Academic Advisor

**Posting Number**: 20111063-2
**Job Category**: Staff

**Job Description Summary**:
Academic advisors are responsible for advising and assisting students with their educational and career plans. In addition, advisors support new students in making a successful transition to college by providing resources for success, engagement initiatives and advising so that all students become full members of the SMC community.

**Required Qualifications**:
Bachelors degree
Minimum one year of advising experience or one year of experience directly related to the duties and responsibilities specified.

**Preferred Qualifications**:
Masters degree
Minimum three years of advising experience

**Other Information**:Essential Duties and Responsibilities**:
Provide general academic advising to new, current, returning, transfer, and veteran students:
Inform students of the types of programs available at SMC and explain their purposes, job outlook, and curriculum
Develop Degree Plans according to students academic and life goals in order to keep students on track for graduation and in sequence according to their published curriculum
Identify required placement exams and interpret scores; inform students of alternative credit and test out options; review prior coursework to determine eligibility for course waivers and submit waivers as necessary
Implement New Student Orientation and Welcome Week activities, to support the onboarding of our new and transfer students.
Run and interpret degree audits to verify academic progress and degree completion
Assist students with navigating the published Schedule of Classes and selecting courses appropriate to their degree and transfer goals; teach and assist students in the self-registration process and accessing Dashboard
Assist students with schedule adjustments and the withdrawal process
Maintain continuous lines of communication with academic deans and the records office regarding scheduling issues, overrides, and curriculum variances
Formulate suggested curricular recommendations for faculty program directors based on findings and observations of students in those programs.
Provide effective tools and resources to students who experience difficulties maintaining a positive academic experience
Initiate collaborative efforts with other advisors as a team to anticipate and respond to advising challenges and opportunities as they arise
Enact communication plans to provide individualized information to support student success and retention.
Utilize Banner Student Information System and other various software systems to enter overrides, collect and analyze data, and perform other key operations.
Conduct advising workshops as directed by supervisor

Advise students planning to transfer to four-year institutions in Michigan and out-of-state:
Explain the Michigan Transfer Agreement, its goals, and its benefits to those transferring to a four-year school in Michigan
Assist students with selecting an appropriate transfer school in accordance with their academic goals and personal preferences
Refer students to transfer representatives at prospective school(s)
Research transfer equivalencies at students prospective transfer school(s) to ensure they are maximizing their time at SMC and taking courses required for transfer The duties listed in this job description are not all-inclusive, but a list of the major responsibilities. Additional duties not noted in the job description may be assigned by a supervisor.

**Special Instructions to Applicants**: