The dawn of 2012 marked the 40th anniversary of the publication of two classic articles in the professional literature of academic advising: “A Developmental View of Academic Advising as Teaching” by Burns Crookston (1972/1994/2009) and “An Academic Advising Model” by Terry O'Banion (1972/1994/2009). The principle that academic advising is teaching has long been adopted by NACADA members, and the idea of developmental academic advising has influenced two generations of academic advising practice. Burns Crookston passed away several years ago, but we are fortunate that Terry O'Banion and NACADA Journal Senior Editor Tom Grites were willing to reflect on the past 40 years in the Fall 2012 issue, offering their unique perspectives on the continuing significance of developmental approaches to academic advising. For the lead article in this issue, Grites documents the impact of developmental advising through a detailed overview of its history.
Each of the other Journal contributors address the continuing salience of the developmental perspective of academic advising. Richard Erlich and Darlene Russ-Eft finish their three-part series on social cognitive theory as applied to advising practice. In the article for this issue, they focus on assessing student learning through academic advising. Jason Thompson looks at advisor roles and dilemmas when negotiating the often conflicting demands placed on them by student-athletes and the stakeholders invested in these special advisees. Hadyn Swecker, Mathew Fifolt, and Linda Searby report the results of a quantitative study of advising on the retention of first-generation college students. Daniel Mansson and Scott Myers describe the effects of mentoring support on relational uncertainty between doctoral students and their advisors. Finally, Katie Houman and Janice Stapley explore the experiences of college students with chronic illnesses and offer