The present research investigates the connection between academic advising and academic identity development. The study employed a qualitative interview-based design to develop a grounded theory depicting the interaction of the academic advising process with the phenomenon of academic identity development. The participant group for the study included award-nominated academic advisors and corresponding advisees at a mid-sized Midwestern University. The specific interview methodology employed was Episodic Interviewing, and the researcher coded the data according to standard grounded theory methods. The researcher interviewed a total of fourteen participants about their experiences developing positive academic advising relationships. Findings include a categorized list of advisor functions related to academic identity development and a substantive model of the relationship between academic advising and academic identity development. The emergent model, titled the Integrative Model of Academic Advising and Academic Identity Development, links the advisor functions to student-centric academic identity development tasks. These findings are compared to McGill's (2021) Substantive Model of Academic Advising. The discussion chapter includes practice recommendations for academic advisors and leaders in higher education. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]