Student and Faculty Expectations

RISD students take responsibility for their education, familiarizing themselves with degree and graduation requirements. It is also important to be aware of and know how to access student academic policies and procedures related to registration. You can access student academic policies via the course catalog.

To receive the most complete support, be sure to do the following:

• Be proactive: Get in touch with your advisor before issues escalate. This helps ensure that you are on the right path to graduate. Contact your advisor either via email.
• Be prepared: Come to appointments with the information and questions your advisor needs to best guide and support you.
• Get to know the academic advising ecosystem: In addition to your faculty advisor, you may seek information about graduation requirements from academic specialists, the Registrar’s Office, concentration coordinators, and other academic support staff. In addition to academic advising partners, you will find many other student-support partners and resources at RISD to help you meet your educational and wellness needs.
• Explore Registrar’s Office resources: The Registrar’s office is an essential source of information about common student academic processes. These include registration, Brown University cross-registration, enrollment verifications and more.
• Review your Liberal Arts requirements: You can find Liberal Arts requirements in the course catalog, or download the following “at a glance” resources:
  • Advising resources for students who entered before September 2024
  • Advising resources for students who entered September 2024 and after
  • At-a-glance Liberal Arts graduation requirements for students who entered before September 2024
  • At-a-glance Liberal Arts graduation requirements for students who entered September 2024
  • At-a glance Liberal Arts graduation requirements for students who entered September 2025

For full-time faculty, advising is an important responsibility. Faculty are assigned as advisors within departments or divisions.

Disciplinary expertise is important for offering students avocational guidance. However, advising should also be informed beyond department- or major-specific matters. This helps ensure that students know about requirements and school-wide opportunities.

Primary faculty advisors are expected to meet with their advisees individually during fall Advising Days and to make themselves available in the spring to release advising holds before fall registration.

To best serve students, you are expected to:

• Get to know your advisees and help them build on their strengths: Students bring their own perspective and interests that can help shape a meaningful path through the curriculum.
• Articulate your expectations: Let your advisees know your role and how advising can help them. Work together to establish common goals.
• Introduce your advisees to policies, responsibilities, expectations and resources: RISD has a lot to offer students—and asks a lot from them—at every stage of their education. Make it a regular part of your advising sessions to discuss relevant policies and responsibilities.
• Help advisees develop a timeline for completing their academic requirements: This is one of the most important ways you can support students in completing their degree program on time.
• Encourage students to be open about difficulties: Work with your advisees to resolve any challenges to their degree progress. As needed, point them to relevant support resources.