Advising + Counseling
Undergraduate Advising
appointments and contact
Advisors now offer a mix of Zoom and in person appointments. Please use Navigate or reach out to your advisor directly to set up an appointment. Advisors offices are in the SA+D office at Cowgill 201.
Architecture and Industrial Design majors, 1st and 2nd year students: Tamela Gallimore
- Zoom Advising: Click here
- Email: tamelap@vt.edu
Architecture and Industrial Design majors, 3rd, 4th, and 5th year students: Vern Ferguson
- Zoom Advising: Click here
- Office Phone: +1 (540) 231-2763 (will forward while working remote)
- Email: vernf@vt.edu
Interior Design and Landscape Architecture majors: Michelle Flinchum
- Zoom Advising: Click here
- Office Phone: +1 (540) 231-5583 (will forward while working remote)
- Email: michellevf@vt.edu
more information
The academic advising staff assists students with all matters involving enrollment, course requests and registration, curriculum requirements, university policies and procedures, and progress toward graduation.
Based on checksheets for each of the School’s four undergraduate majors, which list the course requirements for the specific degree, often semester-by-semester, plus required CLE [Curriculum for Liberal Education] and elective credits, the academic advising staff member frequently meets with students to review their academic plans and progress toward their degree.
The program chairs are also available to meet with first-year students to address a range of issues that include force/add approval, pursuit of minors, change of major, inability to satisfy course requirements, personal difficulties that interfere with a student’s performance, or any other matters the student wishes to discuss pertaining to his or her studies.
Students’ design lab instructors are additional members of the advising team, since these faculty have 12-20 contact hours with students each week of each semester and thereby have the opportunity to address questions about the curriculum, courses, other learning opportunities, career paths, etc. Landscape Architecture students are assigned an LAR faculty member as their primary academic advisor.
From their 2nd year through graduation, students continue to seek advice from academic advising staff members to review their DARS report [Degree Audit Report Status] and to ensure successful and timely completion of degree requirements.
undergraduate checksheets
coming soon
Graduate Advising
appointments and contact
graduate students in all programs and locations: Wendy Vaughn
- Email: vaughnw@vt.edu
more information
Following initial check-in, on-campus students attend an orientation meeting for new graduate students in the School of Architecture and School of Design, in which the Graduate Architecture Program Chair will review general program policies and procedures, tour school facilities, and inform the students of registration procedures. At this meeting, on-campus M.Arch. students will be also informed of initial laboratory and seminar meeting times, and each student will be assigned a desk in the design laboratory. All new graduate students are encouraged to meet individually with their academic advisor to review the curriculum materials mailed earlier in the summer, to discuss the student’s program of study and any curriculum modifications pertinent to the student, and to answer questions.
The Graduate Architecture Program Chair (for on-campus M.Arch. students), the Director of the Washington-Alexandria Center (for off-campus M.Arch. students), or the Director of the Master of Science in Architecture Program (for MS.Arch. students) will serve as the student’s principal academic advisor until the student establishes an advisory committee on the Plan of Study. Students may also consult their design studio instructor (M.Arch.) or the coordinator for their specific research concentration (MS.Arch.) for further academic and professional advice. From the time the Plan of Study is approved until the student completes the degree program, the advisory committee chair acts as the student’s primary academic advisor. Review of a student’s academic progress occurs each semester through presentation and critique of the student’s work. The overall academic performance of all graduate students is evaluated annually, at the end of the spring semester, by their academic advisor, and the student is informed of any concerns regarding progress towards the degree. Further, immediately prior to the beginning of the thesis year, the work of each on-campus student in the M.Arch. program must be reviewed by the Graduate Architecture Program Chair to determine if the student may be permitted to proceed with the thesis; the student is informed of any concerns regarding his or her preparation to begin thesis work.
During the course of the thesis, the student’s advisory committee acts in the capacity of principal review and advising team, monitoring academic progress. The chair of the advisory committee is expected to meet regularly with the student to advise the student of preparation required for immediate and future thesis progress. Committee members are expected to make every effort to attend meetings as arranged by the student or by the advisory committee chair and to assist the advisory committee chair in guiding the direction of the student’s thesis. During the defense, the thesis advisory committee also normally forms the examining committee. The thesis advisory committee chair assumes responsibility as a principal editor of the thesis document.
Faculty are advised to limit annual graduate thesis advisory committee participation to twelve candidates or less, and to limit the number of committees chaired to five or less. The Graduate Architecture Program Chair will request student evaluation of committee members periodically and will evaluate faculty performance on thesis advisory committees annually.
Counseling
The Thomas E. Cook Counseling Center provides individual counseling and group counseling for enrolled undergraduate and graduate students at Virginia Tech. Outreach and consultation services are an integral part of Cook Counseling Center’s mission of reaching out to students, faculty and staff through the provision of educational programming and workshops.
College of Architecture, Arts, and Design Advising Resources
Please visit https://aad.vt.edu/academics/Advising.html for more information.
University Advising Resources
More information on undergraduate advising at Virginia Tech can be found at http://student.advising.vt.edu.
Career Services
The Virginia Tech Career Services for Students website contains an extensive amount of information concerning major or career direction; externships and internships; getting career-related experience during college; starting a job search; planning for grad or professional school; and much more.