Academic Advisor

Overview

The Utah State University Honors Program (UHP) requires a committed professional with skill in communication and collaboration and demonstrated potential to succeed as an academic advisor in a nationally recognized program critical to the mission of Utah State University. The Academic Advisor is responsible for:

• advising students on how to integrate UHP requirements into their USU experience;
• representing the program publicly at on- and off-campus recruiting, advising, and training events;
• helping to coordinate messaging about the UHP across USU campuses;
• collaborating with the Honors Academic Advisor Senior, Honors Academic Advisor Coordinator, and peer advisors to align UHP advising with the program’s mission and goals.

This individual also co-advises with a team of UHP and college advisors to ensure clear messaging to students about the relationship between honors and major requirements. The Academic Advisor must:

• understand and refer students to a wide range of USU resources;
• help train and work with honors peer advisors and ambassadors;
• support the efforts of the Honors Academic Advisor Coordinator, USU Admissions, and college advisors to recruit new honors students;
• help implement strategies to increase UHP retention and graduation rates; and
• engage in proactive advising to ensure student success and remediate academic problems.

The position is critical to the growth and health of USU’s mission‑critical UHP and thus requires exceptional discretion and judgment; decision‑making and problem‑solving ability; strong interpersonal and communication skills; interest in student recruiting and retention; and capacity to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a productive team. The Academic Advisor (AA) reports to the Executive Director and may be responsible for training and supervising peer advisors and ambassadors.

• Advises potential, current, and former honors students (through in‑person, virtual (Zoom), phone, and email communication) with accurate information about curriculum, graduation requirements, and university policies and procedures and appropriate referrals to USU and other resources supporting student success.
• Assists students in mapping honors requirements onto their academic plans, co‑advises with advisors in the student’s major, helps create and monitor progress on academic plans in Degree Works, and approves completion of requirements for graduation with the University Honors or Associate with Honors transcript designation.
• Maintains confidentiality, keeps detailed records and documentation of advising interactions, helps remediate academic problems, and contributes to messaging in support of students who need academic support plans and resources.
• Assists honors students in making responsible and informed decisions impacting academic progress, encourages and guides students as they define and develop realistic goals, and helps them understand the purpose of Honors and higher education in relation to life goals.
• Discusses the benefits of building a learning community, network, and support system among peers, professors, and mentors in and beyond the UHP and contributes to developing and implementing advising programming that helps honors students make progress toward academic and career goals.

• Works with the Honors Academic Advisor Coordinator and USU admissions to help recruit new honors students and coordinates with UHP staff, as well as advisors and staff across USU departments and colleges, to communicate information about honors student populations and trends, program requirements, and effective strategies for recruiting outstanding students to USU.
• Helps train and standardize messaging for UHP peer advisors and ambassadors to ensure consistency in basic advising.
• Helps maintain a UHP presence at on‑and off‑campus recruiting events and train student ambassadors in presentation content and approach (may require statewide travel).
• Contributes to Honors Aggie Orientation and Connections experiences designed to introduce new students to the UHP and their honors student cohort.

• Monitors student…