The duties of academic advising will fall to full-time faculty members in the Department of Music. The College’s Advising Handbook is a thorough and effective resource to guide both advisors and those being advised.
The College requires that every student have an academic advisor (faculty) in the department in which they major. Thus, all music majors must have an official academic advisor on the Music faculty when they declare their major. The department’s policy encourages student choice and input in selecting their academic advisor. They may ask any eligible member of the music faculty of their choosing. It is ultimately up to the faculty member to accept or decline to take the student as an advisee based upon current advising load and in accordance with the Music Department Advising Policy.
To officially name a faculty member as a student’s academic advisor, a Change Advisor Form needs to be turned in to the Office of the Registrar. Whenever possible, faculty should remind students to drop advisors that they are no longer actively consulting. This happens often in a situation when a student had a music professor for SC101, but transfers to another academic advisor. Students should rarely be advised by two music faculty members. Mentored by many…academically advised by one.
The College’s stance is that “balancing advising assignments” is part of the Job Description of the Department Chair. As such, oversight of this policy and its implementation falls to the office of the Chair.