The advisors in the College of Individualized Studies are committed to your success. We believe the student - advisor relationship is a partnership with open and timely communication on both sides.
Undergraduate and Graduate Advising
Your Advisor's name and contact information is on the Degree Audit Report. Login to eServices, click Academic Records, Degree Audit, Request a Degree Audit, Run Declared Programs, and View Audit.
Individualized Degree Program Forms
- Individualized Degree Plan: Each student completes a degree plan while in PRSP 301: Educational Philosophy and Planning.
- Degree Plan Amendment Form: Student may make changes to their plans by completing this amendment form and submitting it to CIS.Chair@metrostate.edu. Students may make multiple amendments during their time in the program.
Undergraduate Academic Advisors
Britney Iacono
Director and Academic Advisor
britney.iacono@metrostate.edu
Karin Jax
Academic Advisor
karin.jax@metrostate.edu
Meng Vang
Academic Advisor
meng.vang@metrostate.edu
Wai Yang
Academic Advisor
wai.yang@metrostate.edu
Graduate Academic Advisors
Daniel Woldeab
Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director
651-793-1785
daniel.woldeab@metrostate.edu
Richard Bohannon
Associate Professor
651-793-1417
richard.bohannon@metrostate.edu
Our Program Handbooks include information on admissions, courses, and graduation requirements.
Individualized Studies frequently asked questions
Below are answers to Frequently Asked Questions from students in the Individualized Studies program. If you have any questions that are not listed below, please feel free to contact us at CIS.Advising@metrotate.edu.
“I’m newly admitted to Metro State. What do I do now?”
Congrats! It may take up to two weeks to have your transfer credit evaluation completed. In the meantime, you should:
- Activate your StarID and Metro email.
- Complete Online Orientation.
- Finish any required Placement assessments.
- An additional option is guided student self-placement, which requires consultation with an advisor prior to registration.
“How do I get my Orientation hold released?"
Complete new student Online Orientation. Orientation is mandatory for all new and readmitted students.
It may take up to three (3) business days to for the Student Life and Leadership Development (SLLD) staff to verify the successful completion of online New Student Orientation. You will receive an e-mail notification to your university e-mail account (StarID@go.minnstate.edu) confirming your online New Student Orientation completion.
- Students cannot register for courses until the Online Orientation has been completed.
- Students must: (a) register for the Online Orientation, and (b) take both the survey and quiz at the end to validate they have completed it.
- If you have completed the online Orientation but the hold has not been removed, contact Gateway Student Services (help is available via live chat, phone, email; click for hours).
“How do I get my Placement assessment hold released?”
Complete the required Placement assessment or score the appropriate level for the class.
- Contact testing@metrostate.edu with your name and tech ID if you have any questions.
- For information on the timeframe for valid scores or guided student self-placement, view the Minnesota State guidelines for course placement.
“I am on Academic Warning or Academic Probation. What do I need to do to get registered?”
Students on Academic Warning: You must first complete the Academic Success Workshop (ASW), then meet with your academic advisor to review the three (3) ASW worksheets and receive approval to register.
Students on Academic Probation: You must meet with your academic advisor to plan for a successful semester and receive approval to register. The advisor may require that you take the ASW again, or may waive it.
- Once the advisor has determined that you have made appropriate plans for registration, the advisor can request an override of the Academic Hold.
- Contact CIS.Advising@metrostate.edu if you need help with an Academic Warning or Academic Probation hold.
“I have other holds on my registration but they are not listed here. What should I do?”
You will need to have them released before you can register.
- Check for holds by logging into eServices. On the left-side menu click on Registration Holds. Active holds are shown along with what you must do to release the hold.
- Visit the Registration holds webpage for directions on how to get other holds released.
“I am thinking about choosing or changing my major to Individualized Studies. Is this the right choice?”
If you are early in the processing of choosing your major, ask yourself these questions.
- Contact CIS.Advising@metrostate.edu if you need help choosing or changing your major to Individualized Studies.
“Tell me about the Degree Plan and how I might go about self-designing my focus area.”
In the College of Individualized Studies, you design your degree plan around an educational goal statement and a self-designed focus/concentration (terminology that is similar to a major).
Students create a unique focus that is integrated thematically and includes study from many disciplines.
Most important, students self-design focuses not found in any other area of the university and that are unique to their personal, educational, and career aspirations.
- Watch a video that features CIS advisor, Britney Iacono, and several alumni discussing the Individualized Studies major and read more about how you can design your focus area.
“Can I change my faculty approved degree plan after I complete PRSP 301?”
Yes. Student may make changes to their plans by completing the amendment form and submitting it to the CIS.Chair@metrostate.edu. Students may make multiple amendments during their time in the program.
“I have transfer courses still showing as ‘IP’ or in-progress on my DARS. How do I get them updated?”
If your coursework is from a Minnesota State college or university, Request a transfer update for new transfer work to be evaluated and appear on your DARS report. (Excludes the University of Minnesota)
For any other transfer coursework outside of the Minnesota State System, please provide an official transcript to the Admissions Office.
- Please request a transfer update only after your transfer coursework has been graded; we cannot complete the transfer update if you have ungraded courses.
- Requests are processed in the order we receive them.
- Depending on volume, requests take approximately 10–20 business days to process.
- Transfer GPA is not recalculated after the point of admission, and will not change when a transfer update request has been processed.
- An e-mail notification is sent to your Metropolitan State student email account when your transfer update request has been processed.
NOTE: You will need to request a transfer update every time you have additional coursework to transfer to Metro State.