You select a major advisor when you declare a major in Political Science – or a double or combined major – usually in the second semester of your sophomore year, or any time thereafter. Please note that the functions of major advisor and senior seminar advisor differ:
— (1) the major advisor is the professor with whom you plan the courses you want & need to take according to your interests in order to fulfill the requirements for the College and for your major. You have a major advisor from the moment you declare your major until you graduate, including during any semester of study abroad, though it need not be the same person;
— (2) the senior seminar advisor, a.k.a. your senior essay sponsor, is the professor who leads your two-semester senior research seminar and who guides you through the process of writing the senior essay, also called thesis. Barring unusual circumstances, you will have the same professor for both semesters. Therefore, in your senior year, you have both a senior seminar advisor and a major advisor, preferably not one & the same person.
To select your major advisor, please do the following:
Obtain the Major Declaration Form from the Registrar's Office, 107 Milbank Hall.
Introduce yourself to the faculty member whom you would like to be your advisor (during office hours or by making an appointment) and obtain her or his signature on the Major Declaration Form. Note: Your major advisor can sign for the Department Chair, even though the Chair's signature is requested on the Registrar's form.
Return a copy of the completed form to the Department Administrator, Nell
Dillon-Ermers, in 417-A Lehman Hall, and return the original to the Registrar's
Office.
You may change your advisor at any time by following the steps above.
When Your Advisor Goes on Leave . . . .
When your advisor has a leave or sabbatical, or is otherwise unavailable in the coming semester, she or he will inform you beforehand. Note:It is *your* responsibility to change your advisor in time for the next semester's registration period, by following the steps above. You may ask to switch back to your original advisor when she or he returns from sabbatical or leave.
Due date:
Preferably after getting your program for next semester signed by your current advisor but prior to the end of the current semester, -OR-
up to a week before program-filing for the following semester. This would allow the Registrar's records to be updated in time for the new advisor to sign your on-line program.
