About Faculty Advising

The term ‘faculty advising’ is shorthand for ‘advising by those who are in a primary teaching role’. Based on research and our own experience, we present perspectives on the role teaching staff can play in advising students – and we offer a set of concrete tools and resources that support that advising role. Under “The Big Picture” you will find several broad vistas on the positive impact faculty advising can make on students and the institution, while more specific issues and challenges are discussed under “Advising Situations”. We encourage you to use these short essays as starting points for conversations about the possibilities and potential for faculty advising at your institution. Under the heading “Food for thought”, we have added two, intentionally provocative, statements to each of the texts, which we hope will help you get those conversations started. The various resources and tools referred to in these sections (and more) are brought together in the third “Tools & Practices” section.