Advisors & Faculty Remote Advising Begins March 23rd

Dear Advising Community Members,

In response to university guidance regarding COVID-19, UMBC will be facilitating all academic advising remotely starting March 23.

Many of you may have already sent notifications to your students about advising protocols during this remote instruction period.  Other departments may be preparing to post messages about their remote advising options.  As you plan alternative means for scheduling and facilitating advising during this remote instruction period, consider leveraging these university-supported tools:  Google Calendar, WebExGoogle Hangout Meets, email, and phone.

Additionally, as you are assisting students and preparing them for the upcoming Fall 2020 advising and registration cycle, please remind them of these online tools that they may find useful in supporting their academic planning:

·         The schedule of classes  for Fall 2020 will post on March 23, and advance registration begins on March 31.

·         The Guide to Registration provides students with step by step directions on their entire advising and registration process.

·         Please help us remind students that they need to Finish 15 credits per semester to graduate in a timely fashion.

·         Using Degree Planner enables students to organize and file a degree plan that can be shared with you and updated each semester.

·         Summer 2020 registration is already open and could be particularly strategic to consider this year.

·         Students can still receive advising clearance, even if they have an administrative hold.

You can look forward to receiving important updates, recommendations, and information about best practices through our Advising Community myUMBC group.  Indeed, we welcome other members of your departments and programs to join as well – as we hope this group can serve many purposes regarding academic advising during the next few weeks.

We thank you in advance for your dedication and commitment to academic advising, especially during these challenging times.  We will be providing weekly updates on the status of our collective advising and registration efforts. We will also continue to highlight and promote the use of REX reports available to all departments.

We look forward to assisting all members of our UMBC Advising Community through this transition period.  Please let us know how we can help you as you implement your online advising formats.

Sincerely,

Ken Baron, PhD
Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Advising 
and Student Success
Office for Academic and Pre-Professional Advising
kbaron@umbc.edu