Faculty Advisor

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A faculty advisor can have a tremendous impact on a student’s college experience in addition to being a phenomenal referral source. In fact, referral to academic sources was a key aspect of the advisor’s duty according to Allen et al. (2008). Social and cognitive development were also noted as positive outcomes of effective advising( Allen et al 2008:609).
The literature available on communication forms related to advising mentions a variety of student and faculty expectations. Both students and faculty agreed that faculty performed course selection assistance the best; they also agreed that personal counseling was the most limited aspect of advising. In other words, many faculty fail to perform this element of advising. This is also relevant …show more content…

The most important attribute of an advisor was providing accurate information on degree requirements, according to both faculty and students. Navigating the university’s policies or “how things work” was ranked as the second most important attribute to both students and faculty. Both students and faculty regarded all aspects of advising outlined in this study as important, according to the ranking system. These attributes included: integration of the student’s academic, career, and life goals with each other and with other aspects of the curriculum and co-curriculum; referral to campus resources for academic and non-academic problems; provision of information about degree requirements and how the university works with regard to policies and procedures; individuation, or consideration of students’ individual characteristics; and shared responsibility, or encouraging students to assume responsibility for their education by helping them develop planning, problem solving, and decision-making skills (Smith & Allen …show more content…

The knowledge of the advisor outlays different opportunities to the student. Technology has helped advising in recent years (Baker et al. 2010:4) as the advisor can send a student a progress report before meeting; thus using their time together to exclusively discuss the implications of the student’s progress. The communication that takes place between an advisor who takes on the mentor role with a student can aid the student even further. The advisor can not only discuss the student’s academic goals or interests, but “might also inquire about what led the student to be interested in a particular academic area, suggest additional topics or areas that seem similar, or be more willing to listen and help a student process her concerns about academic decisions”(Baker et al

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