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Chapter 8 - Advising Multicultural Students The Reality of Diversity

Ngoc-Dung Firpo — Sep 30, 2006 - 11:08pm

Chapter 8: Advising Multicultural Students: The Reality of Diversity

Ronnie Priest, Sidney A. McPhee

Academic advisors should be well advised to be prepared to address issues in demographics, and first-generation students. Students with economic disadvantage often feel the dual press of completing their degree while needing to be financially self-supporting. They may be at risk of making faulty course-load decisions or getting so focused on the single goal of completing their degree by all means while failing to attain a grade point average that accurately reflects their abilities. Academic advisors should be knowledgeable about the availability of various forms of financial aid to direct students to the appropriate sources. Ethnic minority students also need to be well informed about the relationship between academic and career decisions. Ethnic minority students may perceive European American campuses as hostile. Advisors need to be sensitive to the climate for minority students on their campus and need to understand their special concerns. Concerning minority male students, advisors and counselors should “increase their competency in interpreting social cues, differentiate among situations and individuals”, and provide them the opportunity to realize their potential and master their academic environment. Advisors are suggested to have the responsibility of examining their own knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and feelings relative to interacting with ethnic minorities. It is critical for advisors to possess and utilize multicultural competencies.. International students may present challenges to academic advisors who are distinct from those of ethnic minority students born in the United States. Advisors should avoid any tendency to see international students as deficient on the basis of their cultural distinctiveness.

Recommendations

In advising ethnic minority students, it is recommended that advisors:

Identify and implement an academic program of study that is realistic.

Students should be directed to resources where they can receive tutoring, study skills enhancement, and assistance with time-management concerns.

Provide cultural sensitive advising for students in the context of academic curriculum and career expectations, and obtain commitments from ethnic minority professionals to advise students about the occupations they are considering.

Should provide proactive advising focus both on individual students and on their mastery of the academic environments.

Facilitate colloquiums between students and faculty related to their perceptions of the campus environment.

Afford students an opportunity to realize sense of accomplishment and ensure that it is acknowledged.

Evaluative Follow-up of Interventions

The author suggested that the academic advisors should remain in contact with students at least one year beyond graduation or discontinuance of a program of study. By engaging in this type of follow-up, advisors can determine what interventions were effective and what interventions may be required to improve the existing advising and retention process.

College administrators must also be advocates of ethnic minority students on such issues as retention and graduation.

Chapter 7 - Advising Students at Different Educational Levels

Ngoc-Dung Firpo — Sep 30, 2006 - 11:07pm

Chapter 7: Advising Students at Different Educational Levels

Gary L. Kramer

Advising is effective when based on the premise of student growth and success- a type of advising called developmental academic advising. Students are developmentally advised when advisors focus on growth that instill the following in students:

Awareness of the relationship between education and life

The ability of set realistic academic and career goals as well as a program to achieve them

Awareness of life extending beyond the college years.

General Academic and Career Advising Needs.

The chapter provides a Collaborative Undergraduate and Graduate Services Model that identifies students academic needs, and a chart of student services taxonomy by unique academic status with themes by academic level (Pre-entry, freshman year, sophomore year, junior year, senior year, and graduate years), needs or educational tasks and advising career services.

Advising by Academic Class

One way to integrate advising and career services into the campus community is to consider students by academic class. This approach focuses on the unique needs of freshman, sophomore, juniors, seniors, and graduate students; each of them faces different educational needs.

Freshman: Vulnerability

They must place a great deal of trust in their advisors. Advisors are expected to be available, knowledgeable, and accurate. Students are more prone to drop out of college in their first year and before the beginning of the second year, more vulnerable to changes in their academic plans.

Sophomore Year: Reflection

The second year of college presents some aspects of identity crisis when students feel less hopeful, less engaged, and less competent. Advisors should arrange appointments with sophomores to review their academic progress and integrate them into the academic community to assess and encourage and reinforce their abilities to succeed academically.

Junior Year: Clarification

Clarifying and gaining confidence in both academic and career goals is an essential pursuit of the junior year. Advisors should focus on providing environments in which students are stimulated to evaluate their own academic progress, recognize their accomplishments, and establish vital contacts with personnel in the institution.

