Academic advisors can play an integral role in promoting student success by assisting students in ways that encourage them to engage in the right kinds of activities, inside and outside the classroom.

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graduation rates, role of advisor, student motivation, persistence, advising director, George Kuh

When academic advisors create partnerships with secondary school stakeholders, the results are far-reaching...

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retention, graduation rates, first year students, at-risk students, persistence, first generation students, Amanda Hodges

After decades of low graduation and retention rates, Portland State University charged the First Steps to Student Success Committee to investigate the causes and develop strategies to improve these rates. As a result, several initiatives were put forth...

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retention, graduation rates, James Ofsink, Becki Hunt Ingersoll

With retention and graduation rates increasingly a part of the conversations on our campuses, the question as to whether an early choice of major will lead to timely graduation keeps surfacing... So, what is the answer?  Does an early declaration of major mean that a student is actually more likely to graduate “on time?”

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retention, graduation rates, career advising, major choice, undeclared, undecided, David Spight

The authors discuss an initiative developed to fill a gap in professional development opportunities available to the academic advisors at their institution.

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research, professional development, rapport, communication, collaboration, build relationships, graduation rates, reflection, advisor training, community relationships, advising workshops, digital, research group, advising research, Michael Harper, Andrew Smith, teacher

This article aims to show that when communication improves across silos, or separate entities on college campuses that rarely interact, it might increase empathy for the student-athletes and facilitate simple programmatic changes that could increase the likelihood of student-athletes successfully completing the degree programs that they would ideally like to pursue.

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research, communication, graduation rates, major choice, first year students, advising strategy, advising approaches, encouraging students, advising environment, advising research, first generation students, academic support, Janice Stapely, Thomas Bieber, student at

Nontraditional student enrollment continues to make up a large portion of undergraduate student populations on both traditional college campuses and in the distance-learning sector. Institutions that wish to retain and help their adult learners be successful will need to be aware of the nontraditonals’ time and effort limitations and provide ways to support them academically to facilitate completion.

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retention, graduation rates, academic support, student motivation, encouraging students, persistence, adult learners, Genta Stanfield

For decades, higher ed institutions have been pondering how to improve retention and degree completion rates. And yet, in spite of all kinds of programs and centers and initiatives, few have really moved the needle much in the right direction. In the search for the easy answer to a complex question: How can we help our students persist?, institutions have overlooked the fact that we have been asking the wrong question all along. The revision should read: How can we help our student persist? And we need to ask it thousands of times.

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retention, communication, build relationships, graduation rates, academic support, at-risk students, preparedness, student motivation, advising strategy, advising approaches, encouraging students, active listening, learning outcomes, Spight

Integrating academic and career advising is becoming more common. Many colleges offer career courses to help students through self-assessment, career exploration, and decision making as well as to provide students with the tools needed for the job search. Virginia Commonwealth University has implemented strategies to improve academic advising as a way to increase student progress and graduation rates.

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professional development, graduation rates, advisor competencies, advisor training, role of advisor, advising workshops, professionalism, Madeline Goldman