1. Open the Navigate app on your phone. (If you do not already have the app, you can get it by going to the App Store and searching for “Navigate Student.” Or, if you prefer to schedule this meeting from your computer visit go.uvm.edu/navigate.)
2. Once you are on the main page of the app (or website), click in to the “Appointments” button.
3. Make the following selections:
   1. Type of appointment: Advising Department: Patrick Leahy Honors College
   2. Reason for Appointment: Choose the option from the list that is most appropriate.
4. Click “Next.”
5. On the next page, select the Appointment Location as Patrick Leahy Honors College (University Heights North).
6. Choose from the available times presented.
7. On the next screen, you will see confirmation details about the appointment (i.e. who will attend, reason for appointment, location, etc.). Enter additional comments about specific topics for discussion at the appointment. You can also elect to have the email confirmation for the appointment sent to you via email and/or text. (Be sure to enter your preferred cell phone number in order to receive a text. Otherwise, the system will use the number that is listed in Banner.)
8. Select the “Confirm Appointment” button to complete the process.

Your advising team includes:

• Professional advisors
• Experts in research experiences, funding, and student fellowships (the FOUR office)
• PLHC Peer Mentors
• Your faculty academic advisor in your home college who specializes in your field of study

To reach the team with quick questions email honors.college@uvm.edu and the appropriate member of the team will respond. They will provide information, refer you to helpful services, or request that you schedule an advising appointment.

To make an appointment with a PLHC advisor at a time convenient for you, simply use Navigate.

During your first year, the advising team will work with you as you navigate the transition from high school to college and begin an ongoing conversation with you about your academic interests and future career goals. You will receive frequent information from the team and will be invited to important programming around requirements, interests, and responsibilities. You can also stop by drop-in hours to chat with an advisor or request an individual meeting via email with a member of the team as needed!

In your second year, these conversations continue as you affirm your choice of major, career goals, and plans for study abroad when appropriate. This is also the time to build mentoring relationships with faculty in their home colleges early in their second year; those faculty relationships form the basis of a great deal of PLHC-related Junior and Senior-year advising when the focus is on preparation for and then execution of the senior thesis project. PLHC students will often find that advisors in the Fellowships, Opportunities, and Undergraduate Research (FOUR) office are enormously valuable throughout their career at UVM, but in particular during the final two years. And students are, of course, welcome to seek advice from PLHC staff at any time during their time in the college.

In addition to guiding you to academic support resources, the Patrick Leahy Honors College team can direct you to opportunities across the University including clubs and organizations, community partnerships, study abroad, undergraduate research, competitive fellowships, and work related to career and professional development.

During the last two years of your undergraduate degree, you will be working closely with your faculty academic advisor assigned to you in your home college, who specializes in your area of interest. This faculty advisor will be supporting and guiding you through the development of your research interests and your honors thesis project. We encourage you to continue to engage with peer advising and PLHC advising team as needed (especially around research funding and fellowship opportunities) even while your primary academic support is increasingly focused in your major. We want you to be cognizant of the many opportunities UVM affords for personal and academic growth. We are here to help you achieve your academic and personal goals.

Your advising team in the Patrick Leahy Honors College:

• Facilitates communication, helps you to coordinate learning experiences, reviews your academic progress, and provides referrals;
• Helps you make informed decisions throughout your UVM career. We want you to have a rich and rewarding college experience and will refer you to appropriate resources on campus;
• Operates within a holistic vision of advising; we know that impediments to academic success are often complex;
• Listens to you and helps you clarify academic and career goals;
• Helps you interpret academic requirements and policies, and complements the advice you receive from your formal, undergraduate advisor;
• Connects you with opportunities for undergraduate research;
• Directs you to experiential and career development opportunities across the university;
• Reviews your academic performance and GPA (3.40 is required to remain in PLHC) and helps you work out an academic plan for success.

Your faculty advisor in your home college:

• Helps you to navigate requirements in your major(s) and to plan for academic success in your field of study;
• Provides you with mentoring and support as you consider areas of research focus and refine your proposal for your research project leading to the honors thesis;
• Helps you make appropriate progress toward thesis completion and provides feedback on the thesis as it develops;
• Serves as a resource to discuss future career or graduate education plans, especially in your field of study.

As an advisee in the Patrick Leahy Honors College, you:

• Accept responsibility for your own decisions;
• Keep your advising team informed if you encounter issues that hinder your academic success. We can help you find necessary supports, both personal and academic;
• Come prepared for advising programming, drop-in advising, and individual meetings with your faculty advisor or with members of the PLHC advising team.
• Seek advising from your home college advisor for specific degree requirements.

• Martha Lance (Martha.Lance@uvm.edu), Associate Director for Wellness and Wellbeing & Honors College Academic Advisor
• Dana Mitchell (dana.mitchell@uvm.edu), Senior Academic Advisor
• Ann Kroll Lerner, Director Office of Fellowships, Opportunities and Undergraduate Research (FOUR)

Every student in the Patrick Leahy Honors College has access to the Brightspace page, a collection of resources hosted on UVM’s learning management system. This page gives students a jumping-off point for questions related to what the PLHC and the other groups we work with can do to support them. On the page, students will find information about the PLHC, PLHC advising, wellbeing in the PLHC, the Office of Fellowships, Opportunities, and Undergraduate Research (FOUR), and other campus resources. Additionally, important announcements and weekly bulletins about campus events will be posted to keep students up to date with all the PLHC has to offer.  

Peer Mentors are current Patrick Leahy Honors College students who work closely with first-years and sophomore admits as they navigate the transition to college and life in PLHC. We assign first-year students a peer mentor who becomes a person they can go to during their first few semesters with any questions about finding their "niche" on campus. Recently admitted sophomores receive specific welcome advising from their peer mentors that helps them to jump into our community and find resources they may have missed. 

In addition to advising groups of students, Patrick Leahy Honors College Peer Mentors organize events for all PLHC students including drop-in advising socials, de-stressing events during exam times, and other activities in the College that build connections and camaraderie.

Meet your Peer Mentors

Fellowships, Opportunities, and Undergraduate Research (FOUR) Office

The FOUR office offers advising for students seeking undergraduate research opportunities or fellowships advising. For more information see the FOUR website

Honors college faculty

The faculty who teach HCOL courses are carefully selected and also provide academic mentoring to students.