Senior Year: Transition

Seniors stand before transition into a graduate or work career. Advisors can help students by coordinating seminars on academic and career planning or help them to apply to graduate or professional schools

Graduate Students: Professionalism

Different aspects of graduate education suggest unique advising and guidance services from faculty. There are shared responsibilities among the university, advisors, and students.

Chapter 6 - Academic Advising and Todays Changing Students

Ngoc-Dung Firpo — Sep 30, 2006 - 11:05pm

Chapter 6: Academic Advising and Today’s Changing Students

M. Lee Upcraft, Paula S. Stephens

The Changing Demographics of Today’s Students

Students’ demographics have changed drastically in the last 30 years: more minority students, more women, more part-timers, more students older than 25 years old, more students who commute and live off campus, more students with disabilities, more international students, and students who are more open about sexual orientations.

Changing Characteristics of Today’s Students

Students of today are politically more conservative, less interested in developing a meaningful philosophy of life, more interested in making money, more concerned about getting a job after college, more interested in the fields of business, computer science, and engineer, and less interested in the humanities, fine arts, and the social sciences.

There are more students who are children of divorced families, who are themselves divorced or single parents. There are also more students who are affected by family instability and dysfunction.

There are more students who suffer mental and physical health problems such as self-destructive behavior, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, sexually transmitted disease.

There are more students who lack of academic preparation, and require remediation in basic reading, writing, and math.

Today’s students depend on financial aid with more loans than ever before.

Implications for Academic Advising

1. Know your students: Advisors should know what students at their institution look like (institutions should publish annual profiles of their students with many of the demographics and characteristics, and academic skills and deficiencies).

2. Know your institution’s resources and how to access them: Both professional and faculty advisors must be skillful diagnosticians who can refer students to appropriate campus resources. Academic advisors need to know these services well, including key personnel, and need to be willing to persuade students that a particular service will in fact help them.

3. Advocate for campus resources that may be needed.

4. Reconsider academic advising training programs in lights of today’s changing students.

5. Develop collaborative relationships between teaching faculty and academic advisors

6. Reconsider academic advising policies and practice.

7. Be alert for personal problems that may be inhibiting learning

Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here

Ngoc-Dung Firpo — Sep 30, 2006 - 4:36am

Chronicle Forums

Careers => The Administrative Track => Topic started by: buttercup5 on September 24, 2006, 11:33:54 PM

Title: Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here
Post by: buttercup5 on September 24, 2006, 11:33:54 PM

This is re-posted from Job-Seeking Experiences. The potentially high-handed tone is more about my frustration with my career and inscrutable search committees. I am not a troll. Please help me out here! I wouldn't even be interested in this if I didn't truly care about students.
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I'm a regular but created this name for about the kind of question I'm going to ask here. Recognizing that the third time is not the charm for everyone with TT job searches, I am casting a wider net this year.

One area I'm interested in, since I'm rather "institutionalized" (as Morgan Freeman says in The Shawshank Redemption) to higher ed life, is academic advising positions.

Many of these job ads go on about very specific Masters Degrees and other qualifications. None of these qualifications seem to have the remotest connection to the only thing I've EVER seen ANY academic advisors doing--sitting in a room, with lists of courses and transfer materials, chatting with students about their majors and plans and helping them find the right information and navigate the process.

I can sit in a room, read information, and be helpful. I could do that when I was in high school.

What else is it that academic advisors do that is apparently kept entirely secret from faculty?!?!?

Thanks.

Title: Re: Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here
Post by: zharkov on September 25, 2006, 02:24:06 PM

Where I work, faculty do the standard academic advising, which is mostly helping students in course scheduling and registration. The "academic adviser" is like a high school guidance counselor to some degree, and straddles helping students academically and intra/inter-personally. (I was going to say psychologically, but there are separate psychological counselling services for that.)

