Academic Advising and the First College Year

“Academic Advising and the First College Year provides academic advisors, including faculty and advising administrators, with knowledge and resources to work more effectively with students—making students the ultimate beneficiaries of this book.”

Chrissy Davis Jones, Dean of Student Support Services, Spokane Falls Community College

“Academic Advising and the First College Year is an invaluable resource for professional advisors, faculty, and administrators working with first year students. Comprehensive in its approach, including theory, practice, and assessment, it serves as a roadmap and resource for advisors and institutions that are committed to student persistence and success.”

Susan Fread, Director of Academic Advising, Lehigh Carbon Community College

“As with most meaningful human endeavors, advising first-year college students is a challenging, complicated process. Happily, this book is replete with actionable insights about advising approaches that promise to enhance student success in the first college year and beyond.”

George D. Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education Emeritus, Indiana University

“At no time in the history of American higher education has student success been more important. Academic Advising and the First College Year provides readers with a clear and definitive understanding of the important role academic advisors play in first-year students’ academic success and degree completion. Authors identify and investigate key issues, skills, and strategies for all who work with first-year students.”

Charlie L. Nutt, Executive Director, NACADA

“Academic Advising and the First College Year draws on NACADA’s vast knowledge of and experience with academic advising that help readers apply that wisdom directly to their institution’s first-year advising practices. This is a ‘must read’ for anyone who is serious about continuous quality improvement in academic advising for new college students.”

John N. Gardner, President, and Andrew K. Koch, Chief Operating Officer, both John N. Gardner Institute of Excellence in Undergraduate Education, Brevard, NC

“A useful and thoughtful scholarly contribution about the importance and current state of academic advising for present day college students. This book is intended to supplement and build upon previous scholarship about college advising for first year students, but with particular attention to present day contexts, such as the crucial matter of advising an increasingly diverse student population. This text is a valuable and important resource for higher educational professionals and stakeholders who are seeking to be better informed about concepts, theories, and practice pertaining to college advising.

This text is a valuable and important resource for advisors, but is also a helpful text for faculty, administrators, and any other stakeholders. College advisors will benefit from the conceptual, theoretical, and practical underpinnings that are presented in the book. Faculty might utilize this book, or selected chapters, in courses that center on student development, research on college students, diversity, equity, and inclusion, or critical issues in higher education. Perhaps a useful contribution of this book is its capacity to potentially promote classroom discourse about the changing landscape of present day college students and how to shape institutional practices to effectively promote college success for first year students. Finally, administrators and other stakeholders will gain a fundamental understanding about the crucial issues that presently exist regarding first year college advising and some of the ways that college advisors are confronting and tackling these issues.”

- Teachers College Record

Introduction: Addressing Changes in Advising First-Year Students
Jenny R. Fox and Holly E. Martin

Section I: The Critical Role of First-Year Academic Advising

Chapter 1: Emerging Concerns
Karen L. Archambault

Chapter 2: The Role of the Academic Advisor in the First Year
Joanne Damminger and Melissa Rakes

Section II: Transitions

Chapter 3: Advising Students Through First-Year Transitions
Maura Reynolds

Chapter 4: Unique Transitions at Two-Year Colleges
Tim Kirkner and Julie Levinson

Chapter 5: Advising Academically Underprepared Students
Marsha A. Miller and Carita Harrell

Chapter 6: Academic Recovery in the First Year
Nova Schauss Fergueson

Section III: Heightening Student Engagement in Their Own Education

Chapter 7: Advising Special Populations in the First Year
Ryan Tomasiewicz

Chapter 8: Engaging First-Year Students in Academic Planning
Melissa L. Johnson

Chapter 9: Dangers of Foreclosure
Leigh Shaffer and Jacqueline Zalewski

Section IV: Strengthening First-Year Advising Practices

Chapter 10: Advisors’ Tools, Resources, and Partnerships
Susan Poch

Chapter 11: The Assessment Process: Connecting Advising and Learning
Sharon A. Aiken-Wisniewski

Jenny R. Fox

Jenny R. Fox

Holly E. Martin

Holly E. Martin