Academic advising is a critical component of the educational experience, and our responsibilities to you are so important that we require all advising appointments to be face-to-face meetings.
The reasons for this requirement include the fact that in-person meetings are far less likely to involve distractions and that personal cues such as body language may prompt an inquiry. The major reason for in-person appointments, though, is that sound relationships are best established in person, and the foundation of a good advising experience is a positive relationship between the advisor and the student.
For this reason, telephone or video conference appointments are approved only under the most compelling of circumstances. Some examples of acceptable reasons are listed below.
- Active duty military students who are stationed overseas
- Physical incapacitation
- Inflexible work schedule (documentation from the employer required)
If you have an SAP appeal and have already had your regular advising appointment with your advisor, you can coordinate that via email or phone. You may also ask your advisor to have a continuation of your regular appointment via email or phone if you have already satisfied your requirement for the term. That decision is left to the advisor’s discretion and is usually determined by the amount of information involved.
Distance alone is not a major consideration. If you feel your reason is equivalent to those listed below, use the request form to submit an appeal to the policy. You may submit the form electronically to asadvising@utk.edu. You will receive a response from the committee in about 7-10 business days.