Title: Re: Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here
Post by: voxprincipalis on September 25, 2006, 02:38:19 PM

I did a little web browsing and came up with a site that may be useful to you: NACADA, which is the National Academic Advising Association. Reading through their conference program and browsing back issues of their newsletter is illuminating because it lets you see what *they* think is important. From my brief read, it seems that the general m.o. of the advising set is to almost forget about the word "academic" in their title -- in terms of how they interact and reach out to students, they are much more closely affiliated with residence life or student affairs.

Anyway, the website is:
http://www.nacada.ksu.edu
... and the newsletters can be found at:
http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/AAT/archives.htm

VP

Title: Re: Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here
Post by: j_source on September 25, 2006, 04:21:14 PM

Some schools have faculty do most student advising. Not a bad plan unless the faculty member is clueless, disinterested, absent, or negligent. in departments with lots of majors, it's impossible for the faculty to advise all of them so they get farmed out to other departments who often know nothing about the student's major.

Some schools have professional advisors. They are usually experts in transfering credit, working out academic plans and helping the student both choose appropriate courses and make sure major, minor, and degree requirements are met. Their drawback is that they aren't as knowledgeable about the actual jobs in various fields. Since they're advising students in all majors they can tell you what courses you need for an accounting major but not necessarily what being an accountant is like.

I've worked with both systems and lean toward the professional advisor over the faculty. I've seen badly charted college careers because the faculty member was up to speed with the advisees, for whatever reason. A good faculty advisor is terrific but some resent the time taken away from their other work. Just my $.02

Title: Re: Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here
Post by: minor_t on September 25, 2006, 05:10:44 PM

If the position is in a public university, an MA or MS may be required in order to get the position "upgraded" to a level with a reasonable salary.
Advisors do indeed spend time going over course lists and transcripts but they can also represent the U at career fairs, recruitment events, and community events. They can make sure the web site is up to date and consistent with current policy and practice, monitor admissions, oversee retention, and guide students through the grade appeal process. Our faculty are responsible for academic advising, but our advisement coordinator is one of the busiest people around.
mt

Title: Re: Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here
Post by: appadv on September 26, 2006, 08:53:49 AM

I am an advising administrator (director) at a mid size school. I understand the question posed, but do believe that full-time (FT) academic advisors can strengthen the academic environment on a college campus.

Advisors should be much more than course schedulers. As you state correctly anybody can do that. It should not require a Master's degree to schedule classes and chat-up students.

The real role of the FT academic advisor (it is not a good idea to refer to these positions as professional advisors, it seems to insinuate that faculty are unprofessional advisors) on campus is to set-up the faculty for success. Make sure that the resources are available and that the faculty advisors understand how to use them. The full time advisor also does a lot of the dirty work that faculty members are typically not interested in...i.e., gen. ed., summer school advising, etc. Another important role for the FT advisor is the organization and support of advising when faculty are not available. If you have not noticed it is difficult for students to get in contact with their advisor in the summer months. The FT advisor is available from 8-5 everyday. They serve as a triage unit and can answer questions, refer students, and most importantly kick students back to their faculty advisors.
In an ideal environment we are here to play the background music while the faculty advisors enjoy the solo.

Title: Re: Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here
Post by: sibyl on September 26, 2006, 12:49:12 PM

Buttercup,

As someone who has had both advising and faculty positions, I think the most profound difference is that faculty have to specialize and advisers have to be generalists. Faculty do advise students, but it's in highly specialized ways: directing dissertations or senior theses, helping students follow specific career paths. In those situations, students know what they want, and they turn to the faculty to ask how they get there. Advisers need the ability to help students figure out what they want and the flexibility to deal with total reversals. ("I know I started out as pre-med, but now I want to be a political scientist with a secondary teaching certification. How do I do that?") This is true even if you are, for instance, department advisor for the biology department at Enormous State University, because you'll deal with pre-meds, teachers, scientific illustrators, veterinarians, nurses, poker players, and people who really don't know what they want except that Mom thinks I should be a doctor.

