From Advising to Mentoring: Shifting the Metaphor

Authors

  • Annette Holba Plymouth State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26209/mj1461318

Keywords:

advising, mentoring, metaphor

Abstract

Institutions of higher education should reconsider and reposition academic advising as mentoring. By shifting the metaphor from advising to mentoring, we discover how to better help our students develop the skills they need to be successful in their public and private domains. This essay considers the meaning of "mentor," from its origins in philosophical thought to practical applications in contemporary experience, and identifies selected literature on academic advising pertinent to making this linguistic shift. By revisiting the rhetorical education of Isocrates (436–338 BCE) and the philosophy of John of Salisbury (Johannes Parvus, 1120–1180 CE), this essay invites us to think about our holistic responsibility to our students and how mentoring can serve in this responsibility.

Author Biography

Annette Holba, Plymouth State University

Annette M. Holba is an associate professor of rhetoric at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, NH. She can be reached at aholba@plymouth.edu.

References

Baker, V. L., Griffin, K. A. (2010). Beyond mentoring and advising: Toward understanding the role of faculty "developers" in student success. About Campus, 14(6), 2–8.

Coles, A. (2011). The role of mentoring in college access and success. Research to Practice Brief. Institute for Higher Education Policy. Retrieved from ERIC database.

Coll, J. E., & Draves, P. C. (2009). Traditional age students: Worldviews and satisfaction with advising: A homogeneous study of students and advisors. The College Student Affairs Journal, 28(2), 215­–221.

Crisp, G., & Cruz, I. (2009). Mentoring college students: A critical review of the literature between 1990–2007. Research in Higher Education, 50, 525–545.

Fisher, W. (1987). Human communication as narration: Toward a philosophy of reason, value, and action. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.

Garvey, B., & Alred, G. (2003). An introduction to the symposium on mentoring: Issues and prospects. British Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 31, 1–9.

Grossman, J. B., & Rhodes, J. E. (2002). The test of time: Predictors and effects of duration in youth mentoring. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 199–219.

Hall, M. D., Graham, D. L., & Johnson, D. M. (2009). Are students more satisfied with academic advising when there is congruence between current and preferred advising styles? College Student Journal, 43(2), 313–324.

Hester, E. J. (2008). Student evaluations of advising: Moving beyond the mean. College Teaching, 56(1), 35–38.

Homer. (2000). The Odyssey. (S. Lombardo, Trans.). New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. (Original work published ca. 800 BCE).

Isocrates. (1929). Antidosis. In G. Norlin (Trans.), Isocrates (181–367, Vol. 2). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Original work published 354–353 BCE).

Jacobi, M. (1991). Mentoring and undergraduate academic success: A literature review. Review of Educational Research, 61, 505–532.

Kram, K. E. (1985). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life. Glenville, IL: Scott, Forestman and Company.

Levine, A., & Nidiffer, J. (1996). Beating the odds: How the poor get to college. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Pascarella, E. T. (1980). Student-faculty informal contact and college outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 50, 545–595.

Pieper, J. (1960). Scholasticism: Personalities and problems of Medieval philosophy. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press.

Poulakos, T. (1997). Speaking for the Polis: Isocrates rhetorical education. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.

Salisbury, J. (1992). Policraticus: Of the frivolities of courtiers and the footprints of philosophers. (C. Nederman, Ed. & Trans.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1159).

Schiller, F. (2004). On the aesthetic education of man. Reginald Snell (Trans.). Mineola, NY: Dover. (Original work published 1795).

Schlosser, L. Z., Lyons, H. Z., Talleyrand, R. M., Kim, B. S. K., & Johnson, W. B. (2011). Advisor-advisee relationships in graduate training programs. Journal of Career Development, 38(1), 3–18.

Shaffer, L. S., Zalewski, J. M., Leveille, J. (2010). The professionalization of academic advising: Where are we in 2010? NACADA Journal, 30(1), 66–77.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 14 (2012): The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).