Advising

Student Activities and Leadership Advisors primary roles are to:
• Provide leadership development opportunities and mentoring to individual student leaders and groups.
• Advocate on behalf of students with the University.
• Be an information and problem solving resource for students.
• Interpret University policy, help students to navigate, and to hold groups accountable to those policies.
• Administrative support for student organizations.

SALP Advisors may work with individual student leaders to explore leadership opportunities, critical thinking, and decision making. SALP Advisors will often use the Advising Syllabus to explore roles and expectations with student leaders. They may work with student organizations on mediation, strategic planning, or building community connections. And, they help student organizations navigate the often tedious PSU policies and procedures. Many student organization administrative functions, such as spending money or reserving rooms, need a SALP Advisor signature as required by the University. Please see What an Advisor's Signature Means.

Student organizations may also have one or more Faculty Advisors. The Faculty Advisor can be an important part of a student organization; their role is to encourage critical thinking about the mission and goals, to connect student s to the particular field and community networks, career exploration, and connecting academics to co-curricular experiences. The very definition of a student organization is that it is student led. This sometimes leads to confusion about the Faculty Advisor’s role. The Faculty Advisor should not be leading the group, making budget decisions, hiring or supervising the leadership, or taking a lead on initiatives, programs, or goal development. In order to foster leadership development of students, these must be the roles and responsibilities of the students. Please refer to the Faculty Advisor Handbook.

SALP is committed to collaborating with and supporting faculty partners to advise student organizations. If you are a Faculty Advisor and would like to be on the faculty advisor listserv to receive updates and helpful information, please e-mail your name, department, and the group you are working with to lorriemATpdx.edu.