A Developmental Guide to Academic Advising

The college student population across the United
States is increasing in diversity in terms of
gender, ethnicity, race, social class, and age.
Since the 1980 s, colleges and universities have
become a much more diverse environment as ethnic
minority and other groups continue to increase in
numbers. Given the many changes in the
characteristics of students, such as socioeconomic
status, ethnicity, and gender, many institutions
have begun to reexamine their retention strategies.
This reexamination often has focused on the role of
the academic advisor in the institution as well as
certain non-cognitive student characteristics or
variables. Academic advising often is the only
academic service that guarantees prolonged
interaction with students, and it is precisely this
guaranteed interaction that makes the advisor key to
the development of positive relationships and
positive experience for students. It is the intent
of this book to provide the reader a developmental
model of academic advising while discussing how
individual worldviews play a role is advising
perception and student success.