Work Schedule

Monday through Thursday 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, Friday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Work Site

Onsite Bethany Campus or Remote

Job Summary

The Academic Advisor works directly with prospective and accepted students to provide guidance in program planning, class scheduling, and academic success. The advisor is the primary student support person to ensure the successful completion of students’ academic goals. Must possess a positive outlook to effectively motivate people and the ability to work in an enthusiastic team environment, have excellent communication skills (including face-to-face, telephone, and videoconferencing), and be able to work evening hours and flexible schedule required to accommodate the needs of adult learners.

ResponsibilitiesEssential Functions:

• Provides academic advising for prospective and current Professional Studies students:
  • Develops a degree completion plan that includes the core courses required for the degree and a plan for meeting any additional hours needed to graduate.
  • Schedules a pre-program advising session with each accepted student to review the degree completion plan.
  • Process Prior Learning Assessment (Training and/or Life Learning Papers) materials to faculty evaluators and maintains the Prior Learning tracking system on the Ellucian database. Follow up with evaluators when needed.
  • Advise and direct professional studies learners on potential writing topics and petition sheets for professional technical training.
  • Schedule reminders and support of all learners in regard to life learning credit, documentation, and finalization of credits needed for graduation.
• Provides services for Professional Studies students:
  • Serves as a contact for students and facilitates referrals to various individuals and departments.
  • Initiates regular contact with cohorts through class visits and virtual office hours in order to develop and maintain relationships and administer assessment tools.
• Guides students’ academic progress from acceptance to graduation:
  • Monitors students’ academic work and attendance to proactively provide assistance to help the student achieve academic goals.
  • Checks files of students who are nearing degree completion for deficiencies in earned hours and GPAs.
  • Prepares graduation audit for each student in the cohort.
  • Meets with individual students to review their graduation check evaluation.
  • Assists students through the graduation process.
• Other responsibilities:
  • Informs leadership of arising concerns or issues.
  • Ability to use technology/computer systems and work within Recruit, Advise and Colleague learning management systems
  • Assists with graduation planning and activities and recruiting events as needed.
  • Additional duties as assigned by leadership

• Provides academic advising for prospective and current Professional Studies students:
  • Develops a degree completion plan that includes the core courses required for the degree and a plan for meeting any additional hours needed to graduate.
  • Schedules a pre-program advising session with each accepted student to review the degree completion plan.
  • Process Prior Learning Assessment (Training and/or Life Learning Papers) materials to faculty evaluators and maintains the Prior Learning tracking system on the Ellucian database. Follow up with evaluators when needed.
  • Advise and direct professional studies learners on potential writing topics and petition sheets for professional technical training.
  • Schedule reminders and support of all learners in regard to life learning credit, documentation, and finalization of credits needed for graduation.
• Provides services for Professional Studies students:
  • Serves as a contact for students and facilitates referrals to various individuals and departments.
  • Initiates regular contact with cohorts through class visits and virtual office hours in order to develop and maintain relationships and administer assessment tools.
• Guides students’ academic progress from acceptance to graduation:
  • Monitors students’ academic work and attendance to proactively provide assistance to help the student achieve academic goals.
  • Checks files of students who are nearing degree completion for deficiencies in earned hours and GPAs.
  • Prepares graduation audit for each student in the cohort.
  • Meets with individual students to review their graduation check evaluation.
  • Assists students through the graduation process.
• Other responsibilities:
  • Informs leadership of arising concerns or issues.
  • Ability to use technology/computer systems and work within Recruit, Advise and Colleague learning management systems
  • Assists with graduation planning and activities and recruiting events as needed.
  • Additional duties as assigned by leadership

Required Qualifications

• Southern Nazarene University is an expression of the Church of the Nazarene. According to SNU policy, all faculty and staff must possess a strong personal Christian commitment and be committed to the SNU mission to make Christlike disciples through higher education in a Christ-centered community.
• An understanding of the importance for diversity, inclusion, and equity.

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Minimum of two years of related work experience and/or relevant training
• To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:
• Problem-solving – the individual identifies and resolves problems in a timely matter and gathers and analyzes information skillfully.
• Interpersonal Skills – Remains open to the ideas of others and exhibits willingness to test new processes.
• Verbal communication – the individual speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations. Capacity for group presentation skills and conducting meetings.
• Written Communication – the individual edits work for spelling and grammar, presents numerical data effectively and is able to read and interpret written information. Possesses intermediate to the advanced knowledge level of Microsoft Office Software.
• Quality control – the individual demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness and monitors own work to ensure quality.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree
• Knowledge of CAEL standards and ability to strategically support Prior Learning
• Experience with Recruit, Colleague and Advise
• Experience with adult students.

Supervision Received:

Receives supervision and work assignments from a designated supervisor, although other staff members in the unit may provide work direction.

Supervision Exercised:

None