Editor's Note: This article is a collection of unedited excerpts from all twenty entries submitted to the journal's 2001 Academic Advising Writing Competition. The topic of the competition was, “How is academic advising different from teaching, personal counseling, and career counseling?” These excerpts were chosen for their variety, thought-provoking stances, and differences of opinion. The positions expressed in these excerpts are not necessarily those of the editors of The Mentor.

Academic advising is different from all of the above, yet it draws on all of these areas. The academic advisor is sometimes the teacher, sometimes the career counselor and occasionally intervenes in a student's personal arena to obtain personal assistance for the student. In the course of an academic advising relationship with a student, an advisor comes to appreciate the best way for that student to learn (What kind of classes work best for a student who is more or less intuitive? Can a student handle an independent study? Will a quiet, unassertive student blossom or wilt in a class that requires group projects?, etc). As the advisor and student become more acquainted, they become more of a team with the advisor in the role of mentor, teaching and guiding the student, but working together toward a common goal and as in the career planning process working toward the student's desired academic outcome. When a personal problem threatens to sidetrack an advisee, the advisor finds appropriate assistance for the student.

Lin Brummels, Director of Counseling and Advising, Wayne State College

As guides of students, if we truly subscribe to the developmental advising approach, we should help others to help themselves. We should teach them to fish, rather than give them a fish. Or, yes, we may even help power wash their decks, but only so they can become better power washers themselves!

Now, how does this compare to teaching or counseling? Where those professional fields also empower students the way advising does, they tend to make students be, at first, more dependent in the relationship with the professional. For example, a student reaches a certain level of expertise or empowerment only after having completed an entire course, or set of courses, or entire curriculum. And “quicky” counseling is greatly discouraged in our otherwise fast-food society. To stay with the original metaphor, the learner has to invest a lot more time in relationship with the more experienced person before confidently using their “power washing” skills.

Tim A. Champardé, Lead Academic Advisor, Lansing Community College

As an academic counselor, my primary concern is helping students to obtain their short-term and long-term educational goals. In brief, my goal is to help students earn their degrees with UMUC. It may appear to an outsider that an academic advisor primarily helps students select courses each term. An effective academic advisor needs to go beyond the surface task of selecting courses and understand the uniqueness of each student that walks into his/her office. For example, I strive to establish a relationship with each student I encounter by listening to the student's career goals, assessing his/her strengths and weaknesses, providing suggestions on alternate means of earning academic credit, and providing encouragement and motivation to continue studying. Furthermore, I try to establish a realistic timeframe for the student to accomplish his/her goal, considering the other responsibilities and commitments in his/her life. These are all interpersonal counseling skills that a teacher, a personal counselor and a career counselor must also acquire to be effective in their professions.

One of the main differences between an academic advisor and a teacher, a personal counselor or a career counselor is that an academic counselor works for a specific academic institution and sometimes even a specific academic department. This limits the scope of information an academic advisor is able to provide to a student and adds an ethical dimension most counselors and teachers do not have to consider. For example, while my general goal is to help students earn a degree, my duties include assisting students in earning a UMUC degree and encouraging students to take UMUC courses. Indirectly, I am also involved in promotions and marketing a product—a university degree.

Erinn E. Clark, Academic Advisor, University of Maryland

The following list of positive attributes comes from discussions I have had recently with students, peer academic advisors, professors, and student services staff. Can you tell which professional (advisor, professor, counselor, career counselor) these qualifiers are describing?

I asked students to list the qualities of the best professors, asked career counselors, academic advisors, personal counselors, and professors to describe the best behavioral standard in their fields and, with minor variations, the lists were virtually identical. One student said, “Every excellent teacher has all of these characteristics, adequate teachers have a combination of a few of these traits, and poor instructors have only one or none.” He was also prepared to name names in each category! Whatever our different goals and desired outcomes are for our students, it is clear that we are all judged against the same measuring rod.

Ginny DeWitt, M.S., Associate Director, START Center, Westminster College

Somewhat divergent organizing principles are found among the fields of teaching, counseling and advising. College and University Faculty have as their ethic the search for and dissemination of truth. This is evidenced in the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure which states “the common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free expression” (AAUP, 1940, 1970). Further, in the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) higher education department's First Principles statement is found the statement “for ideas to flow between students and teachers, and reach society at large, knowledge must be continually expanded as well as transmitted” (AFT, 2001).

