Department Coordinator Resources

Major/Minor declaration approval and advisor entry in Banner

New/revised course proposals due to CIC for spring classes

Spring course scheduling and data checking of Classfinder

Honors candidates and levels for December completers

Major/Minor certifications for May completers

Deadline for submitting major/minor revisions to CIC for next year

Help ensure all grades submitted by deadline

Re-assign advisors for faculty on leave/returning from leave

Review classroom assignments for spring in Classfinder

Major/Minor declaration approval and advisor entry in Banner

New/revised course proposals due to CIC for fall classes

Honors candidates and levels for May completers

Fall course scheduling and data checking of Classfinder

Editing the Catalogue for the upcoming academic year

Help ensure all grades submitted by posted deadlines

Re-assign advisors for faculty on leave/returning from leave

Review Catalogue for errors

Support placement process (where applicable)

Review classroom assignments for fall in Classfinder

Students have a pre-major advisor for their first three and a half semesters at Bowdoin and all pre-major advisor assignments are handled by the Office of the Dean of Students in coordination with the Office of the Dean of Academic Affairs.

After students initially declare a major/minor during their fourth semester, the academic departments/programs assign major and minor advisors internally and the ADC handles the data entry and ongoing management of those assignments in Banner, Bowdoin's student information system. Initial major/minor assignments are in place in advance of students preparing to register for their fifth semester courses.

Each department/program is free to approach the assigning process however they deem appropriate, but all assignments must be entered in Banner for students to view in Polaris. 

Click here to log in to Banner
Guide to Advisor Changes/Assigning
Extended Guide to Advisor Changes/Assigning

Advisor assignments and changes are always made on the current term in Banner. For details, please see the documents linked above and email registrar@bowdoin.edu with any questions.

ADCs are strongly encouraged to check Polaris after making adjustments to advisor assignments in Banner to confirm the information processed correctly.

Although Polaris does not provide an auto-generated list of every student assigned to a faculty member as an advisee, ADCs can access a list of all major/minor assignments in their department/program through the "Dept" tab of Polaris under the "Major/Minor List" section.

• Students initially declare their major(s)/minor during their fourth semester and the Registrar sends a list of all new majors/minors to the ADC so the internal assigning and data entry process can begin.
  • The Registrar posts a timeline for this process each semester.
  • The majority of new declarations occur during the spring semester, but there are some new declarations in the fall as well. 
• When a student changes a major or minor after their initial declaration, the ADC is notified by the Registrar via email and then assigns a major/minor advisor for that student or adjusts the type of advisor assigned to that student, e.g., the student changed from a major to a minor so their advisor should be listed as a minor advisor instead of a major advisor.
  • Students may change their major(s)/minor through the end of the first semester of their senior year.
• When major/minor advisors take Sabbatical or leave the College, the ADC assigns a replacement advisor, according to the established internal process, for each major/minor previously assigned to the faculty member.
  • ADCs should review and update major/minor assignments in January and July.
  • Every major/minor should have an advisor assignment at all times.