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 Wow! I can't even think about adding that to the time I spend advising students. If we're talking about professional staff advisers, not faculty, I don't think research should be a job requirement. While research would likely garner more respect from our institutions and faculty, when would we find time on top of a 40+ hour week? We would definitely need release time and would need guidance and education in research methods. Not all advisers have advanced degrees nor would most colleges and universities fund additional advisers in order to add a research requirement to our positions. Many don't fund enough advising positions as it is.It makes more sense to support others who have the background and interest in researching advising issues and then attend NACADA (and other) conferences, and read journals and books, to benefit from that research. I would see a research requirement as detracting from my interactions with students because of the time commitment. Some of us would rather work with people and others with numbers and research. A few can do both well. We're all vital and we can't all do everything. I say nix the research component. ~ Gretchen Anderson, teacher education admissions administrator, Western Washington University, September 16, 2008 I believe that research encouraged activities promote the field of academic advising. Our area needs expertise and supportive data to reflect the importance of academic advising to the functioning and student-centered focus of the community college and university setting. The more information of the positive contribution of academic advising that is published creates a greater respect for those who choose to work in the academic advising field.~ DeQuetta Sanders, senior academic advisor, Texas A & M University–Commerce, September 16, 2008 My initial thought is that the purpose of a full-time adviser, like myself, is to have someone whom students can easily meet with who is focused on answering questions and concerns students might have. Not having any research obligations, I feel like I can give more time to seeing a heavy load of students and keeping up with changes at the department, college, and university levels. Requiring me to put in a certain number of publications, I think, would be more of a distraction to my main mission of keeping my door open for students. With that said, I think that research done by advisers, so long as it isn't making them grossly unavailable for students, is a good thing and should be recognized by administrators. But don't make it a requirement for keeping the job.An idea: advising directors who supervise a staff of advisers could encourage research and team working amongst their advisers if, say, they divided their staffs into two teams of readers who report on recent research to the group and researchers who work together on trying to formulate a staff project. That way the workload gets spread around, and the team you are on shifts every year. That is a way of making research part of the job without it getting in the way of the job, so-to-speak. ~ Kevin Seymore, senior academic counselor, Oklahoma State University, September 22, 2008 Yes, absolutely, having more academic advisers engaged in scholarly research would advance the profession of advising far more quickly. But as others before me have said, it would currently be difficult for advising staff to find time in their busy schedules to perform such research. Until academic advising is truly accepted as a teaching mechanism, one that enhances students' educational experience, I believe that institutional support for such efforts will be hard to find.I would also be hesitant to require research as part of every adviser's job description, promotion, and annual evaluation. Advisers are hired for specific competencies, and some may be less inclined to the tasks demanded of research. However, it might be beneficial for advising offices to create positions that specifically include research. Our office has recently added policy analysts who spend 20 percent of their time advising and the rest of the time working on projects that allow us to assess and evaluate our work, and base new initiatives for more effective advising strategies and procedures on their in-house research. Additionally, we are in the process of forming a campuswide advising task force, and I will be sure to bring up the idea of conducting research to further our campuswide goals. ~ Maria DePalma, assistant director, Office of Undergraduate Advising, UC Berkeley, College of Letters & Science, September 22, 2008 Time is our most precious commodity and using time wisely as an academic adviser, as a student, or as an instructor and how to husband it wisely is the root question. Should that use of time include empirical research? Designing the study and asking the right questions and developing a measuring mechanism is not likely the bailiwick of most academic advisers whose social IQ would be less amenable to developing research projects and more to being present to their students. On the other hand, to spend time reviewing the current research studies and other resources available could enhance and contribute to a more profound and effective student-adviser relationship and this I heartily endorse. Study as a requirement, yes, but doing empirical research may not be the best use of an adviser's time.~ John McCluney, academic advisor, Kaplan University, September 23, 2008 No, I do not believe that entry-level advisers should be required to perform research as a matter of employment. Our days are filled with serving students and we may not have the skill set required to conduct the research appropriately. I do believe that we should be required to read articles about advising, attend conferences, or somehow be encouraged to stay current with trends in the field.~ Felicia Toliver, academic advisor, Gateway Community and Technical College, September 30, 2008 Only if it comes with tenure.~ Ryan Gray, academic advisor, Illinois State University, October 1, 2008 The Mentor is published by Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies Available online at www.psu.edu/dus/mentor/ Privacy and Legal Statements | Copyright | © The Pennsylvania State University | All rights reserved | |
