Faculty Advising

A well-structured faculty advising program is essential to improving student outcomes and institutional effectiveness. Research indicates that students who receive consistent and well-informed advising are more likely to persist in their academic programs, graduate on time, and engage more meaningfully with their academic community. Faculty advising is particularly impactful because faculty advisors bring a wealth of specific knowledge, expertise, and experience within their discipline and career fields, making advising and mentorship different from general advising and more meaningful and purposeful for students.

Process and Approaches

Beyond helping students select courses and build their schedules, faculty advisors engage in unique activities, such as UTEP tours; connecting students with scholarships, fellowships, internships opportunities; individualized transfer assistance; and job placement assistance. Faculty advisors build long-term, meaningful, and authentic relationships with their advisees. These relationships provide a conduit to help students build invaluable professional networks, which is social capital not readily accessible to most community college students. Additionally, these relationships help students build confidence in their abilities and choices and help nurture students’ social and emotional development and well-being.