The 130-year history of academic advising at a large land-grant university is explored. The story of how advising structures, procedures, and programs were created to meet growing numbers of students, the increasing complexity of the curricula, and the expanding advising needs of a diverse student body emerges in the descriptions related.

In writing this article, we wanted to provide advisors practical means with which to optimize their relationships with advisees. First, we describe behavioral micro-skills that can be used by advisors to enhance advising sessions. Attending behaviors (eye contact vocal cadence and tone, verbal tracking, body language) and listening skills (asking…

Self-authorship is an additional orientation to traditional college student, epistemological, development theories. Facilitation of self-authorship, via academic advising, may help students meet the desired outcomes outlined by the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education and integrate these abilities into their knowing and…

Freshmen frequently struggle with major decisions both in and out of school. Even if they attend required advisement sessions, they do not always have a clear idea which questions to ask and which information to share with advisor. Large numbers of students make poor choices and have unfortunate experiences as a result. To focus attention on some…

Enrollment at America's community colleges has exploded in recent years, with five times as many entering students today as in 1965. However, most community college students do not graduate; many earn no credits and may leave school with no more advantages in the labor market than if they had never attended. Experts disagree over the reason for…

What were the paradigm shifts that Quinsigamond Community College undertook in order to create a more effective advising system? Learn about our changes, the process, the end results--a Web-based Career, Academic, and Personal Success (CAPS) plan--and the key lessons learned!

This study examined the perceptions of freshmen students regarding their first-semester experiences at a major land-grant institution. A questionnaire was developed based on a review of the literature related to factors that influence students' success. Factors that influence students' success included time management/goal setting, academic…

This qualitative study investigates how the Learning Partnerships Model (LPM; Baxter Magolda, 2001, 2004a) could be operationalized in the context of an academic advising retention program. The findings focus on what epistemological outcomes emerge for students who entered the program as formula followers. Findings suggest that although students…

The road to a college degree is often littered with potholes of self-doubt, and sometimes those are deep enough to discourage even the most ambitious students. If the transition from high school to college were easy, the average six-year graduation rate at four-year institutions in the U.S. would probably be higher than 63%. To improve those…

This article presents an annotated bibliography of recent research related to academic advising. It includes eight research papers that focus on advising.

Included in this addendum are the findings for the Noel-Levitz 2009 National Freshman Attitudes Report by race/ethnicity for incoming students. These data show the percentage of students within each group that agreed with each item. This paper provides a detailed explanation of the statistical processes used to produce these data, as well as a…

Many colleges and universities lack a formal evaluation system to assess their advising programs. Illinois Benedictine College, however, has consistently evaluated its Freshman Advising Program (FAP) on an annual basis ever since its inception. In 1986, the college decided to implement the new Benedictine Advising Survey in the exit interview…

A total of 178 psychology baccalaureates were surveyed to determine how satisfied they were with their jobs. Forty-one percent of the graduates did not participate in the study. Results showed that general job satisfaction was associated with business contact and general cultural jobs and not with organizational and technical jobs. (RM)

Presents a nontechnical checklist to use in designing and implementing a computer-assisted academic advisement program. Discusses ideal capabilities of a computer-assisted advisement program and its benefits and potential for meeting advisement-related challenges of the future. (Author/LLL)

Describes the questionnaire developed by one school of journalism that is used to measure student perceptions of the quality of academic advising. (HOD)