UC Santa Cruz Undergraduate Academic Advising Council
The Undergraduate Academic Advising Council improves academic advising at UC Santa Cruz to support a positive student experience, improved retention and graduation, and the elimination of achievement gaps. The Council is charged by the Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, and shall report annually to the advising community and campus leaders. Overarching goals for the Council include:
- Establishing and promoting a common definition, vision, and expectations of what academic advising is, and the roles advisors should play in supporting student achievement
- Addressing barriers to effective academic advising and student academic progress
- Coordinating among academic advising offices, systems, and student support services.
- Advancing academic advising as a profession that directly contributes to the university’s teaching and learning mission through a culture of continuous improvement and data-influenced decision-making
In support of the larger goals outlined above, the Council is expected and empowered to do the following through the work of its subcommittees:
Training and development:
- Identify and implement ways to ensure consistent onboarding, training, and development for college and program advisors.
- Develop a multi-year plan for implementing a consistent training and development program for academic advisors on our campus.
- Identify ways to ensure that others whose work closely aligns with academic advising are trained in appropriate areas.
Assessment:
- Establish an assessment plan for academic advising at UC Santa Cruz, focused not just on student satisfaction but on the attainment of student learning outcomes.
- Promote the assessment of advising effectiveness at the campus, unit, and individual practitioner level.
Roles and responsibilities:
- Map the student advising experience as they enter, move through, and graduate from UCSC, and clarify roles and responsibilities for college and major advising, student success and support staff, and other relevant offices at each touch point of the student experience.
- Consider the current deployment of advising professionals to support the optimal student experience.
Rotating Committee: First Year Advising for 2023-24:
- Develop and present to the Council for adoption “an agreed upon, publicly available definition of what can be considered first year academic advising, including establishing shared learning outcomes for an FYA curriculum consistent across all units, which can then be assessed cyclically”
- Identify any areas in which additional training is needed for academic advisors to build expertise and successfully implement that plan.
View our annual reports:
2022-2023 | 2021-2022 | 2020-2021
If you’d like to make suggestions or bring anything to the attention of the Undergraduate Academic Advising Council, please email ssketo@ucsc.edu.
