Academic Advisor, Applied Health Sciences

University of Illinois Chicago•Chicago, IL

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Applied Health Sciences (AHS) advisor is a member of the advising team in the AHS Office of Student Affairs. This position requires expertise in major and career exploration, as well as familiarity with AHS undergraduate programs; as well as general admissions information for graduate and professional health science programs. The AHS advisor works with students from undergraduate majors across the college, including supporting the unique needs of exploring majors and career paths for our undecided student population. In this role, the advisor assists AHS Undeclared students in major exploration and selection and advises students pursuing AHS undergraduate majors or concentrations. The advisor engages undergraduate students in promoting their academic, professional, and overall development from application to program and orientation through graduation. The advisor evaluates students' progress toward degree and provides guidance on course registration, pre-requisite completion, and referral to available University resources.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree
2 years of academic advising, career services, and/or admissions experience in higher education
Working knowledge of university undergraduate academic policies and procedures surrounding registration, academic records, and admissions as well as resources available for students
Advanced listening, communication, and presentation skills.
Demonstrated ability to support students of greatly diverse backgrounds in both individual and group settings.
Demonstrated ability to work effectively both individually and in a team setting.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in higher education administration/college student personnel, college student development, counseling, social work, public health, health science or a related field.
Experience with student databases and degree audit systems (e.g. Banner, uAchieve, iAdvise, Slate, or comparable applications).
Working knowledge of pre-health resources for students and/or major and career exploration preferred.
Familiarity with student development theory and FERPA.

Responsibilities

Engage in individual advising appointments, drop-in advising sessions, group advising sessions, and email/phone communication with current and incoming undergraduate students and transfer students for the purpose of evaluating students’ progress to degree, course selection and registration, pre-requisites completion, degree planning, and referral available University resources.
Provide education and guidance on health-related fields and develop students’ understanding of the points of entry for these respective health professions.
Identify current and potential needs of students (e.g. study skills, tutoring, and counseling). Intervene, and refer students to resources throughout the University community, as appropriate. Exercise professional discretion and judgement to troubleshoot problems as they arise.
Coordinate with Transfer Articulation and Degree Audit (TADA) unit to evaluate and verify transfer transcripts from other academic institutions for equivalencies and application to degree program. Review student’s degree audit and make exceptions manually for courses when needed.
Participate in first-year and transfer campus orientation sessions for both fall and spring entry to UIC, as well as participate in department/program orientation activities.
Create and facilitate workshops and group advising sessions on academic advising specific topics of interest to AHS students such as major exploration.
Participate and support AHS Undeclared first year seminar sessions which exposes students to different AHS majors, health professions, and health-related careers, as well as themes related to first-year transition and sense of belonging. Coordinate with departments on program specific first-year seminars.
Provide general advice and guidance on professions, jobs and career paths in collaboration with department faculty with discipline specific expertise; Assistant Dean for Student Affairs; and Career Leadership Council.
Meet regularly with academic departments about specific advising needs, program changes, and guidelines for overrides and/or course restrictions.
Participate in regular meetings with AHS advising team, AHS undergraduate program directors, AHS Student Affairs staff, and professional development activities to expand knowledge and maintain currency.
Stay current on advising best practices and investigate the career health fields of interest to our student population.
Educate prospective students and their family/friends about AHS degree programs and supports the recruitment of new AHS students including intercollege transfer students through information sessions or other programming as needed.
Support college and university wide initiatives that support students’ major and career exploration, as well as retention and graduation persistence goals (e.g. Early Alerts; Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP); etc.)