Academic Advisement

Academic Advisement

Welcome to Dr. Morales' academic advisement page. This page was created for my advisees to help orient them to the advisement process. Below, I provide information regarding the advisor's role in the academic advisement process, the advisee's role in the academic advisement process, information about scheduling an appointment for academic advisement, and information about what you should bring to your academic advisement appointment.

My Role and Your Role in the Academic Advisement Process

The reason you are reading this page is because you are a declared psychology major who has been assigned to me as your academic advisor. My role as your academic advisor is to assist you in:

choosing courses
understanding college policies and procedures
learning about and utilizing college services and resources
fulfilling your educational and professional goals

I will do my best to meet your expectations in each of these areas, but ultimately the responsibility to meet the requirements for graduation on the date you wish to graduate is up to you. This means it is your responsibility to select appropriate courses (with my help), to complete them satisfactorily, and to be aware of any problems that might not allow you to graduate on the date you wish. Remember though, I have been assigned to you to help you, so do not hesitate to call me should you need my assistance.

For more information about the roles and responsibilities of the advisor and the advisee, check out the Academic Advising Office's web page on the Academic Advising System.

Scheduling of Advising Appointments

During the course of the semester, the college designates a two week period for academic advisement. The beginning and ending dates for the advisement period each semester can be found in the Master Schedule of Classes for that semester or in the Official Academic Calendar. There really is no one process academic advisors use to schedule appointments with advisees, so you should be familiar with the process your academic advisor uses.

Typically, what I do during this two-week period is post an appointment sign-up sheet on my office door, Beaumont Hall 222. My advisees then come to my office at their leisure, and sign up for an appointment that best fits into their schedule. If the times I have designated for advisement do not fit into your schedule, I provide several alternatives. These include:

making my office hours available for advisement appointments
scheduling individual appointments outside of the times already made available
scheduling walk-in hours for those who would like to keep things loose.

If you do not want to meet with me and simply want to pick up your registration pin number, you can do that too! But, I will not e-mail you your pin number, nor will I give it to a friend. You must pick up your pin number in person.

Also, I do not give out pin numbers after the advisement period has ended. After the two-week period, you must pick up your pin number from Academic Advising. If you go this route, you will most likely have to pay a fee to get your pin number, and you will be relegated to registering after the freshman. So, it behooves you to get your pin number from me during the academic advisement period.

Importantly, the advisement period is an advisement period that has been scheduled by the college. As my advisee, you are welcome to seek my advice outside of this two-week period on matters relating to your academic and professional career.

Curriculum Advising and Program Planning (CAPP) Report

Given the importance of your college career, you should be very familiar with your own academic progress. This means you should be familiar with any and all business related to obtaining your degree. One of the single most important documents in helping you to keep apprised of your progress is your Curriculum Advising and Program Planning (CAPP) Report. This document provides you with information on your major requirements, the college general education requirements, the courses you have completed and what grade you received in those courses, courses you are currently enrolled in, summary information regarding your GPA, number of credits you have earned, and a whole host of other information pertinent to your college career. You can obtain a copy of your CAPP report on-line by logging onto the Banner Web Registration system. Before coming to your scheduled appointment, you should be familiar with your CAPP report.

What do you need to bring to your Academic Advisement Appointment?

Be advised (no small pun intended!), when you come to your academic advisement appointment, you will need:

A copy of your CAPP report that you are thoroughly familiar with.
Some ideas about what classes you need and what classes you will be registering for.
Any forms you might need me to sign (e.g. class withdrawal form) with all the information needed for the form completely filled in. I do not sign blank forms.

Preliminary Advise

One mistake that students make during the course of their academic careers is that they do not hold onto the various administrative forms and paperwork they fill out and receive while at the college. Nor do students typically hold onto their payment receipts. Do not do this. From the time you are accepted to the college, you should begin building a file that contains any paperwork you fill out or receive, and all your payment receipts. The folks over in the Administrative offices are dealing with thousands of students, and as such, literally thousands of pieces of paperwork. They not only work with this paperwork in hardcopy form, but also must enter much of the hardcopy data into a database. This process leaves a lot of room for error. So, hold onto copies of forms, receipts, etc., just in case any questions should arise about your work at the college.

A second mistake some students make when they come to college is to not stay focused on their classes. For whatever reason, be it that it is the first time they are away from home, peer pressure to do all the wrong things, or simple laziness, sometimes students do not do as well in their classes as all objective indicators suggest they might.

The better you do while you are here, the more choices and opportunities you will provide yourself with once you graduate, be it in choice of a job or acceptance to a graduate school. Remember, getting a Bachelors Degree can be viewed as a process to an end, that end being making it to the next level, and putting yourself in a position to have alternatives once you reach that next level. There is nothing I enjoy more than seeing a student do well while at Plattsburgh State and moving on to something he or she wants to do. By the same token, there is nothing I like less than trying to console a student who has done poorly by his or her own doing, and that student looking to me for advise on how to fix things.

Changing Advisors

The assignment of advisors is not unlike an arranged marriage. Sometimes the relationship works, and sometimes the relationship is less than special. If for whatever reason, our advisor/advisee relationship does not work for you, please feel free to change advisors. I will not be offended. I want you to be able to work with the person that fits your style best, and with someone you feel provides you with what you think is the best advise. To change advisors, you simply need to go to the Psychology Department front office, Beaumont Hall 211, and fill out a form (a copy of which you may want to keep!). The process is virtually instantaneous and painless.