Faculty advisors at four institutions completed questionnaires designed to categorize the information they received when learning advising responsibilities. They identified role-set members who provided this information and its usefulness by type. They receive more organizational (policies and procedures) information than any other type of advising information, which they rate high in usefulness. While they receive formal appraisal information less often than any other type and rate it lowest in usefulness, faculty members receive informal appraisal messages from students. The findings warrant further investigation of the influence of students as socialization agents in the faculty advisor role-learning process.
Author notes
Dr. Regina Waters is an Assistant Professor of Communication at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. She earned her doctorate in communication from the University of Missouri, Columbia, in ,1001 where she completed a dissertation that combined her interests in organizational socialization issues and academic advising. She is a recipient of the ,1002 NACADA Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award. Interested readers may contact her at rwaters@drury.edu.
