This article outlines the transition of Virginia Tech's College of Science (COS) from a decentralized academic advising model to an embedded advising structure. The change addressed issues such as advisor turnover and inconsistent training. A 14-business-day onboarding program was developed, emphasizing NACADA’s core competencies (conceptual, informational, relational) to prepare new advisors for their roles effectively. The program included meetings with campus partners, advisor-led training, and community-building activities to establish connection and belonging. Iterative feedback has informed program improvements, focusing on self-reflection, departmental integration, and extended training timelines. The evolution of the embedded advising program highlights the importance of continuous adaptation, leadership support, and collaborative efforts to enhance the student-advising experience and foster a cohesive team.
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College is a time when students are exposed to a variety of disciplines and experiences that will help shape their perspective of themselves and the world around them. Everyone has stories they create to make sense of the world, and there are inevitably times when the story takes an unexpected turn. As advisors help students navigate difficult situations, from changing their major to academic suspension, advisors encounter student stories where their intended plan may no longer be an option. As a means for advisors to help students navigate situations where they encounter a narrative of failure, a five-step framework for deconstructing failure is offered. These steps were formed through borrowing concepts from counseling techniques, academic advising, and NACADA’s Relational Competencies (2017). The framework provides advisors with an actionable outline of how to successfully navigate these difficult conversations to help students find and embrace a new path forward through their own stories of failure.
For many college students, academic advisors are the first “helpers'' they meet on campus. Our ability to help our students, the advisees, is only effective when 1) rapport is built and when 2) both the advisor and the advisee feel respected as well as understood during the advising appointment. Yet, fostering mutual empowerment through respect and understanding can be challenging. This article discusses in further detail "Connected Advising", an advising approach informed by Relational Cultural Theory, that provides academic advisors with a framework to foster mutually growth-fostering interactions in their advising practice, therefore, enhancing the advisor-advisee relationships.
This article explores the practical applications of hermeneutic advising (Champlin-Scharff & Hagen, 2013), an advising approach that emphasizes understanding, connection, the uniqueness of each student, and meaningful relationships. Grounded in the philosophy interpretation, hermeneutic advising applies eight key concepts: interpretation, connectedness, world, time, prejudgment, hermeneutic circle, epistemic humility, and I/Thou. Practical ways advisors can incorporate these concepts into their advising include familiar methods like meeting students where they are, asking probing questions, addressing the whole student, and adopting a growth mindset. Hermeneutic advising emboldens advisors to craft a meaningful, relationship rich environment for both students and themselves, and is an invitation for advisors to elevate their practice from a transactional process to a transformative experience.