What you'll have to do is to convey to employers that you are truly interested in advising in all its dimensions and with all of its students, and not that you are a dissatisfied Ph.D. who's just looking for a resting place in a job that seems easy. (That's the bad spin I've put on your "high-handed" initial post.) Explore NACADA and the advising websites at some high-quality schools to get a sense for what those schools want to deliver to their students. Then figure out what in your experience translates to these jobs.

Title: Re: Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here
Post by: dale1 on September 26, 2006, 09:25:26 PM

I must agree with Sibyl.

Academic advising at the entry level/front line is not about filling out paperwork or about matching students with classes that fit their 11 am - 2 pm class-taking window.

Academic Advising is about development of the student. As a front line, entry level advisor (MS required for this job), I:

Interacted with students 1-1 in private advising sessions, usually lasting 20-30 minutes each. I could do 12 to 15 of these a day. Days like these are very tiring because you have to be flexible and move quickly from one student and one issue to the next. It doesn't give you much time to think about other issues.

Work with students in learning communities. Often have 4-5 of them in the fall, 1-2 in the spring term, with 30 students each. Responsible for this as a case load and the a walk-in load which varies per day. Our average "case load" when you divide students by FTE advisors was about 500. No one can do quality advising for 500 students, it's impossible. Teach modules of learning community as assigned.

Marketed our services to prospective and current students.

Liaison to an academic school and work with their representative on advising issues.

Serve on multiple unit-level committees.

Prepared and presented at regional conferences, represented the unit at recruiting events on campus.

It's not an easy job, and it's not just about filling in boxes and making sure requirements are completed. It's about developing the student and helping that student understand what college is about, how to use the experience as a learning experience, not a hoop-jumping experience. Advising hits counseling and is often the front line for problems the student is facing.

Advisors are often the front line for retention, and spend a lot of time selling the institution and how it can meet the needs of students.

Also, the hours can be long and involve evenings and weekends. We also work 40+ hours per week for the entire year. No summers off (in fact, summers are quite busy due to orientation for new students).

Let me know if you want to know more. It's a great job and very rewarding, but also exhausting mentally and physically, and it's easy to let the barriers between work and life get very low.

Title: Re: Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here
Post by: xystuw on September 27, 2006, 06:18:53 PM

Academic advising grew out of two things: faculty jettisoning their relationships with students in favor of research (with some justification) and the recognition by most institutions that students need help getting through college. I agree with an earlier poster that faculty advising is great as far as it goes, but for the vast majority of students, it doesn't go very far (assuming it even gets started).

As an academic adviser at a large university, I both encourage the use of "professional" adviser (there are those of us who are interested not just in the "how" of advising but also the "why") and feel strongly that we play a unique role in higher education. No one else on campus is focused on the complete learning and education of an individual student besides that student - and that student's academic adviser.

I often describe academic advisers as the keepers and the university's mission. Upper administration may set the policy and the tone of education at the university but we are the only ones who actually work with a student to ensure that they are learning what the university claims to be teaching.

Title: Re: Academic Advising--Potentially inflammatory but help me out here
Post by: artsearch on September 27, 2006, 09:01:43 PM

Hi Dale!
(I hope the OP doesn't mind a tiny bit of a hijack here-he/she knows I'm a kindred spirit with a similar mission)

You said:
"Academic advising at the entry level/front line is not about filling out paperwork or about matching students with classes that fit their 11 am - 2 pm class-taking window."
***
Even so, I am finding in my advisor interviewing sessions that the committees are VERY squeamish about how a PhD will handle the more "repetitive" aspects of the job. They fear I won't stick around because of the drudgery aspects.

Also, the university where I am interviewing would have a similar case load at 450-500 students per advisor. As you point out, it's very tough to do quality advising given that condition. So, how do YOU deal with that? I'm thinking you must have found a way to get beyond the demoralization that this frustrating overload entails.

BTW, I was twice in the "final 4" for advising jobs during the summer, and I appear to be inching closer. Thank you for your continued contributions; I always find your remarks insightful and realistic.

