NACADA Journal Volume 43: Issue 2

We invite you to read five significant contributions to academic advising scholarship in this issue. These articles share the theme of support needed for both various student groups and advisors to thrive. The breadth in topics and approaches by the authors reflects exciting advancement of scholarship in advising. Implications from these studies offer important ways for practitioners to enhance advising practices.

In the first article, Zhang interviewed nine engineering students who transferred from community colleges to four-year institutions, as well as seven faculty advisors. The transfer students struggled with academic unpreparedness for engineering, nonacademic responsibilities, and financial issues. The advisors

This study provides a deeper understanding of the challenges facing community college transfer students in engineering and their faculty advisors at a 4-year research university. Using a phenomenological approach, data was analyzed from interviews with nine engineering transfers and seven faculty advisors. The findings unveiled nuanced barriers faced by engineering transfers and their faculty advisors, including transfers’ academic unpreparedness and struggles with nonacademic responsibilities; advisors’ heavy workload, disconnection with other student services, and lack of communication with community college advisors; and restrictions on course selection and program requirements in 4-year engineering programs. The findings provide meaningful insights into developing new policies and practices to improve the academic advising experience for engineering transfers.

As higher education diversifies, students from underrepresented groups find themselves on campuses unprepared to support them. Academic advising can cultivate belonging or reify “cultural mismatches” when students’ norms do not match institutional norms. Leveraging interviews with Chinese international, Chinese American, and European American undergraduates and advisors, this study examines whether cultural mismatches in advising exist for Chinese diaspora students and, if so, on what fronts. Findings reveal cultural mismatches in definitions of autonomy; the amount of student voice expected in advising; valuation of exploration; emphasis on passion; and types of socioemotional support. This study yields important findings for advisors to improve the cultural responsiveness of their advising.

This study examined whether there are statistically significant relationships between academic advisors’ demographic characteristics, advising-related variables, institutional variables, organizational context variables, and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used a national sample of academic advisors’ survey data collected from February to March 2023 (n = 821). The results suggest 40.8% of academic advisors feel burned out from their work at least once a week to every day. The demographic characteristics and institutional variables did not explain a significant amount of variance in advisors’ burnout; however, advising caseload and organizational context variables (i.e., workload, reward, community, and values) were consistently and significantly (p < .05) associated with advisors’ emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment.

Letter from Coeditors

A Dual Perspective on Academic Advising: Challenges Faced by Community College Transfers and Faculty Advisors in Engineering

“Every Piece Can Fit”: Understanding and Remedying Cultural Mismatches Between Chinese Diaspora Students and Advisors

Factors Associated with Academic Advisors’ Burnout

Academic Advising’s Hidden Role in Fostering Validation/Belonging Leading to Improved Grades

Demographics, Purpose, and Dreams: Predicting Entering College as an Undecided Major Student

From the Co-Editors

Understanding Athletics Academic Advisors’ Experience with Job Burnout

Rural College Students’ Academic, Financial, and Health-Related Obstacles During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Academic Advisors

Career Advising in a VUCA Environment

From the Co-Editors

THE URSINUS COLLEGE FRESHMAN ADVISING PROGRAM

CAMPUS LEAVING BEHAVIOR

APPROACHING A DEFINITIVE POSITION ON ACADEMIC ADVISING

THE ADVISOR UNDER STRESS—FIRED UP OR BURNED OUT?

WHAT YOU'D REALLY LIKE TO SAY . . .