Academic Writing

Running head: PERIPATETIC

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The Aristotle Effect: Peripatetic Strategies in Academic Advising Erica Longamore Western Carolina University

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This article explores a new technique for academically advising underrepresented students. Aristotle was known as a peripatetic teacher because he would teach his students as he was walking around campus. At times, student affairs practitioners may become stationary in offices and fail to seek out opportunities of tending to students’ needs in other areas on campus. Academic advisors especially tend to do most of their work from the office. Most students tend to seek out places on campus where they feel comfortable. This space may be where they study, eat lunch, or simply hang out with friends. Underrepresented students especially benefit from resources on campus that make them feel comfortable, included, and accepted (Sedlacek, 1999). Following a review and synthesis of literature, strategies are presented for academic advisors to use in order to be more peripatetic and accessible to underrepresented students on campus, and in turn enhance the students’ academic development. Defining Academic Advising Academic advising can be defined in various ways. The National Academic Advising Association [NACADA] defines it as "a series of intentional interactions with a curriculum, a pedagogy, and a set of student learning outcomes. Academic advising synthesizes and contextualizes students' educational experiences within the frameworks of their aspirations, abilities and lives to extend learning beyond campus boundaries and timeframes” (n.d.). According to Kuhn (2008), academic advising takes place in situations when an institutional representative gives insight or direction to a college student about an academic, social, or personal matter. The nature of this direction might be to inform, suggest, counsel, discipline, coach, mentor, or even teach. Miller (2012) describes academic advising as teaching students how to make the most of their college experience. As there are multiple definitions of academic

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advising, there are also a many models of academic advising that can be present at any given institution. Models of Academic Advising There are multiple models of academic advising that are seen across higher education. Miller (2012) explained that different models can be determined by asking four simple questions: Who is advised? Who advises? Where is the advising done? How are advising responsibilities divided? Who is Advised? Advising can be mandatory for all students or occasionally just for some. Advisors can work solely with a subset(s) of students, or they can work with a mixture of students. There are a variety of possible advisee subsets including transfer, undecided, first-generation, honors, and international students. There are those new to college, with declared majors, not accepted into competitive programs, on academic probation, transitioning to a new major or program, with documented physical or learning challenges, or those returning after military service. The possible combinations of advisees served in a single advising program can be endless (Miller, 2012). Who Advises? Results from the NACADA 2011 National Survey of Academic Advising (Carlstrom & Miller, 2013) showed that many different advisor combinations make up advising programs. Outside of the typical professional academic advisors, many other institutional personnel can offer advising included but not limited to faculty members, counselors, peers, graduate students, administrators or staff, and administrative staff assistants. Because of the large variety of people who can make up an advising team, a lot of colleges and universities have adopted a “tag-team”

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(para 3) approach to advising students, in which they incorporate a wide spectrum of people, expertise, and multiple perspectives in the advising process (DeSousa, 2005). Where is Advising Done? Pardee (2004) suggested that delivery of advising services may be categorized as either centralized, decentralized, or shared. Centralized delivery is defined through professional and faculty advisors being housed in one academic or administrative unit. Decentralized delivery is defined through professional and faculty advisors being located in their respective academic departments. Shared delivery is defined as the process by which some advisors meet with students in a central administrative unit (i.e. advising center) while others advise students in the academic department of their major discipline. According to the Sixth National Survey on Academic Advising conducted in 2003 by American College Testing (ACT), more institutions use a shared model of advising (55%) than a centralized (32%) or decentralized (14%) model. How are Advising Responsibilities Divided? In some institutions, one advisor (or a group of advisors) will be responsible for all phases of advising an individual student. In others, duties are shared based upon the topic addressed (e.g. discussion about majors with a faculty advisor and explanations about procedures with a professional advisor). Shared advising models make up the largest percentage of institutions (Miller, 2012). In some cases, the responsibility for advising a student will change as the student transitions through the institution (i.e. students move from a total intake center to a department after declaring a major or being accepted into a specific program). This split model is most popular at two-year colleges and public four-year institutions granting bachelor’s and master’s degrees (Miller, 2012). Regardless of what model an institution uses, the benefits of academic advising remain the same.

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Benefits of Academic Advising The University of California, Irvine says the benefits of academic advising are helping students get assistance in selecting courses to meet their career goals, learning about various majors and minors if they are undeclared or unhappy in their current program, getting assistance in goal setting and exploration, making sure they are on track to graduate, receiving help with developing strategies to improve academic performance, getting questions answered about policies and procedures, and obtaining referrals and/or advice about campus resources. Karfa (2014, para 5) stated: Many students believe that finding their way academically will just come naturally. As time passes and they are still confused, smiles turn to frowns. Academic advisors assist students who many change their minds during their educational career which happens more often than not. Students need this kind of assistance as time goes by to help them achieve their educational, and in turn, lifelong goals. Academic Development of Underrepresented Students Underrepresented students on any given campus can feel unincluded or uncomfortable (Sedlacek, 1999). For example, African American students whom are educated in predominantly white institutions (PWIs) report feelings of isolation, mistrust, and stress (Sedlacek, 1999). When students have these negative feelings, it can take a toll on their academic development. These feelings can leave the students not wanting to live up to their fullest academic potential, and in many cases, can cause them to leave the institutions all together. A resource that is sometimes available to underrepresented students is offering them a space. Whether this is a specific department on campus (i.e. a multicultural center), or just a location on campus where students can feel comfortable, it can often be helpful for students to have a space in which they can gather