Graduate Program Resource Links

Ngoc-Dung Firpo — Sep 30, 2006 - 4:35am

Graduate Program Resource Links*

Resource Web links for advising graduate students
Overview of issues surrounding advising graduate students
- Issues in Advising Graduate and Professional School Students

Issues in Advising Graduate and Professional School Students

Ngoc-Dung Firpo — Sep 30, 2006 - 4:16am

Issues in Advising Graduate and Professional School Students

Virginia Hueske, Advising Graduate and Professional Students Commission Chair

In her recent Chronicle of Higher Education article, Catherine Stimpson, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University, declared the graduate school to be “the most important stadium on any research-university campus (Stimpson, p. B7).” Of course, we who advise graduate students and students at professional schools agree. We sometimes think that teaching and research assistants are the oil that makes a university engine run, an unrecognized truth that would be evident only if grad students suddenly ceased to exist. Nevertheless, as Dean Stimpson points out, things are somewhat better for graduate students now than when she was a pursuing her Ph.D.

Diversity, interdisciplinarity, and professionalism are gauges by which we measure improvement over the last several decades. Part of the improvement is due to faculty and professional advisors who support these changes. The classic relationship between a faculty research supervisor and a master’s, doctoral or professional student is still the essential relationship. Built around that, whether at the large research institution, a small college, or the professional school, those who advise strive to meet the needs of today’s graduate and professional students.

What do our students need? At a minimum, they need accurate, timely and transparent information about program admission requirements, course and degree requirements, professional licensing, and certification. They need to understand such things as the culture of the institution in general and the department in particular; how to teach undergrad students and how to navigate research labs; how to apply for grants and project funding; how to prepare for, attend and present at conferences. Hard work and a high level of expertise in advising, data management and administration are required of us all.

Is the master’s student fresh from undergraduate school? Maybe a little hand-holding is in order, especially if this person is young and moved directly into the program without ‘real world’ experience. Is the new law school student coming back from the workforce with spouse and children in tow? Practical advice about health and childcare may be in order. Is the Ph.D. student nearly finished with course work and facing qualifying exams? Providing clear directives about how to navigate the process will lessen anxiety.

Just as for those advising undergraduates, the ways in which we support our graduate and professional students are myriad, complex and becoming more so. We work hard to define the realities of our profession and seek colleagues with whom to communicate and commiserate. In this process many discover that while we may be seen as individual “angels of mercy” in our own programs, there are people who do just what we do in most graduate programs. Both faculty and professional advisors of post-baccalaureate students face similar challenges, regardless of the discipline or the university. We must find each other and learn best practices for serving our students and our profession.

In her article, Dean Stimpson eloquently identifies the mission, or “deep purpose,” of graduate education as three-fold. 1. “… a place where the most promising and lively minds of several generations come together to work on the central problems of the time and of the disciplines” and “breaks through conventional wisdom.” 2. Graduate school educates the “next generation of scholars, researchers, intellectuals, artists, and educators.” We can include with this doctors, lawyers, and all other graduates of professional schools. 3. Graduate schools “embody an ideal of a community of advanced inquiry (Stimpson, p. B7)

It is incumbent upon those of us close to the “oil in the engine,” i.e., the students themselves, to find the best ways possible to help to fulfill this mission.

Reference

Stimpson, Catherine R. (June 18, 2004). Traditions and Winds of Change in Graduate Education. In The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B6.

Virginia Hueske
Advising Graduate and Professional Students Commission Chair
The University of Texas at Austin
(512) 471-8130
avvh@mail.utexas.edu

If you would like to find out more regarding advising graduate students, please visit the Advising Graduate and Professional Students Commission Web site at http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Commissions/C06/index.htm.

Connect with colleagues and discuss this article on the Graduate student advising electronic list at http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/list serve/C06.htm.

