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“Traditionally, if a person is employed as an adviser, whether faculty or professional in nature, advising constitutes a large percentage of the professional responsibilities of that individual. Some advisers may be assigned to work with a particular student population, such as freshmen, pre-professional, transfer, or graduate students; however, advising is still the main responsibility. While many other positions on campus may periodically include advising a student, the primary job responsibilities lie in areas outside of advising.” – Lisa Johnson, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Jul 06 “In life, it's good and important to have trusted people to whom you can turn for advice, counsel, conversation, etc. Certainly, many personnel on campus can and should play this kind of role in our students' lives. As an 'academic' adviser, I have been given certain authorities over a student's academic program that others who give advice may not have. Therefore, it is very important that we teach students how to gather and use the kind of advice they need to make decisions about their lives. A coach, roommate, parent, minister, R.A., secretary, etc., might be a great friend and confidante to a student, but students must understand that the 'professional' adviser should be consulted to verify the academic implications of their decisions. To put things another way, I certainly hope students are not counting on me alone to help them decide upon a major, which classes to schedule, and what to do with the rest of their lives! I hope they have consulted all the other 'advisers' out there and employed great personal contemplation as they make these major life decisions.” – Matthew C. Webb, Bowling Green State University, Jul 06 “I have been doing academic advising for the past eleven years. For the first year and a half I was called 'Executive Secretary to the dean.' I worked in a two-person office with the dean, and we advised over 300 students. Was it in my job description? No. Was it necessary for me to do it? Absolutely, the dean could not advise all the students and handle the day to day task of being a dean. When the dean died, I became the 'Assistant to the Dean' and took on some of the dean's responsibilities plus the advising. Subsequently, I was named the 'Academic adviser' for the school with a population of over 600 students. Today, I'm Director of Recruitment and Admissions for another school and still doing academic advising for undergraduate and graduate students. I share this aspect of my job with 9 other advisers – faculty and professional staff, and we service almost 1000 students. How do I define an adviser? An adviser is anyone who cares about students, knows program requirements and finds great satisfaction knowing they made a difference in someone's life.” – Carol A. Messar, Manhattanville College, Jul 06 “I am a counselor and an academic advisor. At my college, the counseling staff has a long history of doing academic advising, and many have come to call the advising 'counseling.' This has led to much discussion of the clarification of roles. I feel that for purposes of higher education, an advisor (my preferred spelling) is somebody that the college has entrusted to help students to understand course requirements, to interpret the changing rules that we set up to achieve a degree. 'The college has entrusted' means someone who is properly trained, and can be held accountable for helping a student finish a program efficiently. At our college, that includes counselors and faculty, admissions staff, those working with special populations, and the occasional staff member who chooses to take on some academic advising – and gets the proper training.” – John Wick, Naugatuck Valley Community Technical College, Jul 07 “There is a difference between an adviser and someone who gives advice. An adviser must be trained. Anyone can give advice, but the people the institution designates as advisers must be trained to give the appropriate and correct advice. Anyone you train can be an adviser. It might be a good idea for all individuals that have the potential to create relationships with students to have some basic training in university services and referrals. It is not uncommon for students to develop friendships with housekeeping staff, grounds staff or cafeteria workers.” – Bob Carlisle, Quincy University, Jul 07 “I'll play a little "devil's advocate" here. There is no question that students learn who is helpful, friendly, etc., and they tend to use them as (generic) "advisers." However, my experience with graduation appeals reflects a constant rationale of "My adviser told me ..." or "My adviser didn't tell me ..." Was that the departmental faculty member, peer, secretary, athletic, residence hall, career, staff, custodial, cafeteria, or Greek "adviser?" My point is that ACADEMIC advisers have a certain amount of authority that comes with the job (title and function). Granted these individuals might be faculty, staff, or peers, but we all need to be absolutely clear where those authorities rest when conflicts, confusion, or other circumstances arise. For example, I never attempt to give advice about financial aid. I ask students lots of questions because I know how certain academic decisions might affect their financial aid, and I help them plan around their options, but I have no authority in that area and almost refuse to give advice. Bottom line I guess is that many individuals serve as wonderful advisers to students on our campuses, and we should maximize those relationships. But we need to be very clear on the lines and bounds of authority when ACADEMIC advice is being given. As we all have experienced, students sometimes like to shop around for the answer they want to hear, or hear the answer they want to hear, from whatever source. In brief, I simply want my students to know what authorities I have, and definitely the ones that I do not. Perhaps that's some of the best (most pragmatic for life) advice I give them.” – Tom Grites, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Jul 08 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 | |
