For student organization related business, Tiffin University, the Gillmor Center, and Student Activities offer advisors a number of services. Call the Student Activities Office at (419) 448-3325 to access these services. The Office of Student Activities provides assistance to organizations and advisors with financial processing, general information, as well as event request forms. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Student Activities staff is ready to help you with whatever questions or problems may arise. Feel free to contact anyone on the staff to ask for help.
Tips for Advisors
1. Know the students with whom you're working. It's important to know your audience. Different groups require different approaches.
2. Have the goals or objectives of the group firmly in mind.
3. Know what the students expect of you as an advisor.
4. Express a sincere interest in the group and its mission.
5. Express a sincere interest in each individual within the group.
6. Assist the group in setting realistic, obtainable goals.
7. Assist the group in developing a system through which they can evaluate their progress.
8. Assist each individual in achieving his/her needs while helping the group achieve its goals.
- Why do persons become involved?
- How can each person grow through his/her involvement?
9. Assist the group in understanding the dynamics of the group and human interaction. Sometimes the process is more important than the content.
10. Realize the importance of the peer group and its affect on how each individual participates or fails to participate.
11. Assist the group in determining the needs of the people the group is serving
12. Don't allow yourself to be placed in the position of the President.
13. Develop a style that affects a balance between being an active and passive group member.
14. Be aware of the various roles you'll be filling from time to time:
- Consultant
- Information source
- Clarifier
- Counselor
- Facilitator
15. Be aware of the institutional power structure - both formal and informal.
16. Provide continuity for the group from year to year.
17. Challenge the group to grow and develop.
18. Be creative and innovative.
19. Know how to access University resources.
Student Organization Advisor Responsibilities
The relationship of the advisor to the group will vary, not only with each organization, but also from time to time within the group. A typical job description for a faculty advisor does not exist. Each organization has unique requirements and needs of its advisor. Advisors have three main areas of responsibility:
Responsibility to the
Organization
The following suggested job description is designed to help the
advisor and student leaders arrive at clear and mutually agreed
upon responsibilities. The program must justify the expenditure of
students' time, abilities, energy, and dues. In the designated
responsibilities, there must be opportunities for the educational
and personal development of students who participate as members of
student organizations.
An organization's advisor:
- Should be well informed about all plans and activities of the group. This may be achieved through regular attendance at meetings and/or frequent consultation with student officers.
- Should assist the officers in planning the scholastic achievement program for existing and new members.
- Should encourage the organization and individual members to adopt academic goals.
- Should help to develop long-term plans for the future of the organization and communicate these plans to succeeding generations of members.
- Should assist the organization in developing good study habits and techniques for existing and new members.
- Should periodically review the organization's Web site (if any) for appropriateness of content, professionalism (i.e., spelling) and accuracy of information.
- Should present or arrange with other faculty, staff, or the Student Activities Office, special workshops on relevant topics.
- Should relay information concerning University policies and regulations.
- Should discourage domination of the group by an individual or subgroup.
- Is responsible for providing long-term continuity within the group, and should be familiar with its history, including major changes in the group's program.
- Should assist in the orientation of new officers.
- Is encouraged to attend the events sponsored by the group.
- Should provide direct assistance in the planning and evaluating of programs.
- Should direct students to register all fund raising projects with the Director of Student Activities and the Student Government’s Office.
- Should NOT do the organization's work for them. Organizations at Tiffin University are STUDENT run and must therefore be administered and governed by student decisions.
Responsibility
to Tiffin University
Advisors work with students and should not consider themselves as
directors of the group's programs and activities, but rather as
guides for the group in accordance with the purposes and
educational objectives of the University. An advisor
should:
- Attend the organization's meeting when deemed necessary or desirable by either the advisor or the organization's members.
- Supervise the financial procedures followed by the organization in handling its funds.
- Be aware of the organization's financial status and encourage the maintenance of efficient financial records.
- Assist the Student Activities Office in implementing the policies for student organizations.
- Become familiar with the policies and procedures listed in the handbook.
Responsibility
to the Individual Members
The advisor usually acts as a mentor and guide toward the members
of the organization.
- The advisor should encourage each individual to participate and plan group events.
- Group members may need guidance as they decide on their level of participation. The advisor should seek to assist the students in maintaining a balance between the academic and co-curricular aspects of student life.
- The advisor should be available to existing and new members needing assistance with scholastic achievement.
- The advisor should encourage students to accept responsibility for specific parts of the program, helping them recognize the importance of their role
Risk Management
As an advisor, one of your major duties is to help student organization leaders assess and mitigate the risks of proposed functions. The University expects you to help students practice "risk reduction" when planning activities. Webster's dictionary defines risk as, "The chance of injury, damage or loss; a hazard," and defines management as "The implementation of collaborative efforts to coordinate resources and planning that will establish the most effective climate for growth and development. It is not meant to be synonymous with control." In other words, you as an advisor must collaboratively help students prevent injuries, loss, or damage to public reputation (either your own or Tiffin University’s).
Expectations
The first step in meeting this expectation is knowing what the
student organization officers are doing. How can you effectively
advise students of risks without knowing what is going on? As an
advisor you should be engaged in every phase of event planning and
preparation. How you do that is up to you and the students. The
officers of the organization may need you to attend every meeting
prior to the occurrence of an event, or, if the officers are very
experienced, may only need to meet with you periodically for
updates and guidance. If the students in your organization are not
forthcoming with information about future events, you need to
proactively go and get the information from them.
