Exploratory Academic Advisor

Department: Academic Affairs

Classification: Education Support Spec 3

Job Category: Classified Staff

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: Hybrid Eligible

Pay Band: 04

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

The Office of the Provost is the primary central administrative unit for the university’s academic programs. Its range of interests include curriculum, instructional personnel, assessment, accreditation, international initiatives, and oversight of the overall academic mission. Within the Office of the Provost, the Office of Undergraduate Education manages undergraduate academic programs that stretch across all colleges and schools at George Mason University. These include university-level curriculum approval, general education (Mason Core), University Studies programs, the Office of Academic Advising, and Mason Impact initiatives that support transformational learning for undergraduate students, including the Office of Student Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR), Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning (CECiL), and Office of Fellowships. In all of our work, we seek to inspire undergraduate students to become engaged citizens and well-rounded scholars who are prepared to act in a global world, by creating and sustaining innovative programs that enhance our students’ academic experience and contribute to their academic success. We are dedicated to ensuring that students from all backgrounds have equal access to all of our programs.

A critical component of the Office of Undergraduate Education, the Office of Academic Advising (OAA) leads the academic advising community at George Mason University and serves students not formally enrolled in a major. OAA commits to creating ongoing, personal, and purposeful educational partnerships with students and colleagues and to contributing to student success by providing resources and by teaching students to develop the skills required to become life-long learners capable of effective self-advocacy.

About the Position:

Reporting to the Assistant Director for the Office of Academic Advising (OAA), the Exploratory Academic Advisor lays the foundation for academic success at George Mason and beyond by guiding students in the selection of a major based on their academic, career, and personal goals and aspirations, and transitioning students to advisement within an academic unit. The Exploratory Advisor takes a holistic advising approach with students and discusses academic, career, and personal interests. The Exploratory Advisor makes connections to class selection and career goals, and provides information on major selection, academic policies, procedures, and practices. Also, this includes helping students through various academic requests, forms, and appeals. The Exploratory Advisors at George Mason contribute to George Mason’s strategic goals of preparing career-ready graduates while increasing graduation and retention rates. Additionally, the Exploratory Advisors contribute to the activities within the Office of Academic Advising and the George Mason Advising Community.

Works occasional evening and weekend hours to support activities and required events.

Responsibilities:

Advising

• Beginning with admission to the university, guides an assigned caseload of students from George Mason Orientation to major selection that aligns with their academic, career, and personal goals and ambitions, and transitions them to advisement within an academic unit;
• Communicates with academic units about students terminated from their major to provide quality and consistent academic advising toward a new major;
• Provides individual and group advising meetings for students in person and virtually;
• Communicates prompt, thorough, and accurate responses to student questions and concerns through email, phone, texts, and other communication platforms;
• Advises students in course selection, major declaration, program requirements, and university guidelines, and maintains continued interaction and follow-up with assigned students;
• Discusses academic interests and makes connections between career and personal goals;
• Provides information on academic policies, procedures, and practices;
• Assists with registration and other necessary procedures for degree progress and timely graduation;
• Works with students on warning, probation, returning from suspension, and termination from the major to develop student success plans and increase the likelihood of timely major selection and degree completion;
• Refers students to appropriate university resources (Success Coaching, Career Services, Counseling and Psychological Services, Learning Support Services, Student Support Advocacy Center, and others);
• Organizes and maintains office files and student records;
• Completes meeting summaries, enters advising notes, uploads pertinent documents, and enters important communications in the university communication platform; and
• Responds to questions from the general university undergraduate education email account. 

Student Impact and Outreach 

• Supports orientation and admissions events, peak registration timeframes, administrative and programming responsibilities, curriculum development, and or other duties as assigned;
• Engages in proactive outreach efforts to maximize student retention and success;
• Identifies and shares co-curricular opportunities, such as study abroad, undergraduate research, civic engagement, internships, student activities, and other university events; and
• Develops and distributes electronic and physical resources and materials for student advising. 

Training and Technology 

• Participates in university-wide advising training, attending academic advising-related conferences, contributes proposals to available institutions or organizations within the academic advising profession, and engages in ongoing professional development;
• Collaborates with academic units across the university to develop student support networks and general support; and
• Utilizes the university's digital systems, tools, and CRM to advise students, track student progress, record student interactions, and make university-wide referrals. 

Other duties as assigned 

• Attends regular meetings with staff, faculty, and key stakeholders involved in the development and implementation of programs;
• Serves on committees and other projects as assigned;
• Develops programming for Exploratory students to maintain and increase student success;
• Leads departmental specializations, such as advising, retention, or transition to support university-wide strategic initiatives;
• May supervise federal work-study students for specialized areas; and
• Participates in first-year student experience and retention programming, outreach, and university technology platforms (CRM, website, degree audit) for Exploratory students.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in related field or the equivalent combination of education and experience;
• Professional experience and leadership working in a university setting (typically 1 to 3 years);
• Experience serving and supporting diverse student populations;
• Experience with or demonstrated knowledge in academic advising and/or student success coaching;
• Demonstrated working knowledge of student transitional issues;
• Demonstrated knowledge of academic advising and career development as it pertains to exploratory, undeclared, terminated (from major) and non-degree undergraduate students;
• Verbal and written communication, organizational, and outreach skills;
• Conflict resolution skills;
• Ability to work to meet deadlines, work accurately and quickly with attention to detail, and be able to manage multiple complex programs and projects simultaneously;
• Demonstrated ability to work with a culturally and ethnically diverse population of students, faculty, and staff; and
• Demonstrated commitment to customer service.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in related field;
• Experience with or demonstrated knowledge of one or more of the following areas: academic curriculum planning, orientation, disability services, veteran’s services, career services, student involvement, and student rights and responsibilities;
• Experience with educational database management systems and customer relationship management systems (CRM);
• Demonstrated experience with leadership, communication, program development, and administrative skills in their previous experience and interview process; and
• Knowledge of university curriculum, policies and processes.

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Exploratory Academic Advisor at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a Cover Letter/Letter of Intent and Resume for review.

Posting Open Date: June 12, 2025

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  June 27, 2025

Open Until Filled:  Yes