Defining an Advisor

All registered student organizations at Mills College are required to have an advisor who is a faculty or staff member. Some advisors may wish to advise more than one group.

An advisor gives ideas, shares insight, provides a different perspective, and counsels. Advisors for student organizations have three main functions:

1. To encourage the growth and development of students.
2. To contribute to the continuity of the group. As members graduate, advisors can provide consistency and communicate the goals, legacy and history to future generations of members.
3. To assist in the area of program content and purpose.

Expectations of an Advisor

• Context and College policy: The advisor should help maintain the existence of the student organization by providing continuity with past history and traditions and relaying College context and policy. Advisors may consult administrators on college policy, serve as role models or mentors, arbitrate group conflicts, attend group functions whenever possible, and keep files on past organizational functions.
  
  
• Program content: The advisor should help evaluate the educational rationale for the organization's existence and lead its members into activities that will contribute to their intellectual and social development. Such activities may include introducing new program ideas, helping group members practice skills and concepts learned in the classroom, pointing out new perspectives and directions, and supplying expert knowledge and insight.
  
  
• Group and student development: The advisor can work with the students to improve the operation and effectiveness of the group and help it progress toward its goals. Such work may include encouraging students in the organization to attend Student Activities and ASMC sponsored leadership development sessions and workshops, coaching the officers in the principles of leadership and organizational and administrative practice, teaching the elements of effective group operation, and keeping the group focused on its goals.
  
  
• Level of involvement: The advisor should review these expectations with the student leaders of the registered organization to determine the level of involvement necessary, and decide with students the appropriate level of autonomy for their organization.

Please contact Student Activities at 430.2399 or activity@mills.edu if you have questions regarding your role as an advisor.  You must sign the Advisor Agreement Form, and the form must be turned in to Cowell by:

• Friday, April 27, 2007 (current organizations)
• Friday, November 16, 2007 (new organizations)

Registration of the Organization is not complete until the Advisor Agreement Form is received by Student Activities.