Academic advisors charged with developing and implementing student success strategies should ask: To what extent is the process of intervention, rather than the nature of any specific intervention, responsible for an influx in at-risk student performance and persistence? Students in varying degrees of academic probation were randomly assigned to one of three intervention strategies that incorporated controlled content but divergent levels of intrusiveness. The most intrusive intervention resulted in higher cumulative grade-point averages and higher retention rates for all students. Students with the highest risk of academic dismissal were the most responsive to the most intrusive intervention.

The effectiveness of an advising system that combines a freshman seminar course taught by advisors for the students that they advise in a combined baccalaureate–medical degree program was analyzed. Students reported satisfaction with the seminar course, and more than 80% felt that they were more likely to seek out their advisor as a result of participating in this course. After the new advising system was implemented, the number of students receiving an A or B in a required biology course increased from nearly 70% to approximately 80%. In addition, students' first year grade-point averages increased modestly.

At the beginning of the new millennium professional advisors are challenged to examine the theory and delivery of services to students. Professional advisors must adapt to changes in institutional and student needs and take full advantage of available resources. This article suggests that effective advising practices can be found on a continuum from prescriptive advising, developmental advising, and counseling. Technological tools of positive intervention with students, such as Web sites, listservs, and E-mail, are related while knowledge of developmental theories and the use of narrative, knowledge of defense mechanisms, and reframing are discussed in detail.

After receiving a broad definition of mentoring, students were asked to indicate whether they had mentors and the types of assistance the mentor provided. In the absence of a formal mentoring program and with a decentralized and loosely structured academic advising program, one half of the undergraduate business majors sampled identified faculty members, administrators, parents, friends, relatives, and members of the business community as mentors. We examined the role and identity of informal mentors from an undergraduate perspective and explored the composition and needs of the unmentored student population as well. Implications for practice are discussed.

A follow-up study of the Kansas Regents Honors Academy participants between 1987 and 1998 was conducted. The study examined characteristics of Honors Academy participants in several areas, including the number of attendees who enrolled in Regents universities, their majors, cumulative grade-point averages, degrees obtained, gender, and ethnicities. The results of this study support previous literature, indicating that Honors Academy attendees were more likely to be white females who pursued postsecondary education in the their home state and entered the fields of biological sciences, social sciences, business, engineering, English, and education. Suggestions for advising academically talented high school students are provided.

Professional development for academic and career advisors has not attracted much attention in the advising literature and is more often embedded in discussions of the assessment of advising or professional development for student affairs practitioners. The result of this omission from professional discourse has contributed to uncertainty about advising as a profession and minimized the apparent need for professional development. In this article, the author examines the relationship between advising and professional work and details the need for professional development for academic and career advisors in higher education. Barriers to professional development are considered and a model for change is introduced.