As part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' Curricular Review, the Report of the Standing Committee on Advising and Counseling (issued in May 2005) recommended the establishment of an Advising Programs Office (APO), which began to take shape in February 2006. This office is charged with coordinating, supporting, and facilitating academic advising programs for all undergraduates and, as such, works with students, faculty, the Freshman Dean's Office, the Houses and other Harvard College and FAS offices on all aspects of pre-concentration and concentration advising.
The Freshman Adviser is a faculty member, administrator or proctor at the University who helps first-year students select courses and advises on questions regarding the curriculum, academic requirements, educational goals, summer opportunities, and extra-curricular interests. Approximately 400 non-resident advisers work with an average of 3-4 first-year students apiece. All proctors (resident advisers) also serve as academic advisers to some of the first-year students in their entryway.
Each incoming freshman is assigned a Peer Advising Fellow, based on academic and extra-curricular interests. Fellows bring a student perspective to the first-year advising network. The role of the Fellow is multi-faceted and spans academic, social, and extra-curricular life at Harvard. Fellows, for example, help answer questions about life at Harvard and the transition to college, encourage freshmen to engage in academic exploration, and refer freshmen to other resources when appropriate. Fellows have thorough knowledge of campus resources, so that they know where to send advisees for information in each concentration. Finally, the Fellows play a key role in helping to build community within the entryway and dormitory by working with the proctors and each other on study breaks, other entryway activities, and dorm-wide events.
As a result of the May 2006 faculty legislation that changed the timing of concentration choice from the end of the second to the end of the third term, the Advising and Counseling Committee, in collaboration with the Masters, the Dean of the College, the Advising Programs Office and its Student Advisory Board, designed a sophomore advising program to support sophomores as they enter House life and concentrations. The goal of sophomore advising at Harvard College is to work with sophomores as they engage in focused academic exploration. Sophomore advising at Harvard is a collaborative effort on the part of students, Houses, and concentrations. Each sophomore is assigned a House Tutor, who serves as the primary academic adviser in the student’s third term and who helps students navigate advising structures within the concentrations. Faculty members in the concentrations are eager to reach out to sophomores, and sophomore advisers will facilitate those connections. Concentrations will assume primary academic advising responsibility for sophomores in the fourth term, while House sophomore advisers will continue to offer supplemental support through the sophomore advising program.
Concentration advising seeks to guide students in three phases: into an appropriate set of introductory courses in the field of study, to advanced work in the field of study and, when applicable, through a final project or thesis in the senior year. Each concentration plays an important role in pre-concentration advising through collaborative efforts with the Freshman Dean’s Office, the Houses, and the Advising Programs Office. Concentrations reach out to first-year students throughout the year and especially during the Advising Fortnight in the spring. In April of the first year, students are expected to research various fields and then go to the concentrations’ advising teams with questions or to hear more about the departments. In the third term, academic advisers encourage students to seek out information from the concentration advising teams before concentration choice in December.
Once sophomores select a concentration, their primary academic adviser will be assigned based on the policies of their concentration. Most use a team approach: the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) or Head Tutor, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies (ADUS) or Assistant Head Tutor, and Undergraduate Coordinator (UGC) will advise various students, splitting duties as needed depending on the student, situation, and time. Some concentrations make use of the House tutors to advise students by House, coordinating with the House Masters in the hiring process.
Each concentration has its own requirements. Several of the humanities and social science concentrations have a tutorial system (ranging from one to five semesters), and many students receive additional advising from their tutorial leaders.
The APO website seeks to bring together a large amount of information pertaining to advising at Harvard College. In addition, the APO (in conjunction with the Registrar’s office) has created the Advising Network Portal, or ANP, where students can view the photos, names, and contact information for all of their assigned advisers. The advisers themselves can also access the ANP to see the photos, names, and contact information for all of their advisees. The link for this resource can be found on the main page of this site.
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