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and help decrease those feelings of isolation (Sedlacek, 1999). Students can use these places to hang out, eat meals, study, and build relationships with others holding similar identities. Once a student finds a place of comfort, they often spend a lot of their time there. Thus, it may be helpful for student affairs professionals to make themselves available in those spaces, rather than requesting students to leave their place of comfort to receive the help they may need. Peripatetic Advising If we, as student affairs professionals, know the importance of academic advising and all the benefits it provides to our students, then we should want to offer advising to as many students as possible and as often as possible. Therefore, if underrepresented students are not always seeking out the advising that could be helpful to them because it would require them to be vulnerable in a place where they do not feel comfortable, then we should try to meet them where they are and offer those services in those spaces. The word “peripatetic” comes from the Greek word, “peripatetikos” which translates to “of walking” (Peripatetics, 2018). Accordingly, someone who is peripatetic is someone who wanders or travels. Aristotle was known as a peripatetic teacher because he would often walk with his students as he would teach them. His students were thought to benefit from this because they were in areas outside of the typical classroom, and as a result, they would engage more in Aristotle’s teachings (Peripatetics, 2018, para 1). Academic advisors do not have to physically walk and advise at the same time, nor do they have to spend all their time being outside of their office to be successful advisors. However, if advisors would designate a specific amount of time to get out of their office and go to the spaces where underrepresented students feel most comfortable, they might be able to reach students who may not be seeking them out. In turn, they would develop a relationship with students, and once students feel a sense of comfort and trust

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with their advisor, they could subsequently feel more comfortable visiting the actual advising center. Based on a synthesis of the literature, here are some strategies that academic advisors could attempt in order to be a little more peripatetic. •

Identify the comfort spaces that underrepresented students may be benefitting from and visit that space (even if it is just once every couple of weeks to introduce/reintroduce advisors/advising services).

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Collaborate with the institution’s multicultural center, if they have one, and plan a program where students can meet and get to know advisors.

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Set a specific time each week (even if it is just an hour) where advisors travel to another location on campus and offer general advising.

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Attend various multicultural events and programs on campus to make advisors present to those students and communities. Conclusion Academic advising is crucial to student development (Karfa, 2014). Underrepresented

students may not be seeking out academic advising as much other students, because it may require them to be in a space where they may not feel comfortable. There are strategies that academic advisors can take to fill that gap and develop relationships with underrepresented students. Once a relationship is formed with a student, then trust can be created. Trust makes students more likely to seek out resources that an academic advisor has to offer. Rogers and Molina’s (2006) study found that fifty percent of the student participants suggested that faculty and staff engaging in outreach with minorities on campus would improve both recruitment and retention. Therefore, if we, as practitioners, can put in effort to make ourselves more present in

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students’ lives, especially our underrepresented students, then we can better enhance their academic development. Just as Aristotle exercised peripatetic teaching to reach his students, advisors should use peripatetic advising to foster growth in their students as well. It could make a world of difference.

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References Carlstrom, A., & Miller, M.A. (2013). NACADA National Survey of Academic Advising (Monograph no. 25). Manhattan, KS: National Academic Advising Association. Retrieved from http://nacada.ksu.edu/tabid/3318/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1420/article.aspx DeSousa, D. J. (2005). Promoting students’ success: What advisors can do (Occasional Paper No. 11). Bloomington: Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research. Retrieved from http://nsse.iub.edu/institute/documents/briefs/DEEP%20Practice%20Brief%2011%20Wh at%20Advisors%20Can%20Do.pdf Habley, W. R. (2004). The status of academic advising: Findings from the ACT sixth national survey (pp.14-26) (Monograph Series No. 10). Manhattan, KS: National Academic Advising Association. Karfa, R. (2014). The benefits of academic advising. Retrieved from https://www.centennialcollege.ca/centennial-college-blog/2014/september/24/thebenefits-of-academic-advising/ Kuhn, T. (2008). Historical foundations of academic advising. Academic advising: A comprehensive campus process. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Lagasse, P. (2018). Peripatetics. The Columbia encyclopedia (8th ed.). Retrieved from https://login.proxy195.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/ent ry/columency/peripatetics/0?institutionId=2378Rogers, M. R., & Molina, L. E. (2006).

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Exemplary efforts in psychology to recruit and retain graduate students of color. American Psychologist, 61(2), 143–156. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.2.143 Miller, M. (2012). Structuring our conversations: Shifting to four dimensional advising models. National Academic Advising Association. Retrieved from http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/StructuringOur-Conversations-Shifting-to-Four-Dimensional-Advising-Models.aspx National Academic Advising Association. (n.d.). Definitions of academic advising. National Academic Advising Association. Retrieved October 30, 2018, from https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/Definitions-ofacademic-advising.aspx. Pardee, C. (2004). Organizational models for advising. National Academic Advising Association. Retrieved from https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/ViewArticles/Organizational-Models-for-Advising.aspx Rogers, M. R., & Molina, L. E. (2006). Exemplary efforts in psychology to recruit and retain graduate students of color. American Psychologist, 61(2), 143-156. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.2.143 Sedlacek, W. E. (1999). Black students on White campuses: 20 years of research. Journal of College Student Development, 40, 538-550. University of California, Irvine. (n.d.). What is academic advising? Retrieved October 30, 2018, from https://www.humanities.uci.edu/undergrad/about/acad_advising.php