Advising Across Race

As institutions increase their attempts to diversify and expand the undergraduate college student population, there is a need to increase the academic resources and support services for their students, particularly for students of Color. Because of this, academic advisors play an integral role in the academic success and degree completion of their students. The ways in which they advise and perceive their students can impact the way their students navigate and make sense of the college environment. This relationship between faculty advisor and student is just one aspect of the academic advising experience. In addition to establishing a relationship with a faculty advisor, students of Color must also learn how their ethnic and racial identities influence these interactions and their larger college experiences.

Appreciative Advising from the Academic Advisors Viewpoint Dissertation

Appreciative Advising represents a revolutionary new approach to the field of academic advising. Based on Appreciative Inquiry, which was developed by David Cooperrider at Case Western Reserve University in the 1980‟s, Appreciative Advising is also influenced by positive psychology, reality therapy, and strengths based advising. The Appreciative Advising model makes use of positive, open-ended questions and a the development of a reciprocal relationship between student and advisor to help students achieve their academic and career goals.

Appreciative Advising Draft Chapter

With the increasing student diversity in higher education settings and the demand to prepare the 21st century workforce for a more globalized society, post-secondary administrators, faculty and staff face the task of how to best meet the needs of students, their future employers, and communities. In addition to addressing the consistent gap between enrollment and retention (Habley, Valiga, McClanahan, & Burkum, 2010), institutions are charged with enhancing the academic success of college students so that they not only complete degree requirements to graduate, but also embark on their post-graduation plans with excellent communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity skills (Partnerships for 21st Century Skills, 2011).

Appreciative-Advising-Handout J.L. Bloom

  • Disarm – Recognizing the importance of first impressions, create a safe, welcoming environment for students.
  • Discover - Utilize positive open-ended questions to draw out what they enjoy doing, their strengths, and their passions. Listen to each answer carefully before asking the next positive question. 
  • Dream - Help students formulate a vision of what they might become, and then assist them in developing their life and career goals.
  • Design – Help students devise concrete, incremental, and achievable goals
  • Deliver – The students follows through on their plans. The advisor is there for them when they stumble, believing in them every step of the way and helping them continue to update and refine their dreams as they go. 
  • Don’t Settle – The advisor challenges the student to proactively raise the student’s internal bar of self- expectations

Developing & Evaluating the Culturally Engaging Campus Environment

The purpose of the current examination was to develop a scale to measure campus environments and their impact on the experiences and outcomes of diverse student populations. The Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Scale was designed to measure the nine elements of college environments that foster success among diverse populations. 

Geneva Gay Culturally Responsive Teaching 2015 Multicultural Education Review

This discussion acknowledges that culturally responsive teaching is relevant for international contexts. However, it needs to be nuanced to fit the specific characteristics and needs of these different settings, relative to societal dynamics, and student ethnic, cultural, racial, immigration/migration, economic, and linguistic demographics.

Imagining & Building a Culturally Inclusive Learning Community

With the rise of globalization, internationalization, and the interaction and exchange of individuals and organizations across their nations’ borders, there has been an increasing interest in issues related to equity, inclusion, and social justice. Yet strategies for achieving equitable environments that embrace ideals such as safety, diversity, inclusion, and social justice for everyone regardless of their diverse backgrounds (e.g., sexual orientation, ancestry, ability, income, race, and religion), remain elusive in the face of the diverse educational goals. What does this mean for educators? We devote this second volume of the Teaching and Learning Special Issue to this question, while recognizing that creating safe and equitable educational environments is a complex and challenging task, even for those educators who are committed to social justice work (Dei, 2003; McMahon & Armstrong, 2011; Ryan, 2012; Shields, 2004; Solomon, 2002; Theoharis, 2010).

Rethinking Student Involvement & Engagement: Cultivating Culturally Relevant & Responsive Contexts for Campus Participation

A Chinese American college student named Maya, at a large rural predominantly White research university, was enrolled in an introductory American literature course during her first semester in college. During the first class session ef the semester, she noticed that almost all ef the authors ef assigned readings were White and most ef them were men.