Professional counselors, including personal and career counselors, have as their ethic what I term principled intervention. This is illustrated in the National Board for Certified Counselors and Affiliates (NBCC) definition of the practice of professional counseling as “the application of mental health, psychological, or human development principles, through cognitive, affective, behavioral or systemic intervention strategies, that address wellness, personal growth, or career development, as well as pathology” (NBCC, 2001).

For the academic advising profession, the ethic of student-centeredness is illustrated in the National Academic Advising Association's Statement of Core Values of Academic Advising, which states that students can be responsible for their own behavior, can be successful as a result of their individual goals and efforts, have a desire to learn, have learning needs that vary according to individual skills, goals and experiences, and hold their own beliefs and opinions (NACADA, 1995). In addition to the NACADA Core Values, the Council for the Advancement of Standards, a consortium of higher education organizations, echoes this sentiment in the Academic Advising Standards and Guidelines, which states that “the ultimate responsibility for making decisions about educational plans and life goals rests with the individual student” (CAS, 1997).

When looking for guidance, academic advisors turn to the Council for Advancement of Standards (CAS) which emphasizes that advising is to be carried out in such a way that it be consistent with the mission and goals of the institution and institutional requirements in which advising is taking place (CAS, 1997). What sets teaching and counseling apart from advising is that while teachers and counselors look inwardly, to members of their peer groups, for a definition of their fields, academic advising seems to find its definition by looking outwardly, toward student and institutional needs.

Ned Donnelly, Associate Director, Department of Educational Services, University of Cincinnati

Despite the lengthy history of academic advising (its formal implementation traceable at least to the late 1820s when a program was introduced at Kenyon College), and its easily documented development (an even rudimentary Internet search will elicit more than 17,000 sites), the profession still struggles in the shadows for recognition and respect. Often we are asked to explain how our profession differs from this or that other profession—teaching, personal counseling, career counseling. Seldom are we asked—except by students—what academic advisement is all about, how would it be defined, what is it that academic advisors do.

We do not teach, we are not psychologists or psychiatrists, and we do not know where, when they graduate, students will find jobs. Academic counseling obviously encompasses teaching and, as any practitioner knows, is often painfully personal. It includes, very often at the insistence of the student, practical concerns of career objectives and opportunities. However, to invoke Gertrude Stein, academic counseling is not a pencil.

Thomas G. Fairbairn, Academic Advisor, Ontario College of Art & Design

Career counselor, personal counselor, and teacher—in various situations, academic advisors need to play the role of each of them. This is not to say that advisors can replace these other individuals on campus. By all means that is not possible, realistic, nor expected. The individuals occupying each of these other roles are critical to the success and effectiveness of a college or university. However, unlike these other professionals, academic advisors may very well be expected to assume the responsibilities of these other campus units. The generalist nature of many academic advising positions is what makes the profession different and unique. It is this unique nature of the profession that makes it such an attractive career for so many wonderful people.

Scott Gabbert, Academic Advisor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Academic advising is rewarding for me because I teach and counsel. Jennifer benefits not at all if I don't make time to consider her as a person, not merely a client in search of a major and a job. I give license to let students do what they really want to do, to see things differently. Jennifer may join the Defense Mapping Agency or a local urban planning commission, perhaps coming back to teaching when it's good for her and the students. Jennifer possesses a wealth of talent and drive, and she'll do well whatever she chooses. What's important is that I, the advisor, planted the seeds of possibilities through instruction and guidance, which is what advising is all about.

Christopher W. Gregory, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education and Director of the Advising Center, Framingham (MA) State College

Academic advising is different from teaching, personal counseling, and career counseling because it does not affect one aspect of collegial life but all aspects of it. It is holistic in its view of the students, melding together the students' personal goals, career goals, hopes, and aspirations and weeding out their fears and wasted efforts. Academic advising is the act of gardening. It plants the seeds of future actions in the minds of the students as well as watering and fertilizing those seeds so they take root.

Cathi Kadow, Academic Counselor, University Division, Purdue University Calumet

There is a system in place at many universities and colleges that assists students as they proceed forth from their undergraduate education. It can run so smoothly that students may not even realize its existence. The system attempts to educate students, inform them of academic and curricular requirements, options and challenges, assist students with life's troubles and triumphs, and assist them choosing a career and molding their skills to what best suits them best. This structure has four primary components: teaching, academic advising, personal counseling, and career counseling. These core attributes make up the academic experience of many college students and can be supplemented with various extracurricular and other activities. While academic advising is “different” from teaching, personal counseling, and career counseling, it is highly intertwined, as none can function properly without the other. Academic advising fills in the missing link.

