Faculty and Advisor Toolkit
Information and resources for academic advisors.
Student Support Resources
Counseling and Mental Health Center
Provides free mental health counseling for enrolled ISU students.
Dean of Students
Offers services like Benny’s Pantry, emergency funds and scholarships, medical withdrawals, and much more. You can also use the Report A Concern Form on their website to prompt their office to reach out to a student.
Works with students, faculty, and staff to ensure accessibility.
Offers free writing and math support, as well as content tutoring across a large range of classes and subjects. If a content tutor is not available for a given course, the student can still contact University Tutoring to request one.
ISU Navigate
Faculty can use ISU Navigate to issue alerts to prompt academic advisors or other staff to reach out to students.
Student Services
- Admissions
- Bengal Card Services
- Career Center
- Counseling and Mental Health Center
- Financial Aid
- Military Ed Benefits
- Public Safety - Parking
- Registration and Records
- Scholarships
- Student Financial Services
Requesting an Advisor Role
The process to request the Advisor Role using the Banner Access Request form is as follows:
- In your MyISU account pull up your Banner Tools card
- From the menu click Banner Access Request
- Click Request Access
- Identify for whom you are requesting access
- In the 'What Access is Needed' box request the Relational Advisor Role for that person as well as all associated access for their position
- In the 'How is Access Used' box type a brief description of how the access will be utilized
Advisor Assignment Request
Advisor Updates Only (not Major, Minor, or Catalog Year change) is required to update the student record.
Office of Academic Advising assigns advisors to students who show the appropriate major and minor in their Degree Works and/or MyISU General Student Information - when departments send an "advisor assignment request" to the OAA advinfo@isu.edu email address.
Assignment Request Process
- Appropriate departmental personnel send an email to advinfo@isu.edu requesting an advisor (or multiple advisors) to be assigned to a student (or multiple students).
- Individual faculty or staff may contact an OAA professional advisor, or call (208) 282-3277 to request immediate advisor access for individual students.
- For multiple assignments - Departments may attach a spreadsheet of students and identify which advisor(s) to assign to each student on the list. The following items must be included with each request:
- Effective Term (e.g. Spring 2026 or 202620)
- Student Name (e.g. Samuel George Smith)
- Student ID number (ISU ID number)
- Advisor Name (e.g. Samantha W Smith)
- Advisor ID number (ISU ID number)
- Advisor Type and Status (e.g. AUX, DEPT, or MAJR) For advisor type descriptions see Advisor Type Categories listing below.
Primary Advisor
A Primary Advisor is a student's Professional advisor in their major. The student's advisor will appear on MyISU in the Student Records channel and also in Degree Works. Only one advisor can be primary.
Major Advisor
A Major advisor is a student's Faculty advisor for their major. The student's major advisor will appear on MyISU in the Student Records channel and also in Degree Works. Multiple major advisors can be identified to assist a student.
Advisor Type Categories
- CAA - Office of Academic Advising: Default primary advisor for all undergraduate students without a declared program.
- MAJR - Advisor in Major: Faculty advisor for the student’s major.
- MINR - Minor Advisor: Faculty advisor for the student’s minor.
- DEPT - Professional Advisor: Professional staff advisor whose primary duty is to support students throughout their academic endeavors. DEPT is also used to identify Department Chairs and Program Coordinators
- AUX - Auxiliary Advisor: Administrative staff who support advising and student record needs.
- ATHL - Athletics Advisor: Professional Advisor for student-athletes.
- TRIO - TRIO Student Services advisor: Advisor for TRIO students.
- INT - International Programs Office Advisor: Supports International students with immigration advising, cultural and academic programming needs
- HONR - Honors Program Advisor: Advisor for University Honors Program students.
Declaring or Changing a Major and/or Minor
Formally declaring a major connects a student with program advising. Major and primary advisors help students navigate program requirements for each semester through graduation.
Students may determine that their current major is failing to meet expectations. Encourage students to explore available majors and commit time to successfully finding a new major that is more in line with their strengths and interests. They should then schedule a meeting with their primary advisor or the department of interest to discuss related career opportunities and reviewing the academic requirements based on an agreed-upon catalog year.
Student Procedure to Declare or Change a Major/Minor
Faculty Assisted Procedure to Declare or Change a Major/Minor
Primary Advisor Assisted Procedure to Declare or Change a Major/Minor
General Education Requirements
A Catalog Year is the official means used to determine graduation requirements, including a student's general education requirements. The academic year a student matriculates into ISU is the default Catalog Year that establishes their academic record. Catalog requirements may change from one catalog year to another.
Be aware a student's catalog year may be changed:
- At the request of the student who, in consultation with an advisor, determines an advantage for using a later catalog
- When a department formally approves a student's curriculum (major) change request
- When a student has an enrollment gap of eight or more semesters (including summers)
Additional Undergraduate Catalogs from previous academic years can be found through the Office of the Registrar
Undergraduate petitions seeking consideration or exceptions to the procedures stated in the catalog are available to support student academic progression. Listed below are descriptions of available petitions with links to guides for completing the forms. Access to the Undergraduate Student Petitions are found in MyISU.
General Education Petition
This petition is used for a student who transfers from another institution to petition to have courses
with similar content but different titles than those offered at Idaho State University substituted for
courses listed in the General Education requirements. (Student Resource Guide)
Grade and Credit Exclusion Petition
This petition/policy allows undergraduate students to request one or more consecutive semesters of
coursework be disregarded in the calculation of total credits earned and cumulative GPA.
Medical Withdrawal
Medical withdrawals are handled by the Dean of Students office. This document gives guidance to the
advisor and student on the procedure and process. (Student Resource Guide)
Never Attended – Late Withdrawal
This petition is used for withdrawal only when a student truly never attended, or, in the case of a fully
online, no set time course, they never participated, completed, or submitted any work. (Student Resource Guide)
Late Withdrawal and Other (Exceptional Circumstances)
This petition/process is only used after the withdrawal deadline for the semester is passed. Late
withdrawals are limited only to those instances involving exceptional, documented circumstances
beyond the student's control that prevented the student from withdrawing from courses in a timely
manner. (Student Resource Guide)