Student Life Cycle
Next to the classroom experience, meeting with an academic advisor is the most important student service that helps students persist to graduation. Academic advising has a crucial impact on students who are most vulnerable to dropping out.
Utah State University advising has moved from a transactional model of helping students plan their class schedule to an intentional model where we help students work towards and reach their personal goals.
“By understanding student strengths, interests, and goals, academic advisors help students maximize their educational opportunities at USU,” said Mykel Beorchia, Executive Director of University Advising. “In addition, academic advisors are key partners to help students understand the logic and purpose of the curriculum. The advisor-student relationship is a vehicle for students to intentionally develop their educational experiences.”
USU academic advisors are trained in Appreciative Advising, an assets-based framework that centers on student strengths, values, and interests. Academic advising conversations help students connect educational experiences with academic and career goals. Advisors focus on building relationships with their students to connect them with co- and extra-curricular opportunities and optimize their educational experiences.
Academic advisors use proactive approaches to celebrate student success and reach out to students who need help. Through proactive interventions and asking open-ended questions in advising sessions, advisors connect students to tutoring, supplemental instruction, learning skills, and mental health support.
Faculty can refer students to advisors when they need help with decision-making, goal setting, and referrals to co- and extra-curricular opportunities. Advisors can support students’ semester-by-semester academic planning and provide information about adding/dropping classes and the associated deadlines. Exploratory Advisors are experts in helping students discover majors aligned with their interests, talents, and goals.
We have 85 academic advisors throughout the USU system. We use a decentralized system (advisors report to their units); but we also have a central unit called University Advising, which provides coordinated onboarding, training, professional development, and support to our academic advisors. Every student at USU is assigned an academic advisor who has expertise in the student's major. If a student’s advisor is not at their location, Success Coordinators at Statewide Campuses help students connect with their advisor in Logan. We recommend that students meet with their academic advisor once per semester, by Halloween for Spring planning and by St. Patrick’s Day for Fall planning. Students can schedule an appointment by major at usu.edu/degrees or by location at usu.edu/advisors.