Advising Success Network
The Advising Success Network is a dynamic network of five organizations who are partnering to support educational change and improved student outcomes through a holistic approach to addressing operational, programmatic, technological, and research needs of colleges and universities in direct support of a more equitable student experience.
TRIO Student Support Service Programs Newsletters
This newsletter is the first in a series and introduces the TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) Professional Learning Community (PLC). Convened in August 2022 by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, the participants of the SSS PLC took part in a series of online and virtual engagements and a one-day symposium to facilitate meaningful connections and conversations between colleagues.
This newsletter is the second in a series that will serve as a report and thematic summary of content shared by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition’s multi-pronged engagement of TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) programs. This report will also highlight the National Resource Center’s work with the Advising Success Network (ASN).
This is the third newsletter in a series that will serve as a report and thematic summary of content shared in the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition’s multi-pronged engagement of TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) pr0grams. This report will also highlight the National Resource Center’s work with the Advising Success Network (ASN).
This is the fourth and final issue of a newsletter series that will serve as a report and thematic summary of content shared in the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition’s (NRC) multi-pronged engagement of TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) programs and their work with the Advising Success Network (ASN).
Guidebooks - Using Data and Evidence to Lead Holistic Advising Redesign
The first volume of Using Data and Evidence to Lead Holistic Advising Redesign focuses on the first challenge, Systems, and provides evidence-based strategies focused on improving the use of systems designed to gather and interpret evidence on academic advising.
This volume of Using Data and Evidence to Lead Holistic Advising Redesign focuses on the second challenge, Culture, and provides evidence-based strategies focused on creating a culture of data use around academic advising in your institution.
This volume of Using Data and Evidence to Lead Holistic Advising Redesign focuses on the third challenge, Resources, and provides evidence-based strategies focused on improving the human resources needed to use data more strategically.
HBCU Newsletters
This is the first issue in a newsletter series that will serve as a report and thematic summary of content shared in the National Resource Center’s multi-pronged engagement of HBCUs in their work with the Advising Success Network.
Because HBCUs must often look around campus and off campus to find support for students, a willingness to collaborate is vital – something the Symposium’s presenters and other participants made clear. The examples given also illustrate these institutions’ willingness to innovate – by making communication more transparent, using technology to expand course options, and overhauling traditional housing assignments for students and instructors, to name a few initiatives.
A culture of care might still lack a formal standard at higher ed institutions, but the current movement toward organizations showing consideration for openness, proactiveness, and vulnerability should be encouraging for students and institutions alike. The examples given from the National Resource Center’s Symposium involve nontraditional approaches to learning, a move toward serving students holistically, a willingness to be vulnerable and open at all levels, and an emphasis on relationships, among other initiatives.
Case Studies
The goal of this project began as an opportunity to amplify voices and practices in the field which merit replication and advance quality advising practices. Specifically, our collection was aimed at capitalizing on the rich diversity and varying approaches to academic advising, knowing that promising practice looks different based on student experience, campus context, academic major, etc. One of the greatest strengths of academic advising is its horizontal nature, requiring collaboration from faculty, staff, and students across all areas of the institution. Advising has the power to introduce, develop, and unify the entire campus community. External forces such as funding, organizational hierarchy, and policy will likely always coexist, yet quality advising may be the single most underestimated characteristic of a successful college experience (Light, R.J., 2001). In a pandemic and politically polarized society, advising is one of the critical unifying tools in higher education which promotes holistic student success. We hope this collection will serve as a catalyst for considering academic advising as a transformed landscape for student success and educational equity as well as raise the standard for equity as a deliberate and intentional basis for supporting students.
Light, R.J. (2001). Making the most of college. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Career advising, like all advising practices, requires a multifaceted and multiphase approach. The scope of career advising extends from helping students access career information to the teaching of a career-planning course for academic credit, mentorship, and beyond. Several areas on campus may be involved in providing a comprehensive career-counseling and information service to students such as advising and counseling services, career-planning and placement centers on campus, and even the library system. Therefore, integrating academic and career information is an important part of the advisement process. This volume on Career Advising as a Tool for Student Success and Educational Equity is the second of a three-part series of case studies concerned with demonstrating innovation, institutional transformation, and advising initiatives focused on advancing equity. It is our goal that this volume serves as a catalyst and encouragement for the work of practitioners who seek to support student futures.
This resource features nine campuses that have implemented initiatives designed to increase student financial awareness, well-being, and student success. These efforts range in complexity and involve collaboration with other departments, campus stakeholders, student peer educators, and financial institutions. Readers will learn about these approaches and gain insight as to how students can be better served.
Four themes emerge: financial well-being, integration into curriculum, peer-to-peer mentoring, and educational equity. The resource invites readers to consider the benefit of financial education after college, in transitioning from student to financially responsible adult.
This three-part collection, representative of qualitative research examining holistic support for Black men at 5 HBCUs in North Carolina, four HBCU advising case studies (featuring Elizabeth City State University; Fayetteville State University; Albany State University; and North Carolina Central University), and a content and literature analysis on the The Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transitioncoverage of Black student experiences, is intended to foreground best advising practices rooted in a culturally relevant framework that affirms HBCU students and their unique perspective, lived experience and need for community connections. The collection’s contents examine a range of advising models—centralized, decentralized, and hybrid—that yield positive outcomes for HBCU students.
This two-part resource highlights evidence-based initiatives TRIO professionals use to address equity and student success through sound advising practices.
With support from the ASN, the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition developed a Professional Learning Community (PLC). The goals of the PLC included amplifying the voices of professionals engaged in equity work, fostering conversation on success and solutions, contributing to scholarly and practice knowledge bases, and expanding participants’ professional network. The PLC provided multiple virtual engagements and an in-person symposium, and produced this resource collection.