“Good advising may be the single most underestimated characteristic of a successful college experience,” according to Light (2001, p. 81). Upon review of the advising literature, the potential impact of faculty is clear. For example, frequent interaction with faculty relates more strongly to student satisfaction in college than any other type of involvement or characteristic of the student or institution (Astin, 1975, 1985). Tinto (1987) explains that interaction with faculty outside of the classroom seems to be particularly significant in student involvement and satisfaction. Pascarella and Terenzini (1978) and Chickering and Gamson (1987) recognize that frequent faculty-student contact in and out of classes is one of the most important factors influencing student persistence. In this paper, I will discuss ways that professional advisers can partner with faculty advisers to maximize each student's potential.
Recognizing the importance of faculty to students, professional advisers should work proactively to develop partnerships with faculty advisers. Both faculty and professional advisers have the potential to make positive contributions to the lives of college students, but—by working together—professional and faculty advisers can truly support and enhance the impact that both have on students. How can this partnership be achieved? Professional advisers cannot wait for faculty to make the first move. Given faculty members' teaching, research, public service, and committee demands, their time to devote to advising and to improving their advising skills is limited. Professional advisers are usually more likely to keep up-to-date on the advising literature by attending conferences and other professional development opportunities. Professional advisers need to share this information with faculty advisers in a positive way that helps to build relationships.
In order to communicate effectively with faculty advisers, professional advisers should first strive to build relationships and become colleagues. There are several ways that professional advisers can partner with faculty advisers. First, professional advisers can become liaisons with specific academic departments. Working with a specific group of faculty on a long-term basis can enable professional advisers to get to know each faculty member on a more personal level. Trust in each other's abilities can develop. As a next step, professional advisers can attend faculty department meetings to view faculty dynamics, participate in curriculum discussions, learn department priorities, understand the many demands and pressures on the faculty, and find a forum for contributing information and ideas from students, professional conferences, and/or the advising literature.
Second, professional advisers can meet regularly with the appropriate department heads and offer to assist them in their individual areas of expertise. For example, professional advisers can offer to meet with faculty for one-on-one mini training sessions or to develop online resources for faculty advisers. Once the professional adviser has developed this relationship, particular problem areas can be discussed but always with potential solutions in mind. These important meeting times should not be used as gripe sessions.
A third approach to developing relationships is to invite faculty to participate in recruiting events. Most professional advisers must attend events designed to recruit freshmen or other student groups into a particular college or major. By inviting faculty to participate, it sends a powerful message to students and their parents that everyone at the institution is committed to student success and allows professional advisers to positively comment on the important roles that faculty play in students' lives. In addition, it helps the faculty to understand and appreciate the many hats that professional advisers wear.
A fourth approach to developing faculty-professional adviser relationships is to get to know the research and teaching interests of the faculty. They are the experts in their fields, so make the time to talk individually with faculty members about their research and teaching interests. Faculty members will be flattered and impressed that professional advisers took the time to learn about their interests, and most will enjoy talking about their research. Students will benefit from this interaction because they will receive better faculty referrals from professional advisers.
Finally, professional advisers and faculty advisers can collaborate in developing student satisfaction instruments. If both groups work together to create a satisfaction survey, then both groups will be less likely to find fault with the instrument. Professional advisers should find out which faculty advisers have expertise in designing student surveys and then seek input on the development of the instrument, including the types of questions to be asked. Professional advisers can use the wealth of advising data and existing surveys to create an instrument that gets at the heart of student satisfaction. The results of the survey can be used to build a more comprehensive picture of advising across the unit or college. Professional and faculty advisers can then collaborate to develop a plan to maximize the strengths of each group and minimize areas of weakness.
Professional advisers must constantly remind faculty advisers of their importance to students. Faculty advisers are comfortable with research, but many are unaware of the wealth of research available on the topic of academic advising. Professional advisers must share this information in every way possible. They should ask for a few minutes during faculty meetings and make a short presentation, send encouraging bits of information via e-mail, and/or develop an e-newsletter to share information. Professional advisers should also educate faculty advisers about the crucial roles that professional advisers serve in helping to empower students to succeed. Faculty advisers need to know how many students are seen each year, the impact of advising on retention, how many students are on the honor roll, etc. Faculty advisers are often surprised to learn about all that professional advisers do.
Professional advisers must work with faculty advisers to understand the problems that faculty face and must begin to contribute time and energy to find solutions. Once faculty advisers begin to understand the importance of advising and its direct effects on their students, they will ask for help from the experts: the professional advisers. They will begin to make time for training and will seek help when developing curricula or policies and procedures that affect students.
The University of Louisville's College of Education and Human Development is one example of collaboration between professional and faculty advisers. Each professional adviser acts as a liaison with a particular department within the college. Each professional adviser attends department meetings, is involved in curriculum development, and works together with the faculty advisers to provide students with the best advising services possible. Faculty and professional advisers are working together to develop an instrument to assess student satisfaction with advising throughout the college. Other important results of collaboration include development of an online advisement module for nontraditional students, creation and implementation of information sessions to recruit prospective post-baccalaureate students into teaching, and off-site advising sessions for undergraduate students. The professional advisers have become colleagues with faculty advisers and often act as consultants. The benefits of developing this relationship continue.
In conclusion, the benefits of professional advisers proactively reaching out to faculty advisers are numerous. By working together, professional and faculty advisers can positively impact their students' lives. It truly does take a village to graduate a student. I encourage you to reach out to your faculty colleagues today.