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Clark University
Clark University
Academic Advising Center

For Advisors and Faculty

What is the Role of a Faculty Advisor?

Establish a caring working relationship with your advisees.

Remember that academic advising is an extension of your teaching that continues throughout the year. Scheduling classes is only one small aspect of advising.

Help students to clarify their goals.

Initiating a discussion with your advisees about their goals will enable you to provide them with more meaningful advice as they make their academic plans.

Encourage students to begin planning for their future career.

Planning for one’s career is not something a student should begin in the senior year. It is a process that can start in their first semester on campus. Urge students to access the opportunities offered by advisors in the Career Connections Center.

Relate interest and abilities to plans.

While it is important to encourage your advisees to take on challenges, it is also important that their decisions have some basis in reality. Sometimes a student’s interest in a subject may far exceed their ability.

Assist advisees in exploring and selecting majors.

Review departmental requirements with students as they explore potential academic directions. You’ll find program details for each major, minor, and concentration in the academic catalog.

Help students select appropriate courses for their academic plans

Courses that meet the requirements for Clark Core are an excellent way to expose students to a variety of academic disciplines. Encouraging students to meet as many of these requirements as they can in the first two years will provide them with a strong foundation and an introduction to the breadth of academic study.

Monitor students’ academic progress.

Advisors play a crucial role in celebrating students’ strong academic performance, as well as identifying steps to take when academic improvement is needed. Faculty will be able to review advisees’ academic performance through the mid-semester feedback survey and end of semester grades and utilize these insights to provide appropriate next steps.

Encourage students to get involved in campus activities.

Students involved in co- and extra-curricular activities are more likely to establish a sense of connectedness to Clark and are, therefore, more likely to be engaged across Clark through and beyond graduation.

Refer students to campus resources when appropriate.

Recognize when an advisee needs the assistance of another professional on campus. Facilitating the connection between your advisee and an appropriate campus resource is an important role that advisors can play.

Recognize that you are not alone in this endeavor.

You have the support of the DOC and DSS staff who add to the advising experience; professional expertise in the areas of academic advising, student accessibility, counseling, academic coaching, First Year Success Advising, study abroad, peer tutoring, and writing assistance.

Dates for the posting of course schedules, the student advising period, and online registration are found on the Registrar’s Office web page. Access the Academic Calendar by clicking here.

To be ready for registration, students must meet with their major or academic advisor and get their approval of the student’s intended class list to release the registration hold. Faculty advisors should reach out to their cohorts a few weeks prior to registration week to communicate how they want students to schedule these 1-1 meetings.

Please make sure to inform Academic Advising and your department chair should you plan to take a leave of absence or sabbatical so that your advisees can be reassigned to another advisor for those semesters.

Fall 2025 Pre-Registration Period Begins: March 19th, 2025

Fall 2025 Senior Class Registration Begins: April 3rd, 2025

Fall 2025 Junior Class Registration Begins: April 7th, 2025

Fall 2025 Sophomore and First-Year Registration Begins: April 9th, 2025

Summer 2025 Registration Begins: February 10th, 2025

If students are uncertain how they will do in a class that is not required for their major or minor, they can work with the professor’s permission to take the class pass/fail instead of for a grade that will impact their GPA.

Download Pass/Fail Fillable Form

Spring 2025 Deadline for Pass/Fail Form Submission: January 31st, 2025

In cases where students are not able to finish their coursework by the end of the semester because of extenuating circumstances, petitions for a grade of incomplete (IN) can be submitted to the Academic Advising Center. Students and instructors should complete this form together. Please remember in order to approve petitions for incomplete, students must have; completed more than 50% of the work, been engaged in the class for most of the semester, and you and the student can reasonably complete and review the work after the semester ends. Students may talk to someone in the Academic Advising Center for assistance with figuring out if an incomplete is appropriate. Completed forms can be turned into the Academic Advising Center before the end of day on the last day of classes to provide time for the staff to review and approve or deny the petition prior to grades being due.

Download Petition for Incomplete Fillable Form

Deadline for Spring 2025 Incomplete Form Submission: April 28th, 2025

Students can use this form to petition for any action outside of the parameters of our academic forms and petitions or policies, such as missing form submission deadlines or dealing with extenuating circumstances outside of the classroom. They must return the completed petition to the Academic Advising Center after gathering all required signatures. For help with filling out or submitting their College Board petition, students can visit the Academic Advising Center for assistance.

Download College Board Petition for Special Action

Download College Board Petition for Special Action Fillable Form

Should a student hope to take an interim course at another institution outside of the fall and spring semesters, please guide them to this resource. Department Chair approval is required for courses that will fulfill a major requirement. This form should be used before registering for courses at another college or university to ensure the acceptability of course and credits at Clark University. Turn in your completed request form with course descriptions to the Academic Advising Center (if it is an online course then syllabus is required)

Download Transfer Credit Approval Form

Should you see a student struggling with their academic or personal life, please make sure to refer the student’s to the appropriate resource for support. Below are some of the resources and departments that can help you and the student in need:

Should you need to review the academic catalog for the details of these policies, you can find them here.

Contact Information

Academic Advising Center

Office Location
Office Hours

  • Monday – Friday
    9 a.m. to 5 p.m