Academic and Advising Services .... Peer Advisors

PA Job Description	Summer Orientation	Orientation Leadership Team	Returning PA Application	New PA Application

Peer Advisors (PAs)

PA Selection Timeline

PA Applications
Available
Wednesday, January 16

PA Applications Due
Monday, February 11
5:00 p.m.
Applications received after 5:00 p.m. will not be considered.

PA Reference Forms Due
Monday, February 11
5:00 p.m.
Check with your references to make sure they have submitted their reference on your behalf.

PA Social Information Session
Friday, February 15
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Location TBA
For all new PA applicants who were offered an individual interview.

PA Individual Interviews
Saturday, February 16
or
Monday, February 18
Academic & Advising Services in Penfield Hall
For all new PA applicants who were offered an individual interview.

Peer Advisor Positions Announced
Friday, February 22

Peer Advisors (PAs) are the cornerstone of first-year programs at Mercer University. A PA is a sophomore, junior, or senior student who assists incoming students with their transition to Mercer University. In addition to volunteering with our orientation programs (Spring Orientation, Summer Orientation, Transfer Student Orientation, Bear Beginnings, and Transfer Welcome Day),
a PA also partners with a Mercer faculty member to co-facilitate a
first-year UNV 101 or BUS 103 course. A PA is a friend, mentor, guide, support, and resource both inside and outside the classroom for our first-year students.

The Orientation Team
Peer Advisors serve under the Office of Academic & Advising Services, located in Penfield Hall. They are led by the
two-member Orientation Leadership Team, both of whom served as a Peer Advisor for at least one year, and the Coordinator of New Student Programs, a professional position in AAS. PAs know the value of teamwork, showing both individual initiative and team unity, as they function together to implement orientation programs.

Peer Advisor Commitments
Being a PA requires a commitment of assisting with at least three of our five new student orientations in June. Aside from the training and programming for summer orientation, PAs return to campus mid-August for a week of PA training prior to Bear Beginnings and UNV 101/BUS 103 coursework. Once the semester begins, each PA will spend one hour each week in a UNV 101 or BUS 103 classroom assisting with the first-year course as it applies to their O-Group. There are also out-of-class activites for O-Groups in which a PA may chose to participate, including, but not limited to: community service events, O-Group outings, study groups, and mentoring.
All first-time PAs enroll in UNV 201 during the fall semester, a 2-credit course that meets each week to provide support to PAs as they interact with and learn alongside their O-Groupers. While UNV 101 and BUS 103 concludes in the fall semester, PAs collaborate with the Office of Academic & Advising Services during the spring to carry out select first-year programs.

New PA Selection Process
**Please Note: If you are participating in Mercer on
Mission this summer, you may still apply to be a PA.
Doing a Mercer on Mission experience is not grounds for automatic disqualification from the PA application process.

New PA Application
If you have never previously been a PA, complete on the New PA Application and ask two members of the Mercer community to submit a New PA Reference Form on their behalf. The new PA selection process is outlined below.

Round 1 of the selection process:
Submit the New PA Application AND ask two members of the Mercer community to submit a PA Reference Form on the applicant's behalf. All application materials are due by Monday, February 11, at 5:00 p.m. Applicants will be selected for an individual interview based upon the quality of their application and PA reference forms.

Round 2 of the selection process:
Applicants are notified of their application status on Wednesday, February 13, by 5:00 p.m., via e-mail. This e-mail shares if the applicant was selected for an individual interview. If so, the applicant must respond to the e-mail with their individual interview time preferences. Those who are not offered an individual interview will not move forward in the application process.

Round 3 of the selection process:
All applicants offered an individual interview are invited to the PA Social Information Session on Friday, February 15, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. All students are briefed on the individual interview process, have the opportunity to ask questions and receive answers, and interact with other applicants in a team-building setting.

Individual interviews are scheduled for Saturday, February 16, 2013, OR Monday, February 18, 2013. Interviews are conducted in the Office of Academic & Advising Services (Penfield Hall) by three staff members and members of Orientation Leadership Team (OLT).

After PA individual interviews, New Student Programs will select the 2013 PA staff. All applicants will receive a letter from New Student Programs by Friday, February 22, stating their hiring status. This could mean 1) receiving a position as a PA, 2) holding alternate status, or 3) not receiving a position. If the applicant receives a position, the letter will come with an acceptance statement through which the student will formally accept or decline the PA position.

Returning PA Selection Process
**Please Note: All previous PAs must reapply for their PA position each year. Returning PAs will be selected based upon their current standing with New Student Programs and the quality of their Returning PA Application.

Returning PA Application
If you have previously served as a PA, whether it be this year or in a previous year, please fill out the Returning PA Application. All PAs wanting to return to staff MUST reapply to be considered, as well as have received a passing grade from UNV 201. The Returning PA Application is due on Monday, February 11, at 5:00 p.m. Those PAs who are selected to return to staff will be notified of their hiring status by Friday, February 15, via e-mail.

               New Student Programs
               Office of Academic & Advising Services
               Penfield Hall
               1400 Coleman Ave. | Macon, GA 31207
               Phone: 478-301-4300 | Fax: 478-301-2015
               E-mail: orientation@mercer.edu

E-mail: orientation@mercer.edu

E-mail: