A Developmental Guide to Academic Advising

The college student population across the United States is increasing in diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity, race, social class, and age. Since the 1980's, colleges and universities have become a much more diverse environment as ethnic minority and other groups continue to increase in numbers. Given the many changes in the characteristics of students, such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender, many institutions have begun to reexamine their retention strategies. This reexamination often has focused on the role of the academic advisor in the institution as well as certain non-cognitive student characteristics or variables. Academic advising often is the only academic service that guarantees prolonged interaction with students, and it is precisely this guaranteed interaction that makes the advisor key to the development of positive relationships and positive experience for students. It is the intent of this book to provide the reader a developmental model of academic advising while discussing how individual worldviews play a role is advising perception and student success.