Ph D in Education

Ngoc-Dung Firpo — Sep 26, 2006 - 6:23am

From the web page of School of Educational Studies

The Ph.D. program is designed for individuals with a commitment to applying a multidisciplinary view of theory and research. While CGU Education students are as diverse as the programs they design, they are, in general, mature professionals who bring a wealth of personal and professional experience to their studies, as well as a commitment to scholarly endeavors. CGU's diverse and experienced student body is comprised mainly of education professionals. Study is based on a multidisciplinary view of theory and research, and a commitment to developing educational environments that are just, relevant, and rigorous. Collectively the faculty is knowledgeable and grounded in education as well as sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, law, sociolinguistics, gender/sexuality studies, politics, religion, and literature. As a student, you will receive unmatched personal attention, interacting closely with responsive staff members and engaged, exceptional faculty. Our student and faculty populations are richly diverse, offering an ideal environment for exchanging ideas and cultural perspectives. Small seminar-style courses provide an intimate setting for lively interaction with professors and classmates. Courses are held at times convenient for working and commuting professionals. Most courses are four semester units which meet once a week at 4:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. Others are held on weekends.
The faculty in education assists students in meeting their goals by:

assisting students in designing their own Ph.D. program

encouraging students to work with faculty to develop programs tailored to their particular backgrounds, interests, and future goals

encouraging students to combine education courses with disciplines outside education

Faculty Advisor When students are admitted, they are assigned a faculty advisor based on interests expressed in their application. The advisor assists the student in selecting seminars and in planning their program of study. As student interests change and develop during course work, the student may identify a different faculty member as the advisor with whom they wish to work. Upon the willingness of the new faculty member to serve as the advisor, an advisor change may be made. The faculty advisor who guides the student in developing a program of study serves as chair of the Supervisory Committee and may also serve as the dissertation chair, or a different faculty member may be selected by the student, based on the agreement of the faculty member. !

Ph D in Education

Ngoc-Dung Firpo — Sep 26, 2006 - 6:23am

From the web page of School of Educational Studies The Ph.D. program is designed for individuals with a commitment to applying a multidisciplinary view of theory and research. While CGU Education students are as diverse as the programs they design, they are, in general, mature professionals who bring a wealth of personal and professional experience to their studies, as well as a commitment to scholarly endeavors. CGU's diverse and experienced student body is comprised mainly of education professionals. Study is based on a multidisciplinary view of theory and research, and a commitment to developing educational environments that are just, relevant, and rigorous. Collectively the faculty is knowledgeable and grounded in education as well as sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, law, sociolinguistics, gender/sexuality studies, politics, religion, and literature. As a student, you will receive unmatched personal attention, interacting closely with responsive staff members and engaged, exceptional faculty. Our student and faculty populations are richly diverse, offering an ideal environment for exchanging ideas and cultural perspectives. Small seminar-style courses provide an intimate setting for lively interaction with professors and classmates. Courses are held at times convenient for working and commuting professionals. Most courses are four semester units which meet once a week at 4:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. Others are held on weekends.
The faculty in education assists students in meeting their goals by:

assisting students in designing their own Ph.D. program

encouraging students to work with faculty to develop programs tailored to their particular backgrounds, interests, and future goals

encouraging students to combine education courses with disciplines outside education

Academic Advising research ideas

Ngoc-Dung Firpo — Sep 19, 2006 - 5:50pm

Here are some topics and ideas I found from Academic Advising by Virgia Gordon, Wesley Habley and Associates (2000). It is a great book; I think Dr. Richlin can order for all of us. I think we can discuss these topics and choose the ones we are interested in to work in groups or individually.

Academic Advising research ideas

Designing a transdisciplinary course in Academic Advising

Definition of advising, academic advising

Developing mission, goals, and objectives for the advising program

Academic, Career and personal advising

Theory in academic advising:

student development theories

identity

making meaning

gender, race, gay/lesbian/bisexual identity

learning and personality

career development theories

Models for academic advising:

Office/center of advising and faculty advising

Group/individual advising

Different educational levels: community college, undergraduate, and graduate (master, and Ph.D.) transition students, and adult students

Ethics and legal issues in advising

Same/different gender between advisor and advisee

Understanding cultural differences

Students with special needs

Commitment and sabbatical

Who assign? Changing advisor/ advisee?

Who seeks for advising, advisor or advisee? Requirements to serve or to be served.

Preparing an advising session

Electronic advisor

Assessment instruments

Training for academic advisors

Models training programs

Assessing individual advisor effectiveness

Recognition and award for excellent in advising