LSA Advising Liaisons

The Assistant Dean coordinates the communication and liaison efforts between Student Academic Affairs and the faculty and academic departments and programs of the College, as well as between Student Academic Affairs and non-LSA units of the University.

This is accomplished by my meeting with various department chairs and program directors, our annual campus-wide Academic Advising Conference, the annual Advising Summits and Advising Forums, and our departmental liaison program.

Each department of the major/program has a general advisor liaison (see list on SAA Intranet), who is very interested in working with you whenever you think it would be helpful. Your liaison is an excellent resource who can answer questions about LSA requirements, procedures, and protocol, and who is happy to discuss undergraduate issues with you. Below are some ways to make the most of this relationship:

  1. If you have an email group for majors, ask your liaison if s/he wants to be put on it
  2. Invite your liaison to come visit your department
  3. Invite your liaison to visit courses in your department
  4. Get your liaison’s perspective on undergraduate issues/questions that your department wants to address. If appropriate, invite the liaison to occasional curriculum committee meetings and ask your liaison for comments about your department’s website
  5. If possible, have your liaison come to department advisor training (good for the general advisor’s understanding of major advising in your department and for information s/he can provide/questions s/he can answer)
  6. Consider asking your liaison to sit in on a few major advising appointments, and if you wish, ask if you can sit in on some general advising appointments
  7. If there’s a meeting of GSIs/training of your department GSIs, invite your liaison to come for a few minutes, introduce himself/herself, talk briefly about when referrals to advising would be helpful and appropriate
  8. Provide all of your new faculty with the name of your liaison, and offer that person a as a resource
  9. Give the names and contact info of new faculty in your department to your liaison for welcoming outreach; new people tend to be very receptive to anyone who can help them grow more comfortable/familiar with a new situation, and it can be a nice way to establish a connection between faculty and advising right from the beginning.

LSA Dept. Advising Contacts and SAA Liaisons

SAA person who serves as liaison to various departments, and those departments' contacts.

Contacts for Non-Academic Unit Departments

Liaison Handbook (PDF)

The liaison role is designed to offer a different perspective on student choice, responsibility, and constraint to departments, as well as to serve as a catalyst for improvement...

SAA People Directory


College of Literature, Science & the Arts 500 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1382 © 2013 Regents of the University of Michigan