International students want to be personally and academically successful; however, when students lack confidence in their communication skills, or when they experience negative interactions with the host culture, they may be unwilling to seek guidance when they need it… So what can we do?

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communication, Global Community, Kathy McKeiver, cultural differences, international

In the spirit of the rapid globalization of higher education, academic advising professionals from around the world joined together in Maastricht, The Netherlands for NACADA’s first International Conference in June 2013. Here advising professionals presented best practices and exchanged ideas and strategies for best serving students. Approaches for addressing the growing pains that accompany an expanding and diversifying student population were chief among the conference’s themes.

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international, Global Community, cultural differences, Katy Oliveira-Lambert, Erin Ray

With U.S. universities heavily recruiting all over the world, there is an urgency to meet the advising needs of international students on U.S. campuses.  To sustain such a robust and holistic advising program, advisors have to go beyond selection of courses and graduation requirements.  With this goal in mind, the Advising Program in the English Language program at Kansas State University continues to grow and improve through self- analysis and continuous training.

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international, cultural differences, Leena Chakrabarti

Advising administrators and advising units constantly face decisions about which technologies to use, and how technology decisions impact advising practices. Is technology defining our advising, or does our advising practice shape the technology?

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Global Community, technology, Laura Pasquini

As a former international student-athlete, current academic advisor, and past chair of the Advising Student-Athletes Commission, I consider it essential that new advisors be aware of the following tips that can help generate success when advising international student-athletes.  These strategies have proven valuable in my success as an advisor in higher education.

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student athletes, Sherwin James

When faced with people who we do not understand because they are different from us, it is all too easy to think as little as possible about that difference; thinking about why we are uncomfortable is uncomfortable in and of itself. .. helpers in any profession should recognize that experiencing discomfort from difference is normal, maybe even natural. But processing that reaction—and learning from it—is essential for growth.

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build relationships, Craig McGill, LGBT

Today, as budgets continue to shrink and expectations continue to rise, we face our own crisis in higher education.  Many advisors are being asked to do more with less: more advisees, more meetings, more technology, more nights and weekends, more data, more assessment, fewer resources, less time.  This kind of environment has the potential to become toxic, leading to a culture of fear, competition, segregation, and blame.  Permaculture offers us insights as to how we can respond to these challenging times in a positive, productive way.

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stress, community relationships, advising environment, Nancy Willow

Transitioning from high school to college is a life-changing event for all students, but may be even more challenging for students who are academically underprepared… The adage Advising is Teaching is applicable where advisors use developmental theories to help students on academic probation enhance their education.

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at-risk students, probation, underprepared students, first generation students, Joy Cox

Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC) has become the first college in the nation to create a cross-disciplinary, open-source series of free, online, non-credit developmental-level math, English, and reading courses called BPCC Open Campus... Ultimately, the College hopes that what it is doing may serve as a valuable resource for other colleges and universities facing similar challenges of advising and remediating underprepared students.

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underprepared students, Allison Martin

In response to a lack of on-campus advisor development opportunities and a reduction in employee travel funds, OASIS staff at Valdosta State University created the Master Advisor Series

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Kohle Paul, professional development, advisor training, Michael Kitchens, advising workshops