This paper presents the author's opinion of the success and inadequacy of the NACADA national conference, October 5–8, 2005, in Las Vegas. The author was impressed by the sessions of motivational speaker Joe Martin, president of RealWorld University, but she was disappointed by the low number of workshops related to adult advising. The paper further presents the author's suggestion for a definition of academic advising.

Introduction

The NACADA 2005 national conference, “Hitting the Jackpot: Making Academic Success a Sure Bet!” was, with its 3,350 attendees, an absolute success in terms of turnout. The organization for this grand meeting was excellent, with a broad variety of advising-related topics and plenty of time for colleagues from all parts of the country to get acquainted. The sessions, especially the keynote, held some unexpected lessons and raised a few questions in the mind of this author. Hence, this paper follows up the call of NACADA Past President Eric White to continue the dialogue begun at the conference.

Unexpected Lessons: Joe Martin's Motivational Speech

The deepest impression and most encouraging lessons at the NACADA national conference came, in my opinion, from keynote speaker Joe Martin, president of RealWorld University.

From Martin's speech, I identified the following important ideas for advisers:

  1. Every student has a story. Take time to listen and, if necessary, tell students your story, and don't leave out your share of failures because that may ultimately establish the connection and rejuvenate the student who is thinking about giving up.
  2. Don't focus on your students' problems, focus on their potential. Too many students fall through the cracks of the system because they don't seem worth anyone's while. Martin used himself as an example of a student whose problems outweighed his potential and ultimate success. Martin told of growing up in a tough ghetto of Miami, Florida, having his college applications rejected, and getting his break at a junior college. [Editor's note: Martin earned an A.A. degree from Okaloosa-Walton Junior College (now Okaloosa-Walton Community College); B.A. (Communication Arts) and M.A. (Mass Communications) degrees from the University of West Florida; and Ed.D. (in Curriculum Development) from Florida A&M University (J. Martin, personal communication, February 9, 2006)].
  3. Watch your attitude. Martin compared one's attitude to a handkerchief to illustrate this point. Everybody has one, he stated, explaining how some people misuse their handkerchiefs to rob others of their gifts and talents or to blindfold themselves. The right way to use your handkerchief, he said, is to hang it over your arm and ask, “How can I serve you?” Martin reminded us that our main purpose as academic advisers is to be used, not misused, abused, or confused, but used. He encouraged us to serve with purpose, passion, and power.

Martin's keynote inspired me to attend his follow-up session, “A Conversation with Joe Martin,” where he continued sharing valuable lessons for advising:

  1. Serve with your heart. Martin explained that most of us give without putting our hearts into our work, and subsequently we feel robbed of our energy because we forget to focus on the purpose of our jobs. He emphatically called for lending every student who asks for it a devoted ear; it may be a decisive moment in the student's life.
  2. Stay in the boat. In this analogy, advisers are in the “boat” and our advisees are treading water around us. Our task, according to Martin, is to throw lifelines to these water treaders. He cautioned that we should never jump into the water and waste precious time forcing the lifeline upon those who refuse it, while there are many others in dire need of support. If we allow ourselves to jump into the water, we could become victims and drown. Therefore, we should stay in the boat.
  3. Be an example, not an excuse. Martin posed four questions to the audience, asking if we behave like an example or an excuse:

In conclusion, Martin encouraged us to engage in the exciting activity of unwrapping other people's gifts, to encourage our advisees to discover and use their strengths and talents.

To advisers reading the above, it should not be hard to find ways to apply Martin's lessons in their daily activities. For example, as a recent adult learner and international student, I have encouraged two international adult learners at my university to continue facing the challenge of being MBA students with English as a second language. Through self-reflection, I shared my story with these students and encouraged them to continue their educational journeys with renewed energy.

Joe Martin's contribution to the NACADA 2005 conference was definitely a jackpot hit.

Defining Academic Advising

In a session where a NACADA task force reported progress on formulating a definition of academic advising, the following definition was presented:

Academic advising is an intentional and multidimensional educational process that is grounded in teaching and learning with its own purpose, content, and specific outcomes.

During the discussion session, a number of the participants expressed their discomfort with the vagueness of this definition and criticized its lack of specificity about what academic advising really entails. From my experiences, I have formulated the following personal definition of academic advising:

Academic advising is a process of guiding, motivating, and assisting a student in making the right academic choices, considering his or her unique, contemporary life circumstances and needs, in order to enhance the student's academic success and gratification, while at the same time adhering to the institution's mission; endorsing retention and a sense of mutual satisfaction; and supporting an elevation in the general standards of the learning experience in higher education.

I submitted my two cents via e-mail to the workshop presenters.

