Advisor's Role
The advisor is the lifeline for a chapter.
The advisor has to fulfill a few essential requirements if a chapter is to be sustained.
- In the beginning of each semester, the advisor needs to contact the administrative secretary of the department and request a list of the eligible candidates for that semester’s initiation. The advisor should provide the membership eligibility requirements to the secretary for the proper selection of the candidates. This is essential, if the advisor is not privy to students’ GPA and class standing. After receiving the list, the advisor should check and make sure that all students on the list satisfy the leadership and integrity requirements. Following that the advisor forwards the list to the chapter president for commencing the initiation process.
- The advisor needs to make sure that a new slate of chapter officers is elected every year – either near the end of the fall or the end of the spring semester.
- If the advisor needs to find a replacement in instances when she/he is stepping down from the position or might be on sabbatical.
Failure to act on the above may actually may doom the very existence of a chapter. Chapter officers graduate and leave and within a year or two the term Pi Tau Sigma may be foreign to new eligible students. Currently, 49 out of the 179 existing chapters are dormant and it is extremely hard to re-energize them. Only an advisor is a contancy that may prevent a chapter falling into that unfortunate state. It is regrettable for an institution to fail to provide the opportunity to its deserving students to join this highly esteemed prestigious international honor society.
In addition to the above essential requirements, advisors can also be a source of encouragement and help to their chapter. Their most important contribution is achieved by their attendance in chapter initiations, elections, and meetings. Their mere presence encourages student attendance and enthusiasm. Their attendance in initiations and signing the roll-book page can also be a source of income for the chapter. Advisors also are the keepers of the roll-book.