Reducing Risk
Once you know what the students are planning, the next step in risk
management is to help them reflect on the event. While there is no
such thing as a risk-free event, some things carry more risk than
others. The simplest way to identify risky behavior is to ask, "Can
someone get injured as a result of attending or participating in
this event?" Or, "Would we want our name mentioned with this kind
of event in the newspaper?" If the answer is yes, the event can be
considered risky. For instance, events where alcohol is consumed,
events promoting rough physical contact (i.e. sporting activities)
or events sponsored in facilities of questionable safety pose high
risks. Other kinds of events, such as staffing a marketing booth,
conducting a meeting or retreat or sponsoring a luncheon, pose very
little risk.
Most events can have their risk managed reasonably. However, there are certain kinds of function where no amount of planning can adequately address the risk and these functions must NEVER occur. These include, but are not limited to: underage drinking, hazing, fighting, sexist/racist/homophobic behavior. The University does not sanction any event where these kinds of activities take place, nor will any fundraising activity be approved containing these activities.
Your Role
When students propose a risky activity, don't assume the University
will veto it immediately. Help them see the risks involved by
asking questions.
- "What would happen if someone fell during this event?"
- "How do you plan to address someone who is intoxicated?"
- "How do you plan to prevent underage students from drinking?"
- "Would we want to read about this in the newspaper?"
By helping them plan for worst-case scenarios you are meeting your obligation as an advisor without telling them what to do. However, with that said, there are certain things you are honor-bound to stop, such as underage drinking, hazing, fighting (by calling the police, not by trying to break it up yourself), sexist behavior and racist behavior. Usually confronting such behaviors directly is enough to end them. While it may make you personally uncomfortable to confront these situations, both Tiffin University policy and the law are on your side.
A Five Step Plan for Assessing Risk
1.
Identification
Prior to an event (or traveling), student organizations should work
to identify the risks associated with that activity. Risks not only
include situations that can lead to injury, but also include risks
to the group's reputation, personal feelings of members or
participants, finances, and/or property (your own, the University's
or other's).
2.
Evaluation
Once a group has identified the risks, evaluate the potential
consequences to the organization, individuals participating in the
activity, and/or to the Tiffin University community should one of
the risks occur. It is also important to think through the
environment in which the event/activity is taking place and
determine the likelihood of the risks occurring. A careful
evaluation of risks prior to hosting an event will assist the
organization in minimizing, eliminating potential
problems.
3.
Treatment
Next, the organization must decide how to manage each risk, or
decide if the event is too much trouble to do at all. The answer
should not always be to eliminate the activity simply because risk
exists. Instead, organization leadership in conjunction with their
advisor, the Student Activities Office, and Student Government
should work to determine how to best manage and minimize the
risks.
4.
Implementation
It is not enough to identify and plan for potential problems. In
order to be successful an organization must follow through on the
action items identified to mitigate and/or eliminate potential
risks. Document your action plans and educate members of the
organization as well other participants on what the plan is, design
steps in your plans that permit for monitoring potentially risky
parts of the activity to assure that risk management plans are
followed.
5.
Assessment
Upon completion of an event the student organization's leadership
should evaluate it. Reflecting back on an event or activity and
identifying both those things that went well and those that were
not as successful will provide valuable information for future
leaders. Write all these ideas down and include them in a notebook
for next year's officers.
Officer Transitions
One of the most important functions of an advisor is to assist in the transition from one set of organization officers to the next. As the stability of the organization, the advisor has seen changes, knows what works and can help maintain continuity. Investing time in a good officer transition early on will mean less time spent throughout the year nursing new officers through the fall semester. Student Activities staff is here to help.
The key to a successful transition is making sure new officers know their jobs BEFORE they take office. Expectations should be clearly defined. There are a number of ways to conduct the officer transition. If the organization already has a good system in place, don't change it. The following two methods are examples of two commonly used methods.
The Team Effort
The team effort involves the out-going officer board, the advisor,
and the incoming-officer board. This method involves a retreat or
series of meetings where out-going officers work with
incoming-officers on:
- Past records/notebooks for their office and updating those together
- Discussion topics should include:
-
- Completed projects for the past year
- Upcoming/incomplete projects
- Challenges and setbacks
- Anything the new officers need to know to do their job effectively
The advisor's role may be to:
- Facilitate discussion and be a sounding board for ideas
- Organize and provide the structure of a retreat
- Offer suggestions on various questions
- NOT tell new officers what they should do
- "Fill in the blanks." If an outgoing officer does not know how something was done, or does not have records to pass on to the new officer, you can help that officer by providing the information he or she does not have.
The structure of a team effort retreat can take many forms. The advisor's role in this process is to provide historical background when needed, help keep goals specific, attainable and measurable and provide advice on Tiffin University’s policies and procedures.
One-on-One Training, Advisor with
Officers
While it is ideal to have the outgoing officer team assist in
training the incoming officers, often it is left up to the advisor
to educate the incoming officers. In that situation, there should
be a joint meeting of the new officers.. After that meeting, the
advisor should meet individually with each officer; examine the
notebook of the previous officer (or create a new one). Things to
include in a new notebook:
- The Source
- Any forms the office may use, such as;
-
- budget forms
- Fundraising forms
- Community Services
- Copies of previous meeting agendas
- A copy of the organization's agency budget, if applicable
- A copy of the organization's constitution and bylaws