Academic advising is a complex partnership between students and advisors. With the information support of academic advisors, students make informed choices about courses, develop academic plans, test diverse curricula, and clarify their curricular goals.

Among the qualities desirable in a faculty advisor are:
1. knowledge of university, college, and departmental degree requirements;
2. familiarity with university, college, and departmental policies and procedures;
3. clarity regarding faculty expectations for students' success in their fields;
4. ability to articulate to students the nature and purposes of higher education;
5. skill in identifying deficiencies in students' records and in suggesting viable means of addressing those deficiencies;
6. familiarity with course sequences, scheduling patterns, prerequisites, linked requirements;
7. ability to suggest academic schedules that form meaningful patterns and enrich the educational experience;
8. willingness to be receptive to students' perspectives and to explore students' views of the academic experience;
9. tolerance for and appreciation of differing learning styles;
10. awareness of the time needed to work with students in advising coupled with a willingness to commit that time to this vital endeavor.

To put these qualities into practice, academic advisors must develop the following skills:
1. knowledge of curricular changes, revised program options, changing pedagogical styles;
2. familiarity with the academic calendar in order to provide timely and accurate scheduling information;
3. accurate notation techniques to record information shared, recommendations made, questions posed and answered;
4. knowledge of extra-curricular activities (concerts, plays, films, lectures) that enhance the curriculum;
5. ability to make referrals to personal counselors, tutoring resources, career counseling and placement office, student financial aid, the Bursar's office, and other student support services.

A good advisor knows the requisite information to assist students. Because students depend on their advisors for full and accurate information, faculty advisors are engaged in a continuing process of learning about the university, its resources, its faculty, and its students.

Resources Available for Academic Advising

Among the paper resources needed by academic advisors are these:
1. current and recent NIU Undergraduate Catalogs;
2. current NIU Schedules of Classes;
3. phone books;
4. access on a 'need to know' basis (see reference to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act below) to students' files, which may contain:
   • ACT, SAT, placement tests, and other relevant score reports;
   • high school transcripts (for students admitted directly from secondary schools);
   • college or university transcripts (for transfer students or continuing students who have studied elsewhere, either concurrently or between terms at NIU);
   • grade reports from previous NIU terms;
   • major declaration forms, minor declaration forms, second major forms, substitutions;
   • notes from previous advising appointments.
5. Articulation Handbook for Illinois Public Community Colleges-this handbook, updated annually, contains the articulation agreement between NIU and Illinois public community colleges, as well as course equivalencies between NIU courses and community college offerings. Each department has at least one copy of the current, and recent, articulation handbooks. Each department also keeps '2 + 2' brochures outlining appropriate course work at the community college for the first two years for its future majors.
6. Departmental handouts-these may include a course description booklet, sample schedules by semesters, faculty profiles, notices of upcoming events, career information.
7. Undergraduate Academic Advising brochure-this pamphlet, produced annually by the Committee on the Undergraduate Academic Environment (CUAE), gives a university perspective on academic advising, outlines student responsibilities in academic advising, and lists departmental, collegiate, and interdisciplinary advising contacts. The brochure also contains information regarding student support services available on campus.
8. Forms needed in advising-although departments differ on the question of access to forms used in processing actions on students' records, all departments should have available the following forms:
   • major declaration
   • minor declaration
   • Substitution/Waiver forms
   • Adjustment of Transfer Course Work forms
   • Grade Change forms
   • Late Schedule Update forms
   • departmental major checklists, where applicable
9. 'Incomplete' forms-when a faculty member assigns a grade of 'Incomplete' to an undergraduate, the faculty member must indicate what the extant requirements are and any special restrictions regarding the time available for the student to clear the incomplete.
10. The Academic Procedures Manual--maintained by the Office of the Vice President and Provost, this manual explains how to process all transactions needed for undergraduate scheduling. The manual also explains the process for initiating curricular change.

Electronic resources for academic advising include some sources accessible to all faculty through the World Wide Web and others limited to those faculty whose role in advising warrants access to the student data base. This handbook will outline the basic resources in each of these two categories.

At the Northern Illinois University Web site, the following resources are available:
1. the Undergraduate Catalog in electronic form-address is http://www.reg.niu.edu
2. the current Schedules of Classes (all current schedule booklets-spring, summer, and fall-are available at the address above);
3. Guide to Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS)-guide to the report generated each semester for our undergraduates. This audit matches the student's transcript against the grid of requirements for the declared major. DARS can also generate 'what if' audits that show how a student might change emphases within a department or pursue an alternative major. The Guide is available at the site above; use of DARS requires access to the student data base;
4. the Community College Articulation Handbook-use address above;
5. an electronic version of the schedule booklet and a search engine for on- and off-campus courses; use address above;
6. departmental undergraduate policies (where available; see, for example, the English department Web site http://www.engl.niu.edu);
7. departmental faculty profiles and relevant contact numbers.

The Office of Registration and Records maintains the student data base. Because of university, state, and federal policies which govern access to students' records (see FERPA section below), access to the student data base is restricted to faculty who need to know the information available there. Among the kinds of information available are:
1. electronic versions of the information available in the students' departmental file;
2. current biographical data, including phone, address, and appropriate emergency contact;
3. TRACS information-including enrollment data, spaces available during telephone registration, class lists.