What it does
Advising groups carry a panel of advisors alongside their regular members, each holding a program-defined advisor role. One advisor can be marked primary. The Groups directory shows coverage: advisor counts, the primary advisor's name, and a flag for advising groups with no advisor yet.
Who it's for
Program administrators, program directors, and coordinators set up advising panels; anyone with group access can view them.
How it works
Open an advising group from the Groups directory. Its detail view has an Advisors section listing current advisors, their role, and who is primary.
Adding an advisor. Search for a faculty or staff user in the program, choose an advisor role, and optionally mark them primary. Advisor roles are defined per program — each has a name, and can carry a code, color, and display order, so programs can build their own advising structure.
Primary and changes. A group has at most one primary advisor; making a different advisor primary clears the previous one automatically. You can change an advisor's role in place from the panel. Removing an advisor ends the assignment but keeps the historical record.
Assignment dates. Advisor assignments can carry start and end dates; the panel shows only assignments in effect now. The primary advisor's name also appears on the group's row in the directory and in its summary. Summary cards count advising groups that still need an advisor.
Before you start
You need the groups manage permission to add, change, or remove advisors. Anyone with access to the group can view them.
The group must belong to a program, and that program needs at least one active advisor role. Otherwise Add advisor stays disabled.
The advisor picker only searches active users in the group's program.
Do this
Open an advising group from the Groups page (
/users/groups) → you should see its detail sheet with an Advisors panel.Select Add advisor on the panel → the Add advisor dialog opens.
Search for a person in the Advisor field, choose them from the list, and pick an Advisor role on the dialog → the role list shows only the roles set up for that program.
Optionally check Make primary advisor, then select Add advisor → you should return to the panel and see the new advisor.
To change someone's role or make them primary, use the role dropdown or the crown icon on their row in the panel → the change saves immediately.
To remove an advisor, select the remove icon on their row in the panel → the Remove advisor dialog opens; select Remove advisor again to confirm → they leave the panel.
You're done when
✓ The advisor shows on the group's Advisors panel with the role you chose.
✓ At most one advisor is marked Primary, and the group's summary reflects it.
✓ A removed advisor no longer shows on the panel; their account and other roles are unaffected.
Boundaries and limits
Advisor roles are program-scoped. A group must belong to a program before advisors can be assigned, and the Add advisor button stays disabled until the program has at least one active advisor role.
Only one advisor per group can be primary at a time.
The same person cannot be added as an advisor twice on the same group from the panel; they appear once with a single role.
Removing an advisor ends the assignment rather than deleting it; the person's account and other roles are unchanged.
Advisors are tracked separately from group members — assigning someone as an advisor does not add them to the member list, and vice versa.
The advisor picker searches active users in the group's program; people outside the program do not appear.
Assigning, changing, and removing advisors requires the groups manage permission for the group's program.
Common questions
Q: Why can't I add an advisor to my group? A: The group must be tied to a program, and that program must have at least one active advisor role defined. Institution-level groups without a program cannot take advisors.
Q: What does the primary advisor do? A: Primary designates who leads the panel. Their name is shown on the group in the directory and in the group summary.
Q: Can one person advise several groups? A: Yes. Advisor assignments are per group, and a person can hold assignments on any number of groups.
Q: What happens when an advisor leaves the program? A: Remove them from the group — the assignment ends but its history is kept. If they were primary, assign a new primary; the directory flags the group as needing an advisor if none remain.
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