Academic Advising

An Introduction to Academic Advising at TLU

Faculty is central to the academic advising system at Texas Lutheran University. All tenure track faculty with one year of service at TLU assume academic advising responsibilities. The faculty role in the advising system is supplemented and supported Office of the Dean of Students within the Division of Student Life and Learning along with the professional staff in the Office of the Provost.

The Texas Lutheran University academic advising system has as its guiding principle the belief that academic advising is a natural component and extension of faculty teaching and, as such, is integral to student learning. Given this, the quality of academic advising depends upon the active participation of the faculty and its commitment to advising excellence. Being a "good" adviser begins with fundamental knowledge of the curriculum and requirements, along with the ability to refer students to the appropriate contacts when their questions go beyond your own information base. One of the purposes of this manual is to provide a reference for advisers so that such information is readily available.

The Mission of Academic Advising at TLU

The mission of academic advising at Texas Lutheran University emanates from ideas and values about student learning that appear in TLU’s Mission Statement. The University, as a community of learning, stresses the liberating potential of the disciplined pursuit of academic excellence within the context of academic freedom. Its faculty and staff seek to engage each student in a process of self-education which will assist him or her to develop as an informed and resourceful person in today’s rapidly changing world. It provides an academic program based upon the tradition of the liberal arts and designed to serve a diversified community.

The mission statement is delineated further in the Texas Lutheran University Institutional Goals for Graduates.  It is here where one can find the concrete manifestations of the mission regarding what will be accomplished through the partnership of student and university during the educational journey.  Given this foundation, academic advising at Texas Lutheran University has the following mission:

Academic Advising as Learning

From the perspective of learning theory, students actively construct understandings and meanings of their education.  This implies that the advising process is primarily concerned with student learning. It is thus recognized that advisers play a key role in inspiring students with an awareness of, as noted earlier, “skills and competencies associated with academic success, the ability for meaningful self-reflection, and the use of sound decision-making skills.” Furthermore, the adviser helps to

• Facilitate student learning about the ideas and values in the University’s mission statement
• Connect the formal concepts reflected in the institution’s mission statement, Institutional Goals for Graduates, and other related documents with the learner’s preexisting knowledge and values
• Create a dialogue in which the learner has the opportunity to express, justify, and discuss individual goals and ideas and in which the adviser guides the learner
• Guide students so that they recognize and benefit from anomalies, disturbances, errors, and contradictions
• Guide students toward becoming responsible citizens, liberally educated persons, and critical thinkers

The Advising Relationship

Academic advising usually involves more than simply providing information. The extent of advising depends on the concerns of the individual student and the expectations of the faculty adviser. The important thing is for each to understand the "terms" of the relationship early on.

Given the diversity of students and advisers, the nature of advising relationships will vary. One model would include an adviser who, in addition to knowing about requirements and the liberal arts curriculum, would have a broad understanding of student intellectual and social development; another would have an adviser who views academic advising as a set of tasks to be accomplished pragmatically. We would like to suggest, however, that the common ground is found when faculty members view academic advising as an extension of teaching.

Academic advisers must also recognize that their advisees exist and function beyond the classroom. Their lives are influenced by a myriad of factors including personal and family relationships, health and psychological problems, financial status, personal goals, cultural perspectives, and co-curricular activities. Advising frequently requires sensitivity to the interplay of the many dimensions of student life. At times, an adviser will have an advisee for whom personal factors become overwhelming to the extent that his or her academic success is in jeopardy. Advisers are not expected to have the professional background to address the needs of students under such circumstances, but rather to know about the support services available and to guide a student to the appropriate resources.