About Us

Our Promise to You:

The Office of Academic Advising promotes academic wellness and fosters student growth. Our advisors encourage students to develop the curiosity, courage, and confidence needed to navigate their educational journey.

Our Student Success Specialists use an evidence-based advising framework to help students develop self-awareness as they reflect on their academic interests, priorities, and future life goals. Decades of research has established that academic advising is a high impact practice that helps students stay focused, leading to on-time graduation.

Our work is particularly guided by the Developmental Advising Model, which considers the whole student as they travel through each developmental stage of life. Late adolescence and early adulthood are crucial times for emotional and social development. Often, this is the first time a student is living away from home, when they first develop a sense of independence and begin to engage with adult responsibilities. This is a stage where students can begin to use future-oriented thinking, make long-range plans and goals, wonder: “What do I want to do with my life?”

Through this holistic developmental lens, our advisors do more than simply provide information about the course schedule or lead students to an appropriate form; our advisors serve as a bridge between students, the campus community, and beyond to help them thrive, connect, and engage.

Advisors:

All degree-seeking students at UNCA are assigned an academic advisor before or during their first semester here.

The Student Success Specialists in the Office of Academic Advising are always available to answer your questions, but you will also have assigned faculty advisors in your major once you declare.

Some students have multiple advisors (for example, a student with a Psychology major and Art minor can have an advisor in both academic areas).

To change your current advisor or get an additional advisor:

Bring a signed Advisor Request form to the Academic Success Center with the signature of your new advisor (and department chair if you have already declared a major). You can use this form to add an advisor for a minor as well.

If you are unsure who to ask to be your advisor, please contact us at ASC@unca.edu and we can assist you with this process.