Advising

Academic advising plays a vital role in supporting student success. CM students receive academic advising through a coordinated system involving CM faculty advisors, the CAED Advising Center, and university-level student success resources. This approach provides students with both discipline-specific guidance and broader assistance with university requirements, academic policies, and progress toward graduation. Participation in advising is optional. However, we strongly recommend utilizing the resources listed below for additional support. Students may choose to:

Attend a group advising session led by faculty advisors.
Schedule one-on-one appointments with their faculty advisor.
Meet with advisors at the CAED Advising Center.
Meet with advisors at the Mustang Success Center (First-year students only).
Use the CAED Advising Canvas page independently.

Advisor Assignment

While faculty advising is not mandatory for CM students, students are strongly encouraged to meet with their assigned faculty advisor at least once each semester. Advisors will send specific instructions for attending group advising sessions or setting up one-on-one meetings. CM students may want to reach out to CM faculty advisors assigned to the student groups, listed alphabetically by last name in the table below. Click an advisor's name to go to their office hours page.

Student last name	Faculty Advisor	Email
A - Boy	Joe Cleary	jocleary@calpoly.edu
Br - Dow	Andrew Kline	akline@calpoly.edu
Doy - Goy	Paul Weber	pweber@calpoly.edu
Gr - Hu	Scott Kelting	skelting@calpoly.edu
In - Lon	Bryan Knakiewicz	bknakiew@calpoly.edu
Lop - My	Dan Knight	dknigh01@calpoly.edu
Na - Pu	Stacy Kolegraff	sakolegr@calpoly.edu
Qi - Sa	Tom Kommer	tkommer@calpoly.edu
SC - Tor	Eric Brinkman	ebrinkma@calpoly.edu
Tov - Zu	Lonny Simonian	lsimonia@calpoly.edu
Transfer Students	Liz Adams	ladams15@calpoly.edu
Change of Major Students	Jeong Woo	jwoo21@calpoly.edu
Real Property Development Minor Students	Andy Pollin	apollin@calpoly.edu
Heavy Civil Minor Students	David VanMuyden	dvanmuyd@calpoly.edu
CM Minor Students	Maryam Kouhirostami	mkouhi@calpoly.edu

Note:

When a student needs advising help they should go to their faculty advisor first. Students in the process of changing majors should go to Jeong Woo.
Students should come prepared to the meeting with their advisor by bringing their flowchart with courses marked off, their Degree Progress Report, and their PolyProfile with their PolyPlan at the bottom.
Advisor office hours and contact information are located on the CM Department website at https://construction.calpoly.edu/content/people/index.
Information can be found on the CM Department website and the online Cal Poly catalog. https://construction.calpoly.edu/content/current/index

Faculty advisors are the best resource for department-specific guidance, including:

Review CM course sequencing and prerequisites.
Review course plans for each term.
Determine appropriate course loads.
Determine appropriate course loads.
Develop senior project.
Review Degree Progress Report.
Offer internship advice.
Provide general career and professional guidance.

If a student has a question outside of faculty expertise areas, such as university policies and academic procedures, faculty should refer them to the appropriate campus resource, such as the CAED Advising Center and university-level student success resources.

Senior Advising Requirements

CM students who want to enroll in Senior Project (CM 4461) in the fall must submit the following items to the instructor to receive permission numbers:

A PDF of the current Degree Progress Plan.

A course plan showing how the remaining requirements will be completed before the expected graduation term.

Class Permission Policies

Permission numbers are special “codes” departments or class instructors may choose to issue so a student can enroll in the class. Permission numbers are “exceptions” and are not issued easily or frequently. Students must have justifiable reasons to be granted a permission number that would allow the student to do one or more of the following:

Add a class during the last 10 days of the add  period

Override the prerequisite(s) of a course

Enroll in a full class with or without a waitlist

Enroll in a class without enrolling in its component (e.g., lab, activity, corequisite, etc.)

Here are the CM department-specific policies:

No permission numbers are issued during the first-round registration period, when students sign up for courses if they meet all enrollment requirements. All students sign up for the courses in the order of enrollment appointments. Students should not contact course instructors or department staff to request permission numbers during this period.

Graduating seniors may request permission numbers to course instructors only if they urgently need to take specific courses to avoid a delay in graduation. CM department staff will issue permission numbers upon the instructor’s approval.

Students who are in the process of changing their major to CM may receive permission numbers after the first-round registration period. .

Students pursuing the CM Minor, the Heavy Civil Minor, or the Real Property Development Minor may receive permission numbers after the first-round registration period.

Any remaining seats during the open enrollment period will be assigned to waitlisted students, graduating seniors, change of major students, minors, and any students who need to enroll to complete degree requirements. Any remaining seats during the first week of school will be assigned to students for whom course instructors wish to accommodate.

PLEASE NOTE: When a student is waitlisted for a class and receives a permission number for that specific class, the student must DROP the waitlisted class and re-add the class using the provided permission number.

Faculty Advisor Resources

Faculty advisors should use the CAED Advising Canvas page as the primary resource for advising information. The Canvas page contains up-to-date information on university and college policies, registration, degree planning, and campus resources. In addition, the CM Undergraduate Success Canvas page provides CM-specific information.