Ami Lynch, Academic Advisor, University Honors Program, The George Washington University

Academic advising may be done by teachers and counselors, but advising is a process all its own. A good teacher or counselor does not necessarily make a good advisor. Unlike teaching and counseling, advising means being familiar with many academic programs and the necessary steps that must be taken to yield student success.

Norma Morehouse, Special Support Services Counselor, Metropolitan Community College

I began my career as an academic adviser in the early 1970's and have been an adviser off and on over a period of 28 years in four different universities from the west coast to the east coast and finally alighting in the upper mid-west. I realize that I have been an academic adviser for longer than most of my advisees have been alive! Why have I remained in this field for so long? What has satisfied me to the extent that I have not responded to the allure of a higher-paying occupation? I believe it is the complexity of the advising position itself—that academic advisers are not teachers, not counselors, and not career counselors, but rather a blend of all three and a dash of something a little more.

Diane M. O'Donnell, Academic Adviser, Michigan State University

As an idealist, I still believe that one of the major roles of both teachers and advisors is to expand the student's world, their view of not only themselves but of the outside world as well. This is teaching at its highest form and academic advising at its best. Those steadfast in the their particular discipline might argue that teaching cannot occur without a discipline (Chemistry, English i.e.). I would argue that if we look at the outcome of teaching to be learning then we must consider advising as teaching. As a liberal arts graduate, I can tell you I remember very little about the particular subjects I studied as an undergraduate. What I learned however is quite different. I learned the ability to think critically, to look at problems from many different angles, to write and speak clearly and effectively, to have respect and interest in others and to appreciate multiculturalism. Now, how did that happen? It must have been the Geology course I took? No, it is the entirety of my academic experience including and most definitely prodded along by my discussions with my faculty advisor.

Krista O'Neill, Academic Advisement Specialist, Lorain County Community College

Considered individually, one can see similarities between academic advising and each of these three other important services to students. As in teaching, the academic advisor does indeed bring a knowledge base to the academic advising interaction to dispense to the student. As in teaching, the academic advisor does prepare for the interaction and communicates the appropriate information to the student. Academic advising and teaching differ, however, in that there is typically no evaluation or assessment regarding whether the student actually gains knowledge in the area of academic advising. In fact, in many (if not most) instances that same student returns to the next academic advising interaction with little to no knowledge retained from the previous academic advising session(s), and in fact develops a true reliance on the academic advisor to once again provide the same or similar information in order to help the student achieve his or her goal.

Rich Robbins, Ph.D., Director, Undergraduate Academic Services Center, West Virginia University

Academic advisors act as personal counselors when they listen to students' problems and refer them to the appropriate person or department for further assistance. Since September 11, advisors need more than ever to help students adapt to change. Students seem more fearful and insecure about the future. One of the most important skills that an advisor needs to have is the skill to not only listen to what the student is saying, but to be able to listen to what the student is not saying. The ability to help students deal with these underlying issues is an important part of what an academic advisor does. A student may come in to discuss whether or not to drop a chemistry class when he really needs to talk to someone about his fears concerning whether or not he has what it takes to become a nurse.

Peggy Straight, Academic Advisor, Owens Community College

I actually am an academic advisor for education and teacher certification at The University of Texas at San Antonio, and our Dean once said to me, “academic advisors need to follow the five C's in order to be an effective and efficient advisor.” Those five C's are—“Academic advisors should be ...

  1. Competent
  2. Creative
  3. Caring
  4. Courageous
  5. Committed

These five C's are also traits we look for in our community teachers and counselors and hold true and value. My ultimate goal is to take the these five C's into consideration each and every time I deal with a student to make sure they have every opportunity to complete that road to graduation and reach their goals as timely and efficiently as possible.

Melissa Tenberg, Academic Advisor, College of Education and Human Development, Teacher Certification, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Our students come to us for a variety of reasons. They may be concerned about performance in a class, or seeking help in figuring out the next semester's schedule. Maybe the major they chose is no longer interesting to them, or their long-term plans have changed. They may have had a close friend or family member die and be experiencing difficulties in coping. If we are using prescriptive advising methods, chances are that none of this would matter. But if we are invested in our students' success and the developmental advising process, which I believe most of us is this field are, we need to learn as much as possible about them in order to assist in the most appropriate manner. Merely signing a student's registration form does not address the developmental needs of the student and critical questions go unanswered. The student may need these classes for a major, but is this the major he or she really wants? Why are they in this major? What do they want out of life? What are their short-term and long-term goals? What are their values? What did their grandparents do? What do their parents or older siblings do? All of these questions, and more, can and do play a large role in advising students. The average undergraduate may change majors two or three times before selecting a major and high-quality advising is crucial to their success. For this reason, academic advising needs to be more complex than merely assisting a student in choosing classes. There is no clear demarcation between academic advising, teaching, personal counseling, and career counseling.

