Overview

Academic advisors are often faced with ethical decisions that require sound decision-making and accurate resolutions. Ethics involves decision-making based on maximizing good and minimizing harm wherever possible (Denise & Peterfreund, 1992; Durkheim, 1993; Frank, 2000). This train of thought is common place so when ethical decisions involve what is morally right and wrong, the course of action is relatively clear. However, ethical conflicts often involve right versus right options that are more complex. In these cases, decisions are not as obvious, but can and should be decided on the basic principles of right action.  

NACADA Board of Directors member Joanne Damminger brings her highly acclaimed NACADA Summer Institute topical session to the AdvisorConnect venue to discuss general ethical principles that advisors and advising administrators will want to consider in providing appropriate assistance to all students and professional development for advisors. Advisor development related to ethical decisions is critical to effective advising practice, and advisors need to be skilled in resolving ethical dilemmas that arise when all principles of right action cannot be followed at the same time. NACADA's Core Values and the Council for the Advancement of Standards guidelines, which will be reviewed in the presentation, are helpful in resolving such dilemmas as they relate directly to general ethical principles.   Joanne will also define and clarify language associated with ethical issues and dilemmas and share examples of dilemmas and their potential resolutions.

Presenter

Joanne Damminger, Dean of Student Affairs, Salem Community College
Chapter author, Ethical and Moral Obligations, Academic Advising Administration: Essential Knowledge and Skills for the 21st Century

Joanne Damminger is the Dean of Student Affairs at Salem Community College, a small community college in NJ, where she oversees Athletics, the Educational Opportunity Fund Program, Enrollment and Transition Services, Financial Aid, Disability Services, Student Activities, and Student Success Programs including but not limited to advising, tutoring, academic alert, and supplemental in-class support.  Her work focuses on creating and sharing vision to increase student satisfaction, academic success, intentional learning, social adjustment, and retention. Her goals center on successfully moving students into the community college setting, through their educational experience, and on to graduation with the skills to be successful in their life plans. 

Joanne presents nationally and internationally on the topics of career advising, the first-year experience, creating living/learning communities, and helping students to become intentional learners. Her NACADA Summer Institute topical session on "Legal and Ethical Aspects of Academic Advising" receives outstanding evaluations from participants.  In addition to her most recent chapter on Ethical and Moral Obligations for the upcoming NACADA Advising Administration Monograph, Joanne has recently edited and authored a chapter in the “Handbook of Career Advising,” and published “Adding Value to the First-Year Experience: Embedding Self and Major Exploration in the College of Business Curriculum” in the American Journal of Business Education.