Articles

Doing Students a Disservice? An Ethical Note on Advising Liberal Arts Majors

Should an adviser discourage a student from pursuing a liberal arts degree? Or if the student is already a liberal arts major, should an adviser encourage the student to switch programs?

This line of inquiry is one advisers need to consider seriously, if for no other reason than students, parents, and public pundits are asking us versions of these questions. Indeed, it was an exasperated academic adviser’s defense of the liberal arts to parents that prompted his wife, Kim Brooks, to publish an oppositional piece in the online magazine Salon.com. Brooks answers the question in my title with a qualified …

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O*NET Online as a Valuable Tool for Academic Advising

As The Mentor’s April 2006 “Advising Forum” revealed, there is a tremendous overlap between career counseling and academic advising (Advising Forum, 2006). The academic adviser often serves as the first line in helping students choose a major related to their future careers. Bates (2007) suggests that because students often associate majors with career choices, advisers need to have at least a basic knowledge of career counseling to be effective. Harris-Bowlsbey, Riley-Dikel, and Sampson (2002) tout the centrality of information resources in career decision making. The career resources available to the academic adviser may be somewhat limited as may be the …

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A Visual Model of Academic Advising

Introduction

Academic advising has involved teaching students about decision-making processes and career choices beginning with Crookston (1972). The years since have enriched the profession with theories of developmental advising, appreciative advising, and involvement theory to strengthen the foundation of academic advising and provide a framework to evaluate the impact on students. Consequently, the field of academic advising has increasingly focused on research and professional development. The Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) standards for academic advising (NACADA, 2012), addressing core values, best practices, and recognition of advising, have been critical components of student development and maintaining …

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Vertical Peer Mentoring and Advising: A Structure for Student Involvement in Multi-Level Advising

Abstract:

This case study describes a recently instituted learning community at North Carolina A&T State University supported by a National Science Foundation grant that has developed varied methods of mentoring and advising. This new multi-level structure and associated procedures improved mentoring and advising satisfaction among students and faculty and improved student achievement. In addition to faculty learning-community leader assistance in mentoring and advising, the students are also actively involved in the process. Their participation helps to build a stronger sense of belonging within the discipline, which in turn provides faculty with more dedicated and informed partners in the advising and …

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Reinvigorating Faculty Advising on Your Campus

In the award-winning entry for the Ninth Annual Academic Advising Writing Competition, Don Carlton (2010) gazed into his crystal ball and hypothetically looked at the world of academic advising in the year 2019. He stated,

Budgets for many or most schools will lead to fewer advisers seeing more students. Advising space and support services will be pinched. Most advisers will increasingly rely on mass advising techniques—e-mail, interactive degree charts, interactive computer programs that suggest courses and majors. Schools that now use professional advisers will likely force faculty to assume a greater advising load. (Carlton, 2010, p.1)

If one examines the …

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Guide to Advising International Students about Academic Integrity

According to the 2011 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, the number of international students in the United State increased 4.68 percent over the previous year for a total of 723,277 students” (Institute of International Education, 2011). More and more institutions of higher education are intentionally seeking to increase their international student population by actively recruiting students from other countries. Reasons cited for this burgeoning interest in international students include maintaining the United States’ competitiveness in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, improving the image of the United States globally, and aiding U.S. national security efforts (Pandit, …

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Making Change Work: Empowering Students Who Are Changing Majors

“I’ve wanted to be an engineer since I was a kid obsessed with LEGO building blocks. My high school didn’t offer AP calculus, so I am taking it this semester. Nearly everyone else took calc in high school. I am about to fail this course, which could mean the end of my engineering major.” – Jack

“I came in as an undeclared major because I really wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go. Now that I’ve taken some courses and done a little research about possible careers, I am ready to declare a major in psychology.” – Jorge

“I …

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Increasing Community and Success in Advising Units by Conducting Effective Meetings

Why Meet?

Higher education in general and academic advising in particular are interesting fields. One of the things that makes them interesting is that very few people receive much formal training to do the work they perform on a daily basis. Professors are rarely taught how to teach, administrators have rarely received much formal training in administration or leadership, and many advisers have received little to no training in advising. As a result, much of the organizational learning that advisers and advising administrators experience comes via trial and error. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, as on-the-job training …

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Promoting College Access for First-Generation College Students: Creating a College-Going Culture

Increasing access to college, regardless of background or income, has been a goal of educational leaders in the United States for more than sixty years (President’s Commission on Higher Education, 1947; Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, 2006). Educational officials have aggressively sought to expand access to postsecondary education for under-represented populations, including low-income and minority students.

Despite a significant investment of federal dollars, this goal remains largely unfulfilled. The gap between the college enrollment of low- and high-income students stands at 30 percentage points—essentially the same as it was in the 1960s when the Higher Education Act was enacted …

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Motivational Richness: How Reversal Theory Can Help Advisers and Benefit Advisees

How often does a student walk into your office and appear to be unmotivated or resistant to advice? Why does an advisee make choices that seem to be contrary to his or her self-interest? Have you asked yourself what you can do to motivate this student or asked why the student does not change?

Frequently, we are tempted to label such students as unmotivated, underachieving, rebellious, or resistant. Personality theorists refer to such attributions of long-standing characteristics as traits. By definition, traits are supposed to be stable and unchanging. Personality characteristics are largely seen as permanent. Though we may be …

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