Provostial Review of Undergraduate Academic Advising Supports

From: Susan McCahan, Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education
Date: July 13, 2023
Re: Provostial Review of Undergraduate Academic Advising Supports

As part of the University’s ongoing efforts to ensure students, faculty and staff have access to the supports and resources to support the success and wellbeing of our students, increased focus and investments are being made in advising supports and technologies. In 2022-23, the University piloted an Academic Advising Training Program, intended to provide professional development opportunities for academic advisors across the three campuses, and this summer, the University will be launching the Student Advising Service in the Faculty of Arts & Science and Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education as a new enterprise advising platform that will continue to be implemented across interested Faculties and campuses.

The Provostial Review of Undergraduate Academic Advising Supports will build off these new developments and provide an assessment of the current configurations, roles and responsibilities for the provision of existing services, programs and technologies related to academic advising for the University’s undergraduate student population. The process will include consultations with academic and administrative staff within the University’s shared service units and advising staff within the University’s undergraduate academic divisions and colleges. The outcome of this review is to provide an assessment of the current advising landscape and recommendations to support the enhancement of the University’s advising supports, both institutionally and in relation to divisional services and supports.

The Review will focus on two key aspects of the evolving nature of the institutional engagement in academic advising:

• Assess current responsibilities across Vice-Presidential and, within the Division of the Vice-President & Provost, Vice-Provostial portfolios for student academic advising services, policies and technologies.
• Assess the relationship and intersection of institutional and divisional academic advising services, policies, and technologies.

Through the community engagement, the intersection of access, inclusion, equity and diversity within advising services and the relationship and intersections between advising areas (e.g., admission, financial, mental health, student wellness, academic integrity) will also be explored.

The review is being coordinated by the Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education on behalf of the Vice-President & Provost.  For more information, please contact Julian Weinrib, Director, Innovations in Undergraduate Education (julian.weinrib@utoronto.ca)