The mission of the Office of Academic Advising is to engage students in writing their Kenyon story by helping them to:

  1. Reflect on their academic, co-curricular, and extra-curricular interests, goals, and priorities
  2. Assess and identify their areas of strength, weakness, and development
  3. Explore available academic, co-curricular, and extra-curricular opportunities
  4. Seek out necessary and additional information to make informed decisions
  5. Access, understand, and abide by academic policies and procedures
  6. Make individualized choices that support personal interests, goals, and priorities
  7. Take ownership and responsibility for their Kenyon experience
  8. Engage actively with faculty advisors and other campus resources for advice and support

Advisor Expectations

  • Assist students in understanding degree requirements articulated in the course catalog.
  • Assist students in selecting courses for exploration and pursuit of intellectual interests.
  • Assist students in monitoring academic progress through degree requirements.
  • Check in with students regarding academic difficulties (e.g., conditional enrollment, progress reports).
  • Support students in defining and re-defining their goals and priorities.
  • Encourage students to remain open to opportunities, flexible to change, and resilient to travail.
  • Recommend campus resources to students based on their questions, needs, and concerns.

Advisee Expectations

  • Do the legwork. Think about what you’d like to talk to your advisor about. Write down your topics, questions, and concerns. Do some research and make use of information available on-line. Think about how your advisor might be able to help you.
  • Plan ahead. Don’t wait until right before course registration to meet with your advisor or ask for your PIN — or until deadline days to get your advisor’s approval/signature. Be sure you know when your advisor is available to meet: Do they have open office hours or special advising hours? Do you need to make an appointment in advance? Will they be out of town during the semester? Arrive on time for meetings or let your advisor know you’ll be late or unable to make it.
  • Share about yourself. Ask thoughtful questions. Your advisor will be able to offer better advice the more they know about you. Share your story and your interests so that your advisor will know what you want (or think you want) to get out of your Kenyon experience: Do you want to study abroad? Do you want to work at the World Bank? Do you want to become a foreign ambassador? Acknowledge what you don’t know and ask questions about what matters to you. Your advisor will do their best to help you find the answers. If they don’t know, they’ll help you reach out to other resources for the answers.
  • Follow through. Follow up. Follow through on suggestions that make sense to you. Follow up on conversations regarding next steps. A strong advisor-advisee relationship is built on clear and consistent communication. Be sure to keep your advisor up-to-date as things change over time.
  • Own your Kenyon experience. Your advisor will do their best to help you make informed decisions. However, you must accept responsibility for your academic choices and performance.