Faculty Advisor Perspectives of Academic Advising

Abstract

A considerable body of research connects students' college experiences to their interactions with a faculty member. Quality academic advising is key to student success and the faculty advisor is a valuable piece of the advisor-student interaction. To ensure student success through academic advising, it is important for institutions to understand how they can best support faculty in their advisor roles. This qualitative study explored the experiences of eleven faculty members at a mid-sized, Midwestern public institution in their role of academic advisor. The findings suggest faculty consider their greatest advising responsibilities are to ensure students fulfill graduation requirements, explain graduate school and career exploration, teach students to navigate systems, and empower students. However, faculty advisors experience challenges navigating software, view academic advising as an isolated process, receive unclear expectations, and observe workload inequity. An awareness of these difficulties should impact how higher education administrators support faculty advisors and how they demonstrate their appreciation for the advising work faculty do.