For the reasons outlined above, a statement describing academic advising would be more accurate if it read, “Academic advising incorporates teaching, personal counseling, and career counseling.”

Ron Vick, MA, LPC, Counselor/Academic Advisor and International Student Advisor, Wayne State College

My own college advisors and mentors were not my therapists or personal counselors and I did not view them as such. The average advisor, unless certified and licensed, must not be expected to be a therapist. It is one thing to be friendly and concerned and caring, and quite another to attempt psychological and emotional intervention. From my own experiences, the role of the mentor is to actually assist the student in accomplishing specific academic actions and obtaining results, and to suggest options where none were obvious to the student before. The average advisor is often not an adjunct professor and rarely is part of tenured staff. Advisors are not always qualified or clad with degrees to instruct or teach—let alone advise someone on their career path—except in what they've been trained to do which is to help the average student with registration, withdrawal, and transfer issues.

Karen M. White, Director, Online Student Support Services, Mercy College

Because the details of lives cannot be neatly compartmentalized, with academics in one part and personal experiences in another, the process of developmental advising necessarily includes personal and career counseling. An example of personal counseling occurred two weeks into fall semester when a resident advisor brought Susan, a first year student, to talk to me because she was “dissatisfied with all her classes.” We talked about the sources of her dissatisfaction: one course wasn't interesting; another was too “touchy-feely” another wasn't teaching her anything new. I suggested ways she could take responsibility for her coursework and improve the situation, but she met everything I said with a “yes, but.” It quickly became apparent that she was not ready to let go of her dissatisfaction. What she really wanted was an excuse to leave college. So I asked her what she would do if she left. Gradually, she disclosed the real issue: she was here because of her parents; her boyfriend was two thousand miles away, causing a hole in her heart. She talked and cried, and when she left, we had devised a plan to involve her in an extra-curricular activity that she loved. She would wait until the end of the semester before making any decision about leaving. The satisfaction I felt wasn't solely because we had exchanged ideas and come up with a plan but because she had found that she wasn't powerless, that she could take ownership and do something to improve her situation.

Trying to pinpoint what makes some of my encounters with students more rewarding and exciting than others, I realize that these are times when I am truly a teacher because the students are active learners and “acquire new or different ways of thinking, feeling, and doing” (Fincher, 1994). This often occurs when students feel like the leaves on this windy November day, blown every which way by an external force, and they believe their actions will have no effect. During meetings with these students, I still provide information, give advice, and exchange ideas. However, it is contextualized differently. In addition to discussing options, I am also trying to teach them the skills to free themselves from William Blake's “mind-forged manacles,” not to become confined by fetters that, in their passivity, they themselves make, but to figure out how to re-fashion a situation so they gain control. These are the times when students discover that, in educational jargon, the locus of control does not have to be external but can become internal. As Tillie Olsen wrote in I Stand Here Ironing, they realize they “are more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron” (Olsen, 1961). They see that they have the power to shape what happens to them.

Kristi Williams, Coordinator of Academic Advising, Lewis & Clark College

The fact that advisors do not grade their students creates a more equal power dynamic between students and academic advisors.

Nevertheless, academic advisors assign students a number of tasks to empower them: students must read the college catalog to learn about requirements and procedures; students must research academic departments and community resources, meet faculty, and write a mapped out plan toward graduation. At the end of a semester, academic advisors evaluate students based on their accomplishments and provide feedback on their progress and advancement to a degree. Academic advisors continually work with the same set of students while teachers do not track their students and their future endeavors.

The outward appearances of day-to-day activities are similar for academic advisors and counselors. Each provides support, but foci of the three professions differ. Each provides one-on-one student support to answer questions, set goals, and to help the student overcome obstacles. Each employs psychological acumen to understand the individual student-client, often beginning a meeting with “tell me about yourself, your passions, your ambitions, your challenges, your problems, and your past experiences.” Personal counselors help students overcome personal psychological problems from the past and present that interfere with academic success. Career counselors help students focus on life after college with career options, job searches, and applying to professional and graduate schools. Academic advisors help guide students' decisions on course scheduling and help them overcome academic obstacles that interfere with academic goals. Both advising and counseling disciplines guide the students toward success, but each discipline focuses on different steps of the student's journey toward graduation.

Donna M. Wong, Associate Director, Office of Multicultural Programs and Services, Emory University