Advisement Center
About Us
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Mission
The primary mission of the University Advisement Center is to provide holistic guidance to all first-year students to help them navigate SOAR and their degree plan, understand University policies and holds, and learn about resources that can support their academic success; the Center also provides walk-in support to any Southern Miss student with questions or interest in changing their major.
Key Values
Expertise
Advisors are well-trained, knowledgeable professionals with deep expertise in specific academic fields as well as a generally high level of skill in advisement across disciplines.
Empathy
Advisors listen first, approaching students with warmth and a genuine desire to understand their circumstances and begin crafting a path forward from where they are.
Path-making
Advisement is about creating a customized path to graduation that assists students with identifying and overcoming obstacles that they will face.
Inclusivity
Our students are diverse in many ways, and advisors recognize the richness that diversity brings to our community. Advisement training cultivates practices that are sensitive to that diversity and to the different challenges students from varied backgrounds may face.
Accountability
Advisors and students alike are held accountable for their responsibilities; each role carries with it certain duties, and part of the advisors’ responsibilities will be to support the students in learning new skills of self-navigation and goal-setting so that they can become increasingly independent and accomplished.
Growth
Learning is about growth, and advisors are committed to continual professional development, and we expect the same from students through the process of being advised.