Advising and Student Services at UC Berkeley

Our Shared Goals

Advising and student services at UC Berkeley are delivered in a highly distributed environment. Our colleges and academic departments are both large and small and a wide variety of advising and student support activities (virtual and in-person) and roles (faculty, staff, curricular, co-curricular, undergraduate and graduate) are represented across our large campus. A wide array of advising and student support methods, approaches and resources are used and often blended to effectively address the complex needs of our diverse and highly talented student populations. At the same time, we are also a strong community of advising and student support professionals bonded by our shared commitment to access and excellence. We see our activities as highly intertwined and increasingly collaborative, as most students benefit from coordinated interaction with several advisors and student services facilitators (faculty and staff, generalists and specialists) as they move successfully through their academic careers. Our vision for excellence in advising and student services at UC Berkeley is, therefore, shaped by our collective dedication to supporting learning, performance, engagement, progress and ultimately timely completion for all students.

Advising and student services activities with campus-wide relevance are coordinated through the Council for Advising and Student Support (CASS) and the CASS Executive Committee co-chaired by the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Oliver O'Reilley, and the Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division, Lisa García Bedolla. Advisors and student services staff are connected with important news, information and resources through our Advising Matters newsletters and website. Learning activities for advisors are offered through our campus-wide professional development program Advancing Practice.

In 2013, the campus community, including advisors, faculty, staff, and students, were engaged to create the following shared guiding principles for advising.

Guiding principles

  • Uphold the University’s mission of teaching, research and public service
  • Deliver personalized and comprehensive advising and student services
  • Respect and appreciate differences and commonalities
  • Promote intellectual engagement with Berkeley’s world class faculty
  • Foster self-reflection and open-mindedness
  • Cultivate a shared sense of belonging and a lifelong relationship to the University
  • Demonstrate integrity and professionalism
  • Pioneer advising innovations and technologies
  • Collaborate to provide accurate and consistent information
  • Empower student ownership of the Berkeley experience