Advising - Advisor Resources

There are several resources available to Faculty Advisors to assist you in working with your advisees. 

Below are links to the most commonly used resources. The Schedule Planning guide and Academic Catalog provide information on specific requirements for the University in general, as well as for specific academic programs. The Advising webpage has resources as well as instructional videos for students on how to navigate and register using self-service.

2021-2022 Academic Catalog

2022-2022 Schedule Planning and Registration Guide

Advising Center webpage

Self-Service (Advisee records and information)

TES (Transfer Equivalency)

Commonly used forms (the following forms, along with others can be found on the webpage for the Office of the Registrar):

Change of major, minor, concentration, certificate, or advisor

CORE course substitution/waiver

Course Add/Drop form

Exit from Saint Martin's University

Graduation Application

Program course substitution/waiver

A student's personal progress and academic information can be found in their Advising File. Student's who began prior to Fall 2020 will have a physical, paper file that should be kept with the advisor.

Students who began Fall 2020 and after will have an electronic file in the Advising File Drive. This is a shared drive that is separate from the public drive and will need to be mapped to the advisor's computer. If mapping to a home computer for working remotely, you will need to connect with a VPN. Instructions for mapping drives to both PC and Mac computers with a VPN are below.

The Advising File Drive, along with student advising files, also has resources for advisors such as transfer equivalencies, graduation planning sheets, and Curriculum checklists for all majors and minors.

Self-Service

Self-Service is where Advisors will go to find student schedules and unofficial transcripts.

Log in with your Saint Martin's username and password, same as other Saint Martin's systems.

Once logged in, click on the Student Advising link to be able to access student information.

• You can search for any student by entering their name, but if they are not your advisee, you will need to select "All Students" from the drop down menu under list. 
• You can find a list of your advisees my selecting "my advisees" from the left hand menu

Once you have found the student you are looking for, click on their name and a drop down menu will appear

• Schedule will show you the course information for the class the student is currently enrolled in
  • At the bottom of the student schedule is where both faculty and students can find the student's advisor listed
• Unofficial Transcript will show you any transfer credits the student has brought in (translated into Saint Martin's class numbers), as well as classes and grades the student has taken since enrolling
  • GPA and major/minor are at the top of the transcript
  • Total earned credits are at the bottom of the transcript

Reports

Reports also need your Saint Martin's log in.

In the Advising folder you will find the following helpful reports:

• Advisor Lookup- another way to see who is assigned as a student's advisor
• Advisors by Division- See which faculty are advising in different departments as well as their assigned advisees
• Current Advisee List for Advisors- see which students are assigned to which advisor

In the Academic Departments folder, you can access student placement exam results

Math Placement

• Academic Departments>Placement Tests>Math Placement>PlacementTests_MathAfter20160622 (folder furthest on the right)
• At the top of the report, in the blank box, type the student's last name and then select Find, to the right of the box
• You should be directed to the results for your student (name will be highlighted), or it will indicate no record if they have not completed the placement

English Placement

• Academic Departments>Placement Tests>English Placement>Placement tests- English
• At the top of the report, in the blank box, type the student's last name and then select Find, to the right of the box
• You should be directed to the results for your student (name will be highlighted), or it will indicate no record if they have not completed the placement

When working with special student populations, there are certain schedule guidelines to keep in mind. The basics for different student groups are laid out here, but we do not expect you to be an expert! If you have questions- please reach out to the Advising Center.

Military Students

We have many students who are either active military, are veterans, or are military family. All of these groups of students may be using different types of military funding, and keeping track of the specific requirements for their aid can be confusing. Below are some of the general things to ask students/keep in mind, and who to contact for assistance.

• In general, most students using any type of military funding need a graduation plan and should stick to it as closely as possible. The military will not pay for classes which are not required for earning a degree in the student's area of study.
• If the student is receiving a housing stipend, they need to be fully enrolled (12 credits or more) at every point of the semester. That means that if a student is taking half semester courses, they still need to be in at least 12 credits for each half of the semester.
  • Example A: student is in three, 3 credit full semester courses for 9 credits all semester. They then enroll in one online course for each half of the semester (sessions 10 and 11) at 3 credits each, so for the semester they earn a total of 15 credits, but are consistently enrolled in 12 credits at each week of the semester.  
  • Example B: student is enrolled in 13 credits for full semester classes and also takes a session 11 class for 3 credits. They earn 16 total credits for the semester, but at no pint do they fall below 12 total credits.
• If students drop below full time (12 credits) at any point in the semester, they may need to reimburse some of the aid they received. If a student using military funding is thinking about withdrawing from a class, have them connect with either an advisor in the Advising Center or Financial Aid before they make any changes to their schedule.

If you are ever working with a student who in any way is affiliated with the military, they should connect with Financial Aid. You can also direct them to the Veterans Assistance webpage.

Student Athletes

In general, students who want to be able to compete as athletes need to be enrolled full time (at least 12 credits per semester), and must stay in good academic standing (at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA). A more detailed break down of what student athletes need to stay in competition is listed in the NCAA document below. If you ever have questions about what a student athlete needs, or if they are considering withdrawing from a class, have them connect with either the Advising Center or the Athletics department.

Advising is a profession supported by a body of scholarship which pulls from education, psychology (in particular developmental theory), sociology, and communications, among other fields. 

The professional organization for Academic Advising is NACADA: the Global Community for Academic Advising. the NACADA website has information on advising best practices, professional guidelines, and articles related to advising theory and practice.

Below are some of the documents supporting the approach to advising we take here at Saint Martin's. These include, the CAS standards for Advising, values and principles of NACADA, and and article by Mark Lowenstein about one of the guiding philosophies of Advising, Advising as teaching.