Some Useful Information
Twice a year, professors and students me one-to-one for academic advising sessions. I treat this time as having two purposes:
- to be sure that students are making good progress through their course of study
- to check in about life issues that are affecting a student’s educational experience in good and/or not-so-good ways
- read (and even re-read) the e-mail that comes from the Registrar’s Office
I know the message feels long and full of lots of information that seems straightforward, but this is a practice in empathy. Consider how you would feel if you were the AMBS Registrar and you communicated clearly about registration processes and students didn’t read your e-mail. - sign up for an advising meeting
Because I have advisees both here in Elkhart County and at a distance from the AMBS campus, I use Google Calendar Appointment Slots to give you a way to schedule your session with me — it makes more sense to use this approach than posting a sign-up sheet outside my office door! Here is the link to my appointments page. - prepare for our meeting
The AMBS catalog, academic calendar, and course list are your top resources to prepare for advising, along with all those goodies in your Advisee/Formation Portfolio shared through Google. As your prepare, this is a great time to note any questions you have and either e-mail them to me in advance of our meeting or bring them with you to the meeting. You should also be prepared to answer some questions that are part of our student progress reporting. - know what’s your responsibility as a student
As a seminary student, you should know what’s involved in your plan of study and have a sense for the kinds of forms you need to access for exceptions to AMBS academic policies (course substitutions, course extensions, leave of absence, etc.). - know what my responsibilities are as an adviser
Part of my job is to complete some paperwork to document your progress through your studies. Here is a link to the questions that are part of that reporting. Also know that when and where the policy isn’t clear to you, it’s my job to help you track down answers to your questions. Proactively raising questions before our advising sessions is an excellent way to use our time together effectively and efficiently.
photo | sampler quilt (detail 2) by knitsteel| Creative Commons License: CC BY-NA 2.0