A college or university's general approach to students and student support services, as reflected in its institutional vision, can serve to advocate the adoption of one type of advising structure, approach, and delivery system over another. A content analysis of a nationwide sample of institutional vision statements from NACADA-membership colleges and universities was performed. Findings suggest that for-profit institutions are driven by an outcome-oriented, pragmatic mission statement rather than the complex, compelling vision statement often employed by traditional nonprofit institutions. The customer-service model of the former places priority on student affairs, but in the form of highly centralized prescriptive academic-advising operations. Implications for all academic institutions are discussed.

Relative Emphasis: research, practice, theory

The advising literature confirms the graduate student–graduate advisor relationship as the most important factor in graduate student success. To better understand the characteristics of graduate advisors that students find most helpful, we conducted a grounded theory study with a constructivist design that involved a qualitative textual analysis of Outstanding Graduate Advisor of the Year Award nominations from MD-PhD students enrolled in the Medical Scholars Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Five major themes emerged from this analysis, and the results indicate that students perceive the following graduate-advisor characteristics to be most helpful: demonstrated care for students, accessibility, role models in professional and personal matters, individually tailored guidance, and proactive integration of students into the profession.

Relative Emphasis: research, practice, theory

In every way that matters, advising is a form of teaching. Using Bloom's (1956) taxonomy of educational outcomes, I explain how to develop learning objectives within advising contexts. The article also suggests commonly available educational materials, such as university catalogs, as content delivery mechanisms for students; in addition, it offers ideas such as reading guides and on-line lectures. Finally, I explain how to assess student learning, that is, how to determine the extent to which students' learning outcomes mirror the objectives established by the advisor.

Relative Emphasis: practice, theory, research

In 1979, Robert Greenleaf published Teacher as Servant. This novel actively portrays Greenleaf's concept of servant leadership by describing the extracurricular work of a university professor. Consequently, some scholars have demonstrated the relevance of servant leadership to classroom instruction (Powers & Moore, 2005). However, it was not as an instructor, but as an advisor that the fictional Mr. Billings engaged in servant leadership and deeply transformed his students' lives. By explaining the philosophy and practice of servant leadership, I demonstrate how it can contribute to the theory and practice of academic advising. The characteristics of servant leadership are discussed as a theoretical-philosophical construct relevant to academic advisement.

Relative Emphasis: theory, practice, research

In this study, I examined the effectiveness of adding insight-oriented strategies to an intrusive academic-advising approach with students on academic probation. Twenty males and 22 females at a comprehensive private university participated in the study. Students who attended three to eight meetings had a significant improvement in semester GPA compared to students who attended one or two meetings or no meetings. This study suggests that insight-oriented intrusive advising had a positive affect on academic achievement; however, other factors, such as motivation, may also play a role and are worthy of future investigation.

Relative Emphasis: research, practice, theory

During the last 25 years, the number of students with disabilities seeking higher education has tripled. However, these students may not readily identify their disability to those responsible for coordinating disability services. Consequently, academic advisors may be among the first campus employees to become aware of an individual's disability. We investigated the responses of collegiate academic advisors (N ≈ 1,500) regarding their training, experience, comfort level, and knowledge of working with students with disabilities. While 83% of advisors reported advising students with disabilities, only 44% had taken a college course dealing with disabilities, and 47% have had no training on the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many advisors also reported student disclosures of thoughts about suicide and self-harm.

Relative Emphasis: research, practice, theory