Our Work
Mission and Objectives
The Office of Academic Advocacy (OAA) is dedicated to serving undergraduate students in their pursuit of timely progression to graduation. We work individually with students in academic distress to review their options, and we collaborate with academic departments, colleges, and university personnel to improve retention and progression to graduation. Undergraduate students identified as experiencing barriers to retention, progression or graduation may receive direct outreach from OAA to review their progress and to advise them towards graduation.
Our teams focus on understanding the First Year, first time in college (FTIC) experience, the Transfer transition to graduation experience, and the FTIC Progression to graduation experience. We utilize various technology platforms, like OAA SMART and Archivum Insights, to monitor student progress and connect proactively with them.
Mission Statement:
The Office of Academic Advocacy proactively reaches out to our undergraduate students
to coordinate connection to support services when challenges arise. Our team believes
all students can be successful in their academic pathways while recognizing their unique circumstances
require a personalized approach.
Objectives:
OAA works towards goals for our FTIC and transfer undergraduate student population.
These are a sample of the minimum goals based on USF’s Accountability Plan.
- A minimum first year retention rate for First Time in College (FTIC) students of 92% and a 91% Academic Progress Rate (APR) based on students retained with 2.0 GPA or better.
- A minimum six-year graduation rate for undergraduate students of 75% and a four-year graduation rate of undergraduate students of 65%.
- A minimum three-year graduation rate for transfer undergraduate students of 66%.