Lead Advisor

About the department

IU School of Medicine-Evansville is located in the heart of downtown Evansville at the Stone Family Center for Health Sciences, a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to collaborative medical education and clinical research. Like the school's other statewide campuses, medical students in Evansville follow the school's statewide core curriculum and have exceptional community participation opportunities through student groups, medical service learning programs, extracurricular activities and a scholarly concentration focus in Quality and Innovation in Healthcare.

About the role

The Lead Advisor (LA) serves as the first point of contact for students, provides academic counseling, and serves as an advocate for the students in their cohort. This position does not assess student learning in a formal capacity. The Lead Advisors work together to support the students in Evansville through all 4 years of medical school.

Department-specific responsibilities

• Acts as temporary coordinator for the new Mental Health Track in Evansville for 1 to 2 years while the program is starting.
• Organizes and coordinates new program through various administrative tasks.

Responsibilities

• Provides academic counseling for students pursuing or considering majors, minors, or certificates.
• Guides students in planning their course of study in concert with the departments' curricular requirements.
• Explains curriculum requirements and school and campus policies.
• Meets with students in groups and 1-on-1 to guide students in academic programs that will meet their educational needs and the requirements of their chosen major, minor, and/or certificate.
• Assists students in making informed decisions about a choice of major and potential career or graduate school direction.
• Helps students to assess their interests, values, and academic skills and to understand these in relation to major choice and potential future career/graduate school options.
• Teaches students how to navigate university systems, academic processes, and policies.
• Empowers student accountability in academic decisions about courses, career direction, and long-term plans.
• Provides guidance on avenues for increased involvement as an Indiana University (IU) student and in the IU community.
• Refers students to appropriate campus resources, such as academic support resources, placement programs, internship and overseas study opportunities, etc.
• Tracks and monitors students' academic progress, reviews and maintains confidential student records to ensure that students meet requirements and to document advising discussions, and communicates this information in a timely manner to students and to appropriate academic offices when necessary.
• Represents the advising function as a presenter at campus meetings and recruiting functions.
• Assists in developing written advising materials for use in student events.
• Researches, recommends, or creates best practices for unit or campus initiatives, projects, processes, or programs and may provide guidance to other academic advisors.