Skip to main content

Undergraduate Academic Advising

Your Academic Guidance Experts

Our Mission

The Office of Undergraduate Academic Advising at Fontbonne University is dedicated to assisting students in identifying and achieving their educational goals, while creating collaborative relationships with other institutional departments, faculty and staff.  The advising process is an on-going and developing one, whereby both the advisor and advisee share responsibilities.  Academic advising is rooted firmly in education, reaching out developmentally to engage students in self-directed learning, creating academic plans and strategies, discussing personal goals and referring individuals to the appropriate campus resources.  Students demonstrate a commitment to their education and are expected to achieve high personal and academic standards.

What We Believe

The advisor’s role is rooted firmly in education, providing the necessary information regarding policies, degree programs, courses, schedules and registration. Advisors must reach out developmentally as well by engaging students in self-directed learning, creating academic plans and strategies, discussing personal goals and referring individuals to the appropriate campus resources.

With the support and guidance of their academic advisor, advisees are expected to learn and practice the habits of successful students. This includes maintaining regular contact with all of their academic stakeholders, taking responsibility for consulting the University Catalog, making final decisions about choices regarding their academic careers, preparing in advance for relevant meetings, gathering all pertinent information, following through on referrals, asking questions and striving to be an ethical and contributing member of society through critical thought and action.

Our Purpose

The Office of Undergraduate Academic Advising serves as a resource for all Fontbonne undergraduate students by providing clarity to the University’s academic policies and procedures. The office is responsible for ensuring that each student is assigned an appropriate academic advisor in his or her field of study. Professional staff housed in this office directly advise undecided and the College of Arts & Sciences students that have not yet transitioned to department advising.

How We Can Help

The Office of Undergraduate Academic Advising can assist you by:

  • Providing major exploration;
  • Advising for other options when not accepted into a selected major;
  • Connecting you with faculty and other staff;
  • Navigating GriffinNet;
  • Assistance in determining which academic forms you need, where to obtain the forms, and how to complete them (ex. adding or changing majors, Leaves of Absences, etc.);
  • Maintaining and updating online advising resources and;
  • Directly addressing institutional and personal concerns.

Expectations and Responsibilities

Students (Advisees) are expected to:

  • Take an active and responsible role your educational decision-making and experiences;
  • Maintain regular contact with all academic stakeholders including academic advisor;
  • Follow through on referrals;
  • Serve as a responsible citizen through ethical and critical thought;
  • Prepare and be on time for relevant meetings;
  • Engage in conversation and ask questions;
  • Learn to navigate University technology (GriffinNet, Canvas, email etc..);
  • Learn to interpret degree plan; and
  • Consult with University Catalog as needed.

Advisors are expected to: 

  • Provide accurate information and be timely with appointments;
  • Be accessible via office appointments, telephone, or email;
  • Maintain confidentiality;
  • Monitor and accurately document students progress toward meeting their goals;
  • Intercede with other campus constituencies on behalf of students when appropriate;
  • Convey genuine care and concern through being approachable and willing to listen;
  • Uphold the core values of academic advising as identified by the National Academic Advising Association;
  • Take interest and care in all aspects of the students academic experience; and
  • Teach students how to read and interpret their degree plan.

Resources

We are using cookies to give you the best experience. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in privacy settings.
AcceptPrivacy Settings

GDPR

  • GDPR Privacy Policy
  • Google Analytics

GDPR Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Overall Policy

Thank you for visiting our website. We’re pleased to share our policy regarding the use of information received here. Privacy is a matter of concern to us. We are committed to protecting your privacy and the security of the information that you may provide to us.

Personal Information

We do not track individual users. Your email address or other personal information is not collected unless you provide it on a form, survey or application. We will not sell or otherwise make available any personally identifiable information to any organization not directly affiliated with us. We will comply with legitimate government or legal requests as necessary to protect our organization or to comply with laws.

Traffic Analysis

We analyze traffic to this site. We collect statistical data on an aggregated basis through Google Analytics. For example, we collect information about the domain names of servers that bring visitors to our site. We count the number of visitors and keep track of where they go on our site. Such information allows us to find out what areas users visit most frequently and what services they access the most, which enables us to create a better overall user experience. To gather such data, we use cookie technology, which collects data in aggregate form, not by individual user.

Cookies

As referenced above, we use cookie technology for traffic analysis. Cookies are small pieces of information stored by your browser on your computer’s hard drive. The cookies placed by our server do not gather personal information about you, do not provide any way for us to contact you and do not gather information about your computer. The cookies simply allow us to enhance our site by letting us know what sections are visited most often. The use of cookies is common on the Internet, and our use of them is similar to that of other reputable online organizations.

Links To Other Sites

Our site contains links to other sites and Internet resources. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these third-party websites and Internet resources.

Updates To Privacy Policy

We may update the privacy policy periodically, and we encourage visitors to review them on a regular basis.

Last revised: June 2015

Google Analytics

Fontbonne University to close in summer 2025 leaving a legacy of more than 100 years of Catholic higher education.Learn More