Academic Commissioner Resources

Thank you for serving as an Academic Commissioner in your residence hall.  We are very grateful for the volunteer work that you do to support your fellow residents!

Connect with the network

Notre Dame's Academic Commissioners have formed an informal network  through a Google Group. To join this group or if you have ideas to share with the Academic Commissioners, please contact Chris Temple in the Center for University Advising (CUA) at ctemple@nd.edu.

Academic Commissioners are very creative in the ways they serve their dorm, and a list of some example initiatives is pasted at the bottom of this page to serve as a resource.

Goals for Academic Commissioners

Academic Commissioners are asked to consider the following three goals for their residence hall.  For other concrete ideas, check out these initiatives!

Goal 1) Foster student connections and networking

Encourage residents within the dorm to network academically and support one another in their studies. This can be done via GroupMe or other social media platforms. This can help students in the same college or major to find one another for studying and/or sharing academic resources. Networking support might also include sharing tips on finding internships, writing a resume, developing a LinkedIn account, and the like. Staff members from the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development are also available to facilitate tailored workshops for residence halls.

Goal 2) Guide first-year students to academic resources

• Help first-year students think about developing their study skills and refer them to the Learning Resource Center's "Study Skills Mentoring" program

• Tell first-year students about the online ATLAS Guide of academic resources on campus

• Encourage first-year students to collaborate and form course study groups (i.e., using the GroupMe networking idea mentioned in Goal #1 above).

Goal 3) Welcome a faculty visitor

Collaborate with the "Faculty Discernment Talks" program and welcome a faculty member to your residence hall once per academic year.

Sample Initiatives from Academic Commissioners

Sorted alphabetically by dorm.

1. In Cavanaugh Hall, the academic commissioner facilitated the formation of voluntary "Slack" groups so that students in similar academic majors could connect with one another.

2. In Dunne Hall, the academic commissioners scheduled an informal meeting to talk about “best practices” for creating and updating a LinkedIn account.

3. In Flaherty Hall, the academic commissioner tweaked their existing “Big/Little” mentoring program to launch a new academically focused version where sophomores could volunteer to help interested first-year students with questions about academics, internships, and the like.

4. In Knott Hall, the academic commissioner maintains a “Knott Lads Course Review” which is a spreadsheet compilation of course descriptions and class recommendations provided by fellow dorm residents.

5. In Lewis Hall, the academic commissioner planned an “academic major night” (with snacks!) with different floors of the dorm dedicated to different colleges so that first-year students could go to each floor and learn about a particular college, its academic requirements, and its curriculum offerings.

6. In Lyons Hall, the academic commissioner organized a “textbook swap” so that residents had the opportunity to pass along books they no longer needed to underclassmen who might benefit.

7. In Pangborn Hall, the academic commissioner advertised casual “drop-in help nights” in preparation for exams in certain courses.

8. In Pasquerilla East, the academic commissioners invited an alum from the dorm to give a talk about a book that she had recently written and published.

9. In Pasquerilla East, the academic commissioners planned a “registration support night” (with snacks!) to help first-year students during web registration for their classes.

10. In Pasquerilla East, the academic commissioners organized a “meet your major night” (with snacks!) where residents were invited via a Google Form to volunteer to share their experiences in their college and major.

11. In Pasquerilla East, the academic commissioners scheduled an opportunity for residents to get a professional headshot photo taken in front of the Golden Dome for their LinkedIn account.

12. In Saint Edward's Hall, the Academic Commissioner is known within the dorm as "D.A.D."  (Director of Academic Development).  First year students know to seek out "D.A.D." when they have academic questions.  The D.A.D. organizes academic events such as faculty guest speakers which are called "A Gentleman Ponders" (AGP's).  The D.A.D. also organizes academic field trips called "A Gentleman Wanders" (AGW's) to off campus locations such as the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio and the Gerald Ford Museum in Grand Rapids. Michigan.

13. In Siegfried, the academic commissioner periodically facilitated a “study hangout” in the dorm’s “dining room” for engineering students to work together.

14. In Stanford Hall (the home of the "Griffins"), the academic commissioner organized a Big Brother/Little Brother program called "Big Griff/Little Griff" that used a Google Form sign-up system to connect upperclasssmen in a particular major with first year students in the same major for mentoring on academic and professional topics.
15. In Stanford Hall, the academic commissioner serves as a "Linked In Group Administrator" to enable current residents and dorm alumni to network professionally about internship and career opportunities.

16. In Walsh Hall, the academic commissioner facilitated a meeting (with snacks!) for students to learn from upperclassmen about their study abroad experiences.

If you have additional ideas to share with the Academic Commissioners, please contact Chris Temple in the Center for University Advising at ctemple@nd.edu.

We are very grateful for the services that academic commissioners provide. Thank you!