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Academic cultural capital helps students more quickly glean an understanding of the academic society they are about to participate in and the new expectations of them. Acquired understandings to be successful in college are not equally accessible to every student walking into an advisor’s office.
March is the midway point of my year as President of NACADA and as with all checkpoints it's a good time to take stock of projects, tasks, and the inevitable to-do lists that are part of any meaningful endeavor.
What we believe is generally missing from the body of critical literature on academic advising and retention is the reference to the different issues in American-style education outside the borders of the United States. We have identified a host of issues specific to our student population which we believe must be addressed in order for us to best perform our roles as academic advisors.
The purpose of this article is to inform academic advisors about study away options, share the benefits of participating in study away programs, and give advisors tips on how best to promote study away programs to students.
I am still haunted by the words, uttered by my dean more than half a decade ago: “Build it and let’s see if they come.” The “it” is an advising workshop series, and the “they” are the faculty and staff members who advise our students.
