From Camp To CampusNational Academic Advising Association

Annual Conference

October 2012

Mr. Austin McNair

Senior Manager, Academic Advising

Institutional Overview

American Public University System (APUS) is the nation’s largest provider of higher education to military and veteran students.Of the more than 115,000 students enrolled at APUS, approximately 60 percent are active or reserve military personnel. The University System was founded by a retired Marine Corps Major who envisioned a better way to provide access to education for men and women of our Armed Forces. Today, a preponderance of veterans among our faculty, staff, and board continue to passionately build upon this unique mission, meeting the education needs and challenges of 65,000+ active duty and veteran students who are studying from around the globe.

Institutional Overview

One of the core principles of APUS is to provide quality education at a manageable cost.

Examples of Available Curricula

School of Security & Global StudiesM.A. in National Security Studies

B.A. & M.A. in Homeland Security

B.A. & M.A. in Intelligence Studies

School of Public Service & HealthB.A. & M.A. in Criminal Justice

B.A. & M.A. in Emergency Management

B.S. in Fire Science Management

BSN, A.S. in Explosive Ordnance Disposal

School of BusinessBBA & MBA, B.S. & M.S. in Accounting

School of Science & TechnologyB.S. & M.S. in Information Technology

M.S. in Environmental Policy & Management

School of ManagementB.A. & M.A. in Reverse Logistics Management

A.A. & B.A. in Retail Management

School of Arts & HumanitiesB.A. & M.A. in Psychology

B.A. & M.A. in Military History

M.A. in Humanities

School of EducationM.Ed., A.A. in Early Childhood Care and Education

B.A. in Child and Family Development

Academic Advising Department Organization

• Each Academic Advising Team at APUS is composed of an Advising Team Manager, a Senior Academic Advisor, an Associate Academic Advisor and several Academic Advisors.

• Academic Advisors are aligned by school, to know the curricula in a specific discipline to be able to provide guidance contextually to students.

• A Senior Academic Advisor is responsible for complex advising situations, escalations, and continuous training/mentoring of new staff.

• An Associate Academic Advisor assists with administrative assignments and workload balancing.

Understanding of the Military

• Many members of the University’s Senior Leadership are former service members (Academic Deans, Human Resources, Student Services).

• Many Academic Advisors have connections, directly or indirectly, to the U.S. military (spouses, children, parents, extended family).

• Education Coordinators located at military installations nationwide act as an extension of our virtual campus. Education Coordinators work directly with Academic Advisors and the military education community to help students with more contextual or complex academic issues. This approach ensures a more seamless student experience, regardless of location or time zone.

• During the application process, military students are encouraged to include their military occupational specialty code (Military Occupation) on their academic records. This information, in tandem with the student’s declared program and stated academic goals, assists the Advisor in formulating a more balanced, student-focused approach, thereby providing a more personal experience for the student.

Vocational Understanding

• To maintain currency with quickly evolving fields, Advisors have established relationships with assigned Academic Program Directors (PDs) for subject-matter-specific questions.

• Advising staff attend Industry Advisory Council (IAC) meetings to learn the skill sets that prospective employers, including the FBI and other federal agencies, seek from graduates for a specific field or position.

• Military students often expect and assume that Academic Advisors understand his/her military career specialty in relation to a specific major, so meeting this expectation helps each Advisor develop a better rapport with each student and provide guidance with deeper context.

• Students provide transcripts from military and/or public service for evaluation of transfer credit, which Advisors can access to determine a student’s past experience and performance on a specific subject, academically and vocationally.

Thank you.Questions? Email amcnair@apus.edu