Academic Advising - School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences

ACADEMIC ADVISING AND PROGRAM INFORMATION

The School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences strives to provide students with accessible advising that helps them succeed in their college careers and future pursuits. Our advisors provide information about university policies and procedures, class offerings and registration, degree requirements and planning, graduation procedures, official records, campus and community resources, and career advising.

Advising and Mentoring System	Honors Programs
Program Information	Advising Resources

Advising and Mentoring System

Carol Johnson	Academic Advisor III	GR 4.526 972-883-6750
Bonnie Dougherty	Academic Advisor II	GR 4.522 972-883-6397
Digvi DeSevo	Academic Advisor II	GR 4.714 972-883-6289
Leah Barfield	Academic Project Manager	GR 4.524 972-883-6754
Kent Mecklenburg	Assistant to Associate Dean Research exposure credits, registration for restricted courses	GR 4.528 972-883-2360
Susan Jerger, PhD	Director, Undergraduate Honors Program	GR 4.116 972-883-2268
Melanie Spence, PhD	Associate Dean Permissions, re-admissions, probation and drop status decisions, general problems, faculty mentors, School Honors program, Dean’s Scholars program, career advising	GR 4.818, CR 1.328 972-883-2206
Joanna Gentsch, PhD	Assistant Dean	GR 4.802 972-883-4179

For more programs and advisors, see our academic programs and advisors directory.

Types of Advisors

Academic Advisors

These are non-faculty professional staff members housed in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. They are knowledgeable about the technicalities of UT Dallas program requirements, policies and procedures. Academic advisors help students prepare and update their degree plans, aid in registering for classes and assist in completing various approval forms. They have regularly scheduled hours for drop-in advising. No appointments are necessary or taken.

Faculty Mentors

These are professors in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Their role is to help students with career planning and to serve as academic mentors, though they are often not knowledgeable about the technicalities of UT Dallas requirements and procedures. Contact the Associate Dean to be assigned a Faculty Mentor. Students can request specific faculty and can request to switch mentors, if desired.

Recommended Schedule for Seeing Program Advisors

1. When initially entering the major, you must see an academic advisor to create a degree plan.

Freshmen will be advised at orientation. They also must be advised before registering for classes as long as they remain a freshman (less than 30 credit hours).

Sophomore, junior and senior transfer students must be advised in order to register for their first semester of classes at UT Dallas.

When students change majors they must be advised in order to register for work in the new major; this advising session should be done when applying to change majors.

2. Before you register each semester, check in with an academic advisor to discuss what classes you plan to take. The advisor can help make sure that you are not missing out on important prerequisite sequences and tell you about last-minute changes in the schedule. This can be done using our open, walk-in hours. No appointments are needed and none are taken. Avoid the last-minute rush by seeing an academic advisor before the class schedule is published.

3. Early in your second-to-last semester before graduation (after the schedule is available), you must have an academic advisor complete a Degree Plan Audit before you are "approved" (on the UT Dallas computer system) to graduate (see the Application for Graduation Procedures handout). If all has gone well, the audit should clear you to graduate the next semester.

Recommended Schedule for Seeing Faculty Members

1. During your first semester in the major, it is strongly recommended that you meet with your Faculty Mentor. This should be the start of a productive mentoring relationship. The purposes of the meeting are to:

Discuss topic of interest and concern to you

Clarify your career goals and explore career options

Consider the best elective courses to take

Plan ways to meet career and/or graduate school objectives

2. Periodically visit with your faculty mentor to further develop and refine your career plans or to just discuss topics of academic and personal interest. Remember, at some point in the future, you may need a letter of recommendation from a professor. There is not much professors can say in a letter if they don't know you well.