Peer Academic Advisor — 2024–2025

What Makes a Good Peer Academic Advisor?

Being a peer academic advisor would be a valuable experience for you if:

• You enjoy helping fellow students, through your own experience, knowledge and expertise, to solve problems, plan ahead and get involved.
• You love working with a fun team with the common goal of serving the Biola community.
• You have great ideas that you want to put into action by helping students reach their academic goals and gain the most from their education at Biola.
• You want to gain hands-on professional experience working in an office environment in order to build your resume for graduate school or future career opportunities.

Purpose

To serve as a student leader providing accurate academic advising and referral information by meeting with students and working closely with multiple departments on campus.

Description

Duties and Responsibilities

All Peer Academic Advisors will:

• Provide information to students on matters pertaining to academic life (e.g. curriculum, major selection, study habits, transition to Biola, substitution requests, add/drop process, course selection, registration, My Account, etc.) during one-on-one appointments or group advising sessions.
• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge regarding academic programs, extracurricular activities and campus resources. The PAA will be trained on promoting vital components of the Biola academic journey.
• Hold walk-in advising hours.
• Maintain thorough and consistent communication with supervisor regarding all student advising sessions.
• Model an appreciation for and understanding of foundational concepts in academic life, particularly Christ-centered learning and diversity.
• Perform other duties and special departmental projects for advising as assigned.

Qualifications

• Must be a current undergraduate student (current sophomores and juniors preferred).
• A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (exceptions may be made for students slightly below a 3.0).
• Proven academic commitment, leadership abilities, teamwork experience, organizational skills, problem solving competencies, demonstrated appreciation of diversity and a vibrant commitment to academic biblical integration.
• A one-year commitment is required. The weekly time commitment is 10 hours/week.

Peer Academic Advisor Positions

• Grad Petition/Academic Planner Support
  • Help upperclassmen submit graduation applications each semester by teaching them (1) how to use Planner and (2) about the graduation application process.
  • Support freshmen with creating basic academic plans from Planner templates and assist them with navigating the Planner tool.
  • Possibly build plan templates in the Planner tool when the 24-25 catalog is released.
  • Support the Academic Records & Degree Specialist team by conducting student outreach about graduation applications.
• FirstGen/SEID Support
  • Supports FirstGen students in navigating university systems, building connections, and academic thriving.
  • Serves as a liaison between the Advising Center and SEID.
  • Attend and host events related to academic thriving.
• Academic Study Skills/Success
  • Respond to alerts from faculty to provide support for students who need assistance with study skills, time management, using organization platforms, and more.
  • Possibly host academic skills/success workshops in collaboration with the Office of Student Accessibility for students during peak seasons of the semester.
  • Provide supplemental support for students on academic probation
• Department Positions:
  • STH: Biology
  • Rosemead School of Psychology
  • School of Cinema & Media Arts

Training Expectations

• Peer Academic Advisors must be available for a paid, on-campus training August 19-23, 2024.
• Peer Academic Advisors are expected to attend a mandatory one-hour weekly staff meeting during Fall and Spring semesters (typically Wednesday mornings from 9:30-10:20 am.)

Note to applicants: If you do not have prior work or volunteer experience, you will not be disqualified based on your lack of previous experience in our hiring process.