Advising and Support
Throughout my various student-facing roles, advising students has been a fundamental aspect of my responsibilities. As stated by ACPA & NASPA (2015), “The Advising and Supporting competency area addresses the knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to providing advising and support to individuals and groups through direction, feedback, critique, referral, and guidance” (p. 36). Through my professional experience, I have had the opportunity to hone my Advising and Supporting competency area work, whether that was advising international students on the college application process, assisting first-year students with class registration and course load planning, and developing student leaders. I understand the importance of being a resource for students during both their exciting moments and their most vulnerable times. In the table below, I have laid out a list of foundational and intermediate outcomes and the work that has helped me to achieve them. Moving forward, regardless of the institution and department I may find myself working for, I will find myself advising, and supporting new students from various backgrounds. Therefore, in a new environment it is crucial that I stay committed to developing my advising skills by building upon what I have learned through my past work experiences and my master’s program.
Foundational Competency Outcome
Related Experience
Exhibit culturally inclusive active listening skills (e.g., appropriately establishing interpersonal contact, paraphrasing, perception checking, summarizing, questioning, encouraging, avoid interrupting, clarifying).
Advising incoming first-year and transfer students during New Student Orientation and helped them identify their personal and professional goals in my Academic Advisor role.
Establish rapport with students, groups, colleagues, and others that acknowledges differences in lived experiences.
Building trusting relationships with students from various regions of the world and their families and guiding them through the application process for study abroad.
Recognize the strengths and limitations of one’s own worldview on communication with others (e.g., how terminology could either liberate or constrain others with different gender identities, sexual orientations, abilities, cultural backgrounds, etc.).
Offering a safe space for my RAs to openly discuss and process their experiences and thoughts in 1-1 settings.
Facilitate reflection to make meaning from experiences with students, groups, colleagues, and others.
Helping students learn from their experiences in conduct meetings and encouraging them to reflect on what they have learned in the process.
Exhibit culturally inclusive active listening skills (e.g., appropriately establishing interpersonal contact, paraphrasing, perception checking, summarizing, questioning, encouraging, avoid interrupting, clarifying).
Advising incoming first-year and transfer students during New Student Orientation and helped them identify their personal and professional goals in my Academic Advisor role.
Facilitate problem-solving.
Mediating conflicts among staff and residents who were roommates by listening neutrally and empathetically and coming to shared solutions together.
Facilitate individual decision-making and goal-setting.
Helping first year exploratory students determine what courses they should register for to best serve their goals and interests.
Appropriately challenge and support students and colleagues.
Challenged and supported the Thematic Community Leadership Council to create events with the purpose to educate the community on social justice issues.
Exhibit culturally inclusive active listening skills (e.g., appropriately establishing interpersonal contact, paraphrasing, perception checking, summarizing, questioning, encouraging, avoid interrupting, clarifying).
Advising incoming first-year and transfer students during New Student Orientation and helped them identify their personal and professional goals in my Academic Advisor role.
Intermediate Competency Outcome
Related Experience
Know and use referral sources (e.g., other offices, outside agencies, knowledge sources), and exhibit referral skills in seeking expert assistance.
Referring students to on-campus resources in CARE meetings, such as CAPS, the Student Advocates Office, SACS, and the Center for Human Growth and tailored these referrals to students’ specific needs and circumstances.
Identify when and with whom to implement appropriate crisis management and intervention responses.
Training RA staff on duty protocols and served on weekly on-call rotations to manage crisis situations.
Maintain an appropriate degree of confidentiality that follows applicable legal and licensing requirements, facilitates the development of trusting relationships, and recognizes when confidentiality should be broken to protect the student or others.
Becoming familiar with and following institutional and federal guidelines such as Title IX and FERPA policies in my practice to best serve students and their families.
Utilized virtual resources and technology to meet the advising and supporting needs of students.
Advising and supporting students over a variety of virtual platforms such as Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Wechat, emails.
Know and follow applicable laws, policies, and professional ethical guidelines relevant to advising and supporting students’ development.
Thoroughly following due process and articulating the rights students have in conduct meetings. Following NACADA core values and ethical standards when advising students academically.