Student Organization Advisor Manual

Dave Eng
(315) 859-4516
(315) 859-4196 (fax)

Defining Advisor

All student organizations are encouraged to have a faculty or staff advisor. An advisor should be either a full-time member of the faculty (not on sabbatical) or a full-time member of the staff or administration. The extent of involvement with an organization must be determined by the advisor and the organizer's officers. Some general guidelines include:

  • Meeting with the organization's chair or president once a month  
  • Meeting with the group's executive board at least once a semester. (Additional meetings may be scheduled as needed or desired.)
  • Attending at least one meeting/event with the entire organization.  (Additional meetings may be attended as needed or desired.)
  • Requesting and receiving regular updates from organization meetings.
  • Acting as a liaison between the organization and the administration.
  • Attending an advisor's workshop (sponsored by the Student Activities Office) once a year.

Advising is a developmental process in which an advisor shares ideas and insights, provides a different perspective, counsels students, and facilitates learning to assist students in their academic, personal, and professional development. An advisor facilitates the maintenance of a strong organization by providing continuity and keeping new members and officers informed of the history of the organization. The advisor does not control the organization or make all the decisions for the students but provides a balanced perspective so students can make the most informed decisions possible.

Developmental Advising Approach

What does it mean that advising is a developmental process? A developmental advising approach:

  • Is concerned about human potential and growth.
  • Requires establishing caring relationships with students.
  • Encourages students to take responsibility for their actions.
  • Provides opportunities for students to explore their ideas.
  • Encourages values of volunteerism, civic engagement, and social responsibility.
  • Builds connections between academic and student affairs to assist students in achieving goals.
  • Engages the advisor and the student with both making equal contributions to the relationship.

The above description of the developmental advising approach was adapted from Academic Advising for Student Success and Retention (Hovland, Anderson & Associates, 1997).


Enhance your experience as an advisor by:

  • Getting to know students on an individual level. Learn what they want to get out of the organization
  • Attending the organization's meetings and events
  • Reaching out to other advisors or departments (i.e. Student Activities) for assistance and support
  • Empowering students to take action and to take satisfaction in seeing the student organization succeed


Advisor Functions

It may be helpful to think of the advisor's role in terms of three major areas:

  1. Maintenance or custodial functions
  2. Group growth functions
  3. Program content functions

Within each of these broad areas, the group advisor may perform certain duties that call for considerable activity on his/her part in some specific situations and instances or none at all.


Maintenance Functions

Here are those advisory activities that serve to maintain the existence of the student organization and to keep it out of difficulty:

  • Providing continuity with the history and tradition of past years
  • Heading off situations that might give rise to poor public relations for the organization or the institution
  • Providing advice when called upon
  • Preventing the group from breaking the university's rules
  • Serving as an exemplar of intellectual virtue
  • Arbitrating intra-group disputes


Group Growth Functions

Those advisory activities that improve the operation and effectiveness of the group and help it progress toward its goals may be referred to as group growth functions. They are facilitating functions that are useful without particular reference to the program content. Related advisory activities might include:

  • Teaching the techniques and responsibilities of being a good leader and follower
  • Coaching the officers in the principles of good organizational and administrative practice
  • Developing self-discipline and responsibility among group members
  • Teaching the elements of effective group operation
  • Developing procedures and plans for action
  • Keeping the group focused on its goals
  • Stimulating or even initiating activities and programs


Program Content Functions

Obviously, a student organization should exist for other purposes than to perpetuate itself and improve its internal operation. It is in the area of program content that the faculty advisor assumes a genuinely educational function and one that can parallel, complement, or supplement the formal curricular offering of the college. Here the advisor answers the question, "For what?" It is here that the advisor can stimulate the intelligence and ability of the student participants and help them to plan activities that will contribute to their own intellectual development while enriching campus life. Advisory activities related to program content might include the following:

  • Introducing new program ideas with an intellectual flavor
  • Providing opportunities for the practice of classroom-acquired skills
  • Helping the group to apply principles and concepts learned in the classroom
  • Pointing out new perspectives and directions to the group
  • Supplying expert knowledge and insights of experience


Keep in Mind ...

Here is a list of some things to keep in mind when working with student leaders.

  1. It is important to not direct the activities of the club. Allow students to make their own decisions and learn from their experiences.
  2. Failing is part of the learning process. Mistakes and poor decisions will happen. While it may be your first reaction to intervene and fix all the mistakes you see, this is not the role of the advisor. You can help students to think through their actions and to consider various possibilities but the final decisions must be theirs. Take advantage of failures and use them as teachable moments with students.
  3. Remember, it is your responsibility to ensure that students understand what the consequences are for their decisions. Be pro-active when a controversial situation arises but let them make the decision. Help students take ownership of their decision and responsibility for any consequences that may follow.
  4. Assist students with the development of a budget and the spending of their funds. Do not control the finances of the club. Your primary role is to monitor the expenses, provide feedback on the budget, and review expenditures.

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