Adult Learning

As a participant, it is impossible to attend all of the sessions in a convention the size of the annual NACADA conference. I chose sessions to attend based on my current position as an adviser of adult students. One of my observations of the conference was that the number of adult-advising-related sessions was very limited. Some recorded numbers:

A quick calculation shows that from the 364 workshops at the annual NACADA conference, only 9 sessions, or less than 3 percent (2.47 percent to be exact), were focused on advising adults. In my opinion, this is a disheartening fraction in a time when large numbers of adults are returning to school.

The number of sessions becomes even more discouraging when one recalls the keynote speech that Dr. Philip Friedman, president of Golden Gate University, gave in April 2005 at the NACADA Region 9 conference in San Francisco. I was impressed by his message and wrote at the time: “Friedman ... emphasized the increasing trend of adult education, explaining that today, 60 percent of all jobs require skills that only 20 percent of the workforce possesses .... there are a growing number of adults enrolling in official educational programs because they are increasingly becoming aware of the value of investing in education, compared to the return to be expected on this investment, because companies keep demanding higher levels of education for new hires” (Marques, 2005, ¶12).

Adult advising, along with the entire treatment of adult learning in higher education, shows an amazing trend of neglect in a time when the numbers of adult learners are steadily on the rise. In a brief article in Black Issues in Higher Education, Thomas (2005) registers the disturbing fact that colleges and universities are marginalizing adult learners in their missions (citing Sissel, Hansman, and Kasworm [2001]). Thomas continues that adult learners make up almost half of the students enrolled in college. Here he is citing a 2002 report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The trend of adult learners as an increasing segment of the student population in higher educational institutions is not a new one. In the fall 2001 edition of The Presidency, the trend was observed in other NCES statistics. The article noted the following from the NCES Digest of Education Statistics, 2000: Enrollments at degree-granting institutions rose 11 percent from 1988 to 1998 (p. 13). “During those ten years, enrollment of students over age twenty-five rose by 7 percent, and the NCES projects that from 1999 to 2010, that rate will rise to 9 percent. In 1998, older students made up 41 percent of the student population” (p. 13). These data suggest a number of questions, including the question of why the NACADA 2005 national conference had so few sessions focused on adult learners.

Burning Questions about Adult Advising

The following questions pertaining to adult learning and academic advising were present before the NACADA 2005 national conference, yet their absence during the conference underscores my concern that adult learners in general represent a trend of neglect.

As a professional adult adviser, I identified with statements made in one of the few sessions on adult advising during the conference. The session was titled, “A Fish out of Water: Challenges and Successes in Working with Adult Learners.” In this session, Lisa Youretz and John Fenelon from Marquette University reviewed their institution's successes with adult learners, even though the adult population at Marquette is small. In a college of 11,000 students, there are only 262 adult learners, or 2.38 percent. The presenters listed the following common hurdles adult learners encounter at their institution: a limited availability of majors during evenings and weekends, limited access to campus offices during hours that adults are on campus (evenings and weekends), limited scholarship offerings, and more. Yet, according to these speakers, they managed to establish some remarkable progress for the adult-learner population at their campus.

Throughout this and other adult-advising-related sessions, I kept wondering about the following questions.

  1. If most sources agree that the number of adults enrolling in higher education is on the rise, why are services provided to these students declining? During the session about Marquette, various participants agreed that a declining trend of services for nontraditional students is dreadfully evident at their institutions. Based on this group's observations, it seems that adult programs at universities and colleges nationwide suffer an unacceptable level of neglect in a time when adult enrollment is increasing.
  2. Why is it that universities, instead of increasing their marketing and recruiting activities aimed at the adult population, are reducing these efforts in favor of mainstream enrollment, resulting in a significant decrease of adult enrollees to their institutions? This marketing strategy not only seems to be a trend at my institution, but seems to manifest itself at other institutions of higher education, according to other participants at the Youretz and Fenelon session.
  3. Why is it that adult advising, as a distinctive phenomenon, gets stepchild treatment in many higher education institutions, and as a consequence the trend is reflected in NACADA's low interest toward adult advising as a topic in its conferences?

Conclusion

Given the finding above that more than 41 percent of enrollees in U.S. higher education institutions are classified as adult learners, it is amazing to me that higher education institutions and NACADA display an attitude of neglect toward this population group. Yet, the reality is that fewer than 3 percent of the sessions during the NACADA 2005 national conference were focused on adult learners and their needs for advising. A conference session that highlighted Marquette University was one of the exceptions. Readers who could shine additional light on this topic are definitely encouraged to do so. In addition, I have offered an alternative to the NACADA task force charged with drafting a definition of academic advising. Finally, I think keynote speaker Joe Martin hit the jackpot with his inspirational presentations.