, procedures, curriculum, current issues, and some basic skill development. The annual UVU Advisor Conference is to promote advisor development in accordance with the strategic needs and directions of advisement at UVU and recognize excellence in advisement processes.

AFPC Leadership

The Advisement Forum Planning Council (AFPC) is facilitated by two co-chairs elected by and from among the AFPC membership. One co-chair should represent the primary-role advisors, and the other co-chair should represent the specialty/support-role advisors. Co-chairs serve staggered terms of two years with one co-chair elected each year in May, allowing a rotation in leadership that maintains continuity. The co-chairs will serve as members of the ALC to represent the voice of the AFPC and the Advisement Forum and to facilitate the work of the AFPC. Co-chair elections will be conducted/managed by the ATD representative on the AFPC Council.

AFPC Representatives

Each of the academic colleges/schools will have one representative on the AFPC. In addition, each non-academic area will have one representative on the AFPC.

AFPC representatives are selected under the direction of and with the approval of the appropriate ALC member with input from those whom they represent.

Each member of the AFPC shall serve a term of two years, with an option to remain an additional two years. Members serve no longer than four consecutive years, unless finishing a term as a co-chair or with exception dictated by need. Half of the AFPC members should be appointed in even-numbered years and half should be appointed in odd-numbered years. Appointments will be from July 1 to June 30.

Representatives on the AFPC are to be practicing advisors within their area and not solely administrators. No member of the AFPC can also serve on the ALC, with the exception of the AFPC co-chairs. Term limits and start dates for AFPC members are as follows:

ALC and AFPC Decision-Making

Decision-making authority is vested in each group as a body. If an urgent decision must be made and time allows, co-chairs should seek input from the membership of their council. Co-chair should inform the ALC or AFPC membership of decisions made outside of the usual processes and be open to further discussion of the issues.

It is important where direct organizational reporting lines do not exist, that close collaboration occurs between representatives on the Councils and the people/departments they represent (e.g., monthly briefings).

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