Peer Academic Advisor — 2020–2021

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 be involved in your academic department by working alongside faculty and staff.
• 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.

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Description

Duties and Responsibilities

• 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.
• Serve as facilitator and community builder in assigned section of First Year Seminar (FYS) for new students (at the discretion of the FYS Instructor). Attend assigned section of FYS.
• 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. Maintain thorough and consistent communication with FYS Instructor during FYS.
• Model an appreciation for and understanding of foundational concepts in the 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 (sociology and biology PAAs work 8 hours/week).
• Candidates must be available to work during the Fall Semester in an assigned FYS course.

Peer Academic Advisor Majors

• Art
• Biology
• Christian Ministries
• Cinema & Media Arts
• Communication Sciences & Disorders
• Communication Studies
• Journalism
• Kinesiology
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Public Relations
• Sociology
• Undecided — All majors may apply

*Note: The nursing department has their own peer advisor program for nursing majors.

Training Expectations

• PAAs must be available for a paid, on-campus training August 24—27, 2020.
• Peer Academic Advisors are expected to attend a mandatory one-hour weekly staff meeting during fall and spring semesters.

*Note to applicants: If you do not have prior work or volunteer experience, please upload a word document on Handshake with the following statement: I do not have prior work or volunteer experience. You will not be disqualified based on your lack of previous employment experience in our hiring process.