Advisor/Advisee lists are now available on Sympa. These lists are created automatically through a query to Banner which pulls the advisor's name and populates the list with students who have been assigned him/her as their Primary Advisor (as defined in Banner). Lists are updated nightly.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

The naming convention of these lists is:
firstname.lastname-advisees@sympa.montana.edu.  

The first portion of the list name is your first.last.  Often this is the same as the first portion of your email address.  

You can verify your Banner-assigned first.last by following these steps:

  1. Go to  http://password.montana.edu and log in.
  2. Click on My Accounts & ID Usernames in the left sidebar.

Please note :

  • If your first.last is appended with a number, the number will be included in the list address: 
    ellen.hall2-advisees@sympa.montana.edu.
  • List address names will always use first.last even if your @montana.edu email address does not.

Most likely it is because the address that you sent the email to the list from is not your University Recognized (OFFICIAL) email address as listed in MyInfo (most often: firstname.lastname@montana.edu).  

To verify your OFFICIAL email address:

  1. Log into My Info. 
  2. Click the Personal Information tab.
  3. Select Update Email Addresses.
  4. Check the address listed as university recognized OFFICIAL. This is the address that you will need to send email to your advisee list from.

Yes.  Current Advisors (list owners) may request that other parties be given permission to post a message to their respective Advisees list.

To make a request:

  1. Send an email to helpdesk@montana.edu.
  2. Include the following information:
    • list name
    • name and email address of each person who should be given permission to send messages to the list

If you update your university recognized (OFFICIAL) email address in MyInfo, your address will automatically be updated on your Advisee List during the nightly refresh.

When a name is changed in Banner and a new firstname.lastname identifier is generated, a new list will automatically be created for the advisor, which matches their new firstname.lastname identifier.

IMPORTANT: The list associated with the advisor's previous firstname.lastname identifier will NO LONGER be updated and eventually be deleted. It is very important to discontinue use of the old list and use the new one reflecting the new firstname.lastname.

Lists switch to the new term of registered students 5 calendar days after the final day of each term as defined in Banner.

Yes. There are 2 ways to view the advisees on your list.

Use the Sympa web interface to view list:

  1. Go to https://sympa.montana.edu/sympa.
  2. For first-time login, click on the First login? link.
    You’ll receive an email message, which will enable you to create a password for Sympa. (Please note that this username and password are not connected to any of your other usernames and passwords.)
  3. Log into Sympa. In the column on the left you'll see your list.
  4. Click the Admin button next to the list.
  5. Click the Manage Subscribers link or tab, to view the list of subscribers.

II. Use an email command to view list: 

  1. Open a new email message and set it to send the message in plain text. (Use the Help tool of your email client and search for enter send email in plain text  if you are not sure how to do so.)
  2. In the TO field enter sympa@sympa.montana.edu
  3. Leave the subject line blank.
  4. Enter REVIEW listname in the body of message.
    For example: REVIEW ellen.hall2-advisees

Instructions and examples are available at Sympa Email Commands for List Owners.

No it will not go to the entire list.  The student's reply will only be sent to the Advisor (or whomever sent the message). 

Furthermore only the Advisor or those who've been given permission may send to an advisee list. Students cannot send messages to the list.