Important Events in the Development of Academic Advising in the United States

Abstract

The development of academic advising parallels the history of higher education and reflects decades of student personnel work. Changes in funding, curricula, students, and faculty roles have all affected the means by which students have been advised. The evolution of advising eventually led to the formation of NACADA in 1979. Since 2001, when I last documented the history of academic advising in the Mentor, I have expanded the benchmark information and references. I also added key advising events in the new millennium.

The Professionalization of Academic Advising: A Structured Literature Review

“…Establishment of NACADA. The professionalization process for academic advising commenced with the establishment of NACADA in 1977 (Cook, 2009;Shaffer et al, 2010). Over time, the association grew to represent the international academic advising community and encompasses approximately 14,000 members (Michele Holiday, NACADA Executive Office, personal communication, October 17, 2018).…”

“…[doi:10.12930/NACADA-18-015] KEY WORDS: advising profession, advising theory profession, professionalization, structured literature review How has the field of academic advising developed through the decades? Although some scholars trace the roots of academic advising to the beginning of higher education in the United States (Cate & Miller, 2015;Cook, 2009), the modern context for advising began to surface in the late 19th century, as institutions grew increasingly diverse with more fields of study and career options available for students. In the 1870s, Johns Hopkins University first allowed students to choose electives to supplement their major studies.…”

“…In the 1870s, Johns Hopkins University first allowed students to choose electives to supplement their major studies. The growing number of choices available to students during the 20th century made the advisor role more pronounced; however, until the 1970s, advising was practiced as a very prescriptive and authoritarian process; that is, students were told which classes to take (Cook, 2009). In 1972, seminal articles by Crookston and O'Banion inspired thinking about academic advising as a developmental process for students.…”

What is Academic Advising? An Application of Analytic Induction

“…Nearly 40 years after the creation of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising (NACADA) and at least as many years after academic advising was recognized as a unique role in higher education (Cook, 2009), the term academic advising has been colloquially applied to the endeavor we address herein (NACADA, 2015). Multiple definitions can be found by searching the NACADA web site where individuals, institutions, and organizations have each defined advising.…”

Validating Faculty Advising Through Assessment

“…Furthermore, most stakeholders of higher education agree that advising should guide students to an applicable breadth of experiences as necessary for their academic and future career accomplishments (Cook, 2013;Hemwall, 2008). For example, Wallace (2014) summarized faculty advising by stating that most respondents to the 2011 NACADA National Survey (faculty, administrators, and professional advisors) viewed faculty advising as an important component of the institution's mission.…”