CAS Faculty Advising

 

Philosophy of Advising

Brent Hurley,
Academic Adviser
College of the Liberal Arts
The Pennsylvania State University

 

It has been said that everything we really need to know in life, we learned in kindergarten. Although that comment is a huge generalization, in some ways maybe it’s true? When I stop to think about the approach I take in advising college students, I have to acknowledge my training as an elementary school counselor. When I worked with kindergarten students, I developed some core beliefs which guided my work with those children and continues to have an influence on my interactions with students today—yes, college students. Here are some of those essential beliefs which, in a way, I learned in kindergarten:

 

1. Spend more time listening than talking—A good academic adviser is a personal counselor in disguise. He or she can sense and perceive, and listen to what is being said by an advisee and also to what is not being said. The presenting problem a student discusses when dropping by the office is often not the real issue a keen adviser will end up dealing with. I usually do not give advice, but often ask thought-provoking questions which help lead students to see “the big picture” and make decisions independently.

2. Be totally kind and totally honest—A good academic adviser is committed to showing unconditional positive regard to his or her students. The adviser should always attempt to treat students with courtesy, kindness, fairness, and equity. My goal is to be both totally kind and totally honest in all communication with my students.

 

3. Treat others the way you’d like to be treated— A “customer service attitude” is a good frame of reference for an academic adviser. In my experiences as a counselor, I have learned that people want to know how much I care before they care how much I know. With this in mind, I try to be consistently friendly with and considerate of my students.

 

4. Don’t laugh at another person’s dreams—A good academic adviser always shows respect for the personal and vocational dreams of his or her students. Advisers should encourage at all times, even if they do not personally support the choices which a student is making. What an adviser thinks is best for a student is not always what is best for him or her. Can one human being really say what another person could or could not become in his or her lifetime? I, as an adviser, try to be a possibility thinker when listening to the dreams of my students.

 

5. Don’t tell people what to do—The more students get to know themselves, the more clear their personal academic and career paths become. A good adviser knows that and works to help students on the journey of self discovery. In my advising sessions, I strive to support students without leading or enabling them. Essentially, each student must find his or her own way. I merely offer some different perspectives once in a while.

 

6. Teach something every day—Everyone has something to teach, and a large part of an adviser’s position involves teaching. In addition to mentoring and counseling students, I try to teach my advisees how to successfully navigate independently at Penn State. Rather than giving students “cut flowers,” a good adviser gives students “the seeds” to grow his or her own flowers. Providing students with the skills and abilities to become self sufficient and successful learners is the goal.

 

7. Know what you know and know what you don’t know—Academic advisers should try to do whatever it takes to provide honest, accurate, and up-to-date information. It’s best to admit being unsure about a policy or procedure rather than giving potentially inaccurate information to a student. In cases when I haven’t been 100% sure of something, I have not let students leave my office without making sure the information was accurate. Even the best of academic advisers don’t know every aspect of every rule or guideline—it’s next to impossible to know everything! I am not too proud to admit that I don’t know everything.

 

8. If you need help, ask—Advisers should always try to network and advocate for students who may need assistance from other offices on campus. I would guess that when you’re young and away from home studying at a big university, there’s nothing worse than feeling like no one cares about your problem or concern. It’s my job to care and to help however I can—even when it’s not necessarily an academic issue. I have learned when to refer a student to another office for assistance, and how to help students make these connections.

 

9. Make friends—Good advisers often add a personal touch by making an effort to get to know their students and becoming “friends,” of sort. This might mean going to an event or getting involved in a co-curricular activity to interact with students on their turf. Sometimes, this might even require taking a few extra notes about students and referring to the notes before meeting with them again. By being friendly and interacting with students on a more personable level, I can help to make this big and sometimes impersonal University feel a little bit smaller and a little bit friendlier.

 

10. Learn something everyday—Good advisers don’t just teach and guide, but they allow themselves to learn from students, too. There’s so much to learn, and we can never stop growing and improving if we understand advising as a two-way communication experience in which both people involved (including the students) have valuable thoughts, feelings, and ideas. I try to let go of what I know and believe once in a while, and consider another person’s point of view. It’s amazing what I’ve learned by considering the perspective of a student.

Whether you’re 5 or 25 or maybe 65—if you’re a student of mine, you’ll see some of these core beliefs in my approach to working with you. You can call it my advising philosophy if you like, but I prefer to think of it in a much simpler way. I just try to be really nice to everyone—something we did all learn in kindergarten.