I profess that the most important job duty of an advising administrator is to hire the right people, because no other function done improperly or poorly will so quickly damage the advising operation and the mission of providing quality advising services to students. Over the twenty plus years that I have been an administrator/manager, both in higher education and private industry, I have observed that the art of hiring the right people is constantly cussed and discussed. One must continually hone hiring skills, especially in light of the ever-changing workforce landscape.
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Here we will begin to explore how best to approach advising relationships in a multiculturally competent way, mindful of both the individual and cultural similarities and differences between advisor and advisee, and how those factors may influence the advising process. Suggestions are based on the author’s personal experience in helping relationships (i.e. mental health and career counseling), as well as the counseling psychology and intercultural communication literatures. The intention is to provide a description of a “both/and” approach to preparing for multicultural helping relationships. This approach can be useful with all students, regardless of how culturally similar or dissimilar advisor and advisee are, because all people are cultural beings. The objective of this article is to provide advisors with questions and principles to consider in interactions with students.
Great thought leaders represent one of the major driving forces of history and an underlying power for constructing local and global culture patterns...Just such individuals are now needed within NACADA to catalyze its march into the future.
Right now, astounding changes are occurring in academic advising because of the work of a few dedicated leaders...it is my hope that this issue of Academic Advising Today will inspire all of us to lead change through passion, compassion, initiative, attention, and persistence.
Advisors have the freedom to choose to be at one of four levels within our discipline: advising practitioner, emerging professional, advising professional, or advising scholar.
As with any profession, academic advising requires training, but institutions often struggle to identify a centralized resource or approach for implementing advisor training. With obstacles of limited financial support, workloads stretched beyond capacity, and autonomous centers with disparate advising structures, advisor training has been a challenge for many institutions. The authors offer their advisor training as a potential model for other institutions.
Although the blended position is known by various names in different institutions, there is one underlying factor: the incumbents do more than academic advising, while building relationships towards student success.
The authors finds that a NACADA institute “is nothing like an annual or regional conference.”
The author discusses how she benefited from the Assessment Institute: learning the curriculum, being guided by faculty members, and networking with like-minded colleagues from across the country and abroad.
Change is an inevitable part of higher education today, but as our students’ needs change, advisors will have to adapt to new technology platforms to provide better support. Academic advisors can be dynamic agents of change.
Over the last six years, new cohorts of mentors and protégés (new advisors) have entered the program to aid in their personal and professional development at Temple University.
Advisors have to find balance between building relationships with students and ensuring students have the tools to successfully meet major and institutional requirements. Advisors know how important a relationship connection can be to a student in helping them progress to graduation, but limited time with students can create pressure to focus on the tasks at hand.
When the author was charged to create assessment specifically designed for academic advising, she found assistance at the NACADA Assessment Institute.
U.S. national student demographics and recent campus incidents point to the need for advising administrators to promote diversity through hiring practices and training of advisors and by creating and maintaining inclusive, supportive work environments. There are a number of actions that can be taken to support diversity on our campuses.
The author reflects on what she has learned during a decade as an academic advising supervisor.
The culture within an office whose team provides service to others can set the tone for communicating positively in each situation, whether it is with a student, colleague, or a stakeholder.
Recognizing the value advisors bring to an institution creates a feeling of cooperation, ownership, and commitment.
Two members of the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) advising team attended the 2018 Summer Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico and found the six-day institute to be beneficial in increasing their knowledge in all aspects of academic advising.
In addition to helping students plan, understand, and make meaning of their best path to graduation, academic advisors consistently contribute to student success beyond the advising appointment. It is vital for academic advisors to clearly communicate the variety of advising-related responsibilities in a way that is easily understood to all constituents across campus.
When an advising system redesign is needed, we cannot close the doors while we get it right. Redesign is an activity both creative and constrained; it must equally embrace the ideal and the real.
The author, a Wesley R. Habley Summer Institute Scholarship recipient, considers the Institute as was one of the most pivotal experiences of her career. She left with great ideas, some of which she has already implemented into her institution’s advising program.
As members of NACADA, advisors work toward promoting “the role of effective academic advising in student success” and fostering “inclusive practices within the Association that respect the principle of equity and the diversity of advising professionals across the vast array of intersections of identity” (NACADA, 2018). The charge to utilize advising as a tool for student success while focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion means advisors need to be aware of how they are supporting and fighting for marginalized students and colleagues. Allies support those who are marginalized, seek to make changes so that others can get the credit they are due, and are constantly learning.
The authors examine the lived experiences of an Emerging Leader and his Mentor as they progressed through the NACADA Emerging Leaders Program. Following completion of the program, both continue to serve NACADA in various ways and encourage participation in the Emerging Leaders Program.
As a scholarship recipient for the 2019 NACADA Assessment Institute, the author gained new, applicable knowledge, and her team made great progress in identifying next steps for their assessment work during their time at the Institute.
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.
The Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) at the University of West Florida adopted a centralized advising model, restructuring how academic advising services were provided to students. This article extends the story by highlighting key considerations resulting from the inception of the advising center.
The restructure of an academic advising program included three areas of focus: a review of like-online institutions, process mapping by a business analyst, and subject-matter expertise from current leadership and academic advisors.
Given the critically important role of good advising, how can universities create an advising platform where advisors can readily share their best practices and access resources? One potential solution involves an Advisor Hub.
