Mission
The Mission of Academic Advising at F&M
The mission of academic advising at Franklin & Marshall emanates from ideas and values about student learning that are central to the College's Mission Statement. Academic advising at F&M has the following mission:
Academic advising at Franklin & Marshall is focused on promoting learning and successful transitions of students. Through the advising relationship, the adviser attempts to inspire in students an awareness of skills and competencies associated with academic success, the ability for meaningful self-reflection, and the use of sound decision-making skills. Academic advising facilitates this learning by engaging students in an advising dialogue that promotes the expression and justification of individual goals and objectives and where the adviser guides the learner through the decision-making process.
Academic Advising as Learning
From the perspective of learning theory, students actively construct their understandings and meanings of their education. This implies that the advising process is primarily concerned with student learning. It is thus recognized that advisers play a key role in inspiring students with an awareness of, as noted earlier, "skills and competencies associated with academic success, the ability for meaningful self-reflection, and the use of sound decision-making skills." Furthermore, the adviser helps to:
- Facilitate student learning about the ideas and values in the College's mission statement
- Connect the formal concepts reflected in the institution's mission statement and other related documents with the learner's preexisting knowledge and values
- Create a dialogue in which the learner has the opportunity to express, justify, and discuss individual goals and ideas and in which the adviser guides the learner
- Guide students so that they recognize and benefit from anomalies, disturbances, errors, and contradictions
- Guide students toward becoming responsible citizens, liberally educated persons, and critical thinkers
