Feb 16, 2026

News/Notes for Undergraduate Academic Advisors: Connecting Students top Care: Campus Resources & Support Programs | Did You Know: Academic Forgiveness Policy

Connecting Students to Care: Campus Resources & Support Programs
  • Student Care
    • Student Care serves as the centralized hub for the UNI campus community in providing coordinated care to students experiencing personal challenges during their academic career.
    • In the fall 2025, Student Care worked with 539 individual students with 226 of those referrals coming from faculty and staff members. Simply said - we could not support our students without connections from across campus.
    • Students can most efficiently be connected to Student Care for that continued support by completing this referral form - Connect a Student to Care.
  • Student Accessibility Services
    • Student Accessibility Services is in year three of leading the implementation of testing accommodations and in year two of using our testing spaces in 102 Gilchrist Hall. We would LOVE to introduce your team to the space and the technology we use. If you’d like to schedule a tour, please connect with me via email (allyson.rafanello@uni.edu).
    • Faculty Office Hours are blocks of time that SAS staff have available to specifically work with faculty to address questions or concerns. Please use these blocks of time to connect with SAS staff in-person, via phone, or email.
  • Psychiatric & Counseling Services
    • Psychiatric & Counseling Services, located on the 2nd floor of the Student Health Center, offering services to students including access to TELUS, Let’s Talk, access to a Mental Health Case Coordinator, Individual Therapy, and Group Therapy.
    • Resources related to this area can be accessed through this Google Drive.
    • Psychiatric & Counseling Services also works collaboratively with Student Wellness Services in workshops and programs for our campus community (including faculty & staff) to support mental health awareness. 
  • Additional Areas:
    • The Student Health Clinic, located on the first floor of the Student Health Center, provides a wide variety of services to our students.
    • Military & Veteran Student Support (MVSS) will continue under the leadership of Chiquita Loveless, Assistant Dean of Students for Family & Military Programming, working directly with our Military, Veteran, and Military-affiliated students in the Veteran’s Center located in 111K of Maucker Union. Chiquita is focused on strengthening our student organizations, building connections and experiences for our MVSS across campus and the Cedar Valley, as well as providing individualized student support.
    • Student Wellness Services provides a variety of student-centered programs, offers Wellness Coaching to students, leads a variety of Wellness Campaigns for our campus community, and takes the lead in our campus’ Biennial Review & DAAPP processes to comply with the Drug Free Schools Act. Megan Cahalan and Austin Lott serve as the Health Promotion Coordinators leading this team.
    • Students can be held to the behavioral expectations of the Student Conduct Code (University Policy 3.02). Incidents can be reported online. More information is available on our website, including information about Hazing and the Good Samaritan Rule. 

Did You Know: Academic Forgiveness Policy

  • The Academic Forgiveness Policy (3.21) provides an option for undergraduate students to seek one semester of forgiveness for past academic coursework, after separation from UNI.
  • Students who have been separated from UNI for four or more years and who have experienced academic challenges affecting their grade point average, may wish to seek academic forgiveness as a means to restarting their academic career in order to graduate.
  • Academic forgiveness is a request to remove one (1) identified semester of previously completed coursework at UNI (regardless of the number of credit hours in the semester) from UNI’s calculated grade point averages. All classes within the identified semester are included as forgiveness is not applicable to individual classes.
  • Eligibility for academic forgiveness requires that an individual:
    • is a former undergraduate student at UNI for one or more semesters, and
    • has been separated from UNI (non-enrolled) for four consecutive calendar years or more, and
    • has not already earned an undergraduate degree from UNI or another accredited institution, and
    • has completed an application to re-enroll at UNI, or is re-enrolled at UNI following the designated separation, and
    • has submitted an Application for Academic Forgiveness within one academic year of a return to UNI, and
    • is free from unresolved holds placed on enrollment by any UNI offices, and
    • is seeking academic forgiveness for a semester in which an academic ethics violation of level three or higher was not founded.
  • Review full information on the General Qualifications and the topic of Academic Records, Standing and Financial Aid Awards before guiding a student to complete the Application for Academic Forgiveness.
  • For more information, with questions, or to have a student start this process, please contact Lori VanHooreweghe (Office of Academic Advising | Bartlett Hall 0089 | lori.vanhooreweghe@uni.edu | 319-273-3406)
Is Your Student Questioning their Current Major?
  • Help them Pivot with Purpose by referring them to the Office of Academic Advising. Advisors offer personalized support to help students explore:
    • Major, minor, and certificate options | Reasons for changing majors (e.g., lack of interest, career goals, academic challenges) | Self-assessments like FOCUS 2 or Strong Inventory | Goal-setting and decision-making strategies
  • Encourage students to schedule an appointment or complete the Academic Discuss Your Major Options Request Form.
  • As a faculty or staff member, you can complete this referral form to start the outreach to a student considering changing their major.
Institutional Academic Advising Vision & Mission Statement (revised Spring 2016) [See Academic Advising Mission, Vision, Goals & Outcomes webpage]
  • Vision Statement: UNI aspires to create the best possible advising experience for each student.
  • Mission Statement: Academic Advising is a critical component of the teaching and learning environment at UNI. Advising is a personalized educational experience, empowering students to explore, articulate and achieve their academic, career and life goals.