Index

General Office Information

Advisor Schedules

Breaks are to be used as breaks, they cannot be accumulated time like annual leave– use it or lose it.

Students are often here promptly at 7:30 or 8 for appointments – let’s not keep them waiting in the morning, or after breaks or lunch.

We like to allow for some flexible scheduling for advisors although we do need to cover the office. If you are taking or teaching a class (especially grad school folks), have young children or family members who need special support, let us know, and we will try to work out flex time.

Sick and Annual Leave

  • Administrative professionals accrue 2 days of annual leave and 1 1/2 day per month of sick leave.
  • Requests for annual leave should be directed to your supervisor. In the absence of your supervisor, the request should be directed to the Assistant Director or Director with your supervisor cc: via e-mail.
  • When an advisor is going to be gone, it is his or her responsibility to get another advisor to cover walk-in times and to indicate the coverage on the calendar and any other commitments.
  • When an advisor is going to be unexpectedly out of the office, the reception staff will attempt to telephone each student and to ask if the student would prefer to see another advisor that day or to be rescheduled with the original advisor.  If a student cannot be reached, the reception staff will attempt to move the student’s scheduled appointment to an advisor who is available at that time or to inform that day’s walk-in advisor(s) that the student may choose to use a walk-in appointment that day.
  • Leave is to be recorded on the annual leave program in SAN by the 5th of each month.
  • In planning vacation requests, please keep in mind the following time periods. These are our peak advising periods, and vacation requests during these times may not be able to be met:
    • Preview program, including training
    • Next Step program
    • One week before classes begin
    • Registration periods

 

Advising Appointments

  • New, returning and prospective students will receive one-hour appointments.
  • In general, students will get one-hour appointments before registration periods and 1/2-hour appointments during peak advising.
  • There is always staff discretion to give students with special situations one-hour appointments.

Advisors

  • If you have a scheduled appointment, please try to be in your room for the call/instant message or check the reception area for your student.
  • Please check with the reception staff to see if there is another walk-in or if your next appointment is here when we are busy.
  • If you have a cancellation or no-show, please shred the paperwork. Also, document the no-show in the advisor comments.

Reception Staff

  • When a student is 15 minutes late for his/her appointment, please reschedule.
  • The Assistant Director sees students when assigned or requested and can possibly serve as a backup in busy situations.

Paper Correspondence

  • Any written correspondence that goes out of the office on letterhead needs to be checked by the supervisor or the Office Manager.
  • The person who originates the letter will see the final copy before it is sent.
  • Per directive from the Provost, any publication that contains academic information about the University needs to be reviewed by the secretary of the University Curriculum Committee.

E-Mail

  • No profanity should be used.
  • This is an official public document, which means that it could be requested for court purposes.
  • Having a supervisor or another staff member review a complex e-mail that is sent to the entire staff or to another office on campus is encouraged.
  • Use cc: or bcc: as appropriate.

Dress Code

  • Dress in a professional manner that is befitting a representative of the University.

Security

  • If possible, please do not leave any staff member alone at the end of the day when there is a student who is being served in the office. Advisors need to end advising sessions as promptly as possible when the office is going to close.

Positive Office Image

  • Remember that the reception area is a public space and conversations about particular students, office concerns, etc. should not take place when students are present. Language should be appropriate.
  • As a courtesy to all staff members, leave desks and equipment as you found them.

 

Confidentiality

  • ARIES should not be used for personal reasons (e.g. looking up your friend’s grade point average).
  • Student records should not be kept visible on anyone’s desk.

University Resources

  • University office resources should not be used for personal reasons.

Copies of Materials

  • You may do small copy orders in house. Orders of 50 or more should be coordinated with the respective reception employee.
  • General office supplies may be requested from Juanita via e-mail or obtained from the general office supplies cabinet in the office.

 

Food and Clean-up

  • Drink coffee or tea?  Purchasing and clean up is handled by users.
  • We do our own room cleaning. Facilities personnel remove the trash once a week, and once or twice a year clean windows and floors. It gets pretty dirty in the rooms – so bring your own supplies!
  • We also pitch in to clean up after ourselves when using the fridge and microwave. We all try to bring plastic/paper cups, plates and utensils for our party/potluck use.

General

  • Bathrooms are also used for storage.  You may hear someone yell and knock to see if it is occupied - yell back!
  • A telephone card with an authorization number will be assigned to you for the purposes of making long distance business calls. It is not for personal use. You access the system by dialing 8 + 1 + area code and phone number, wait for a tone and then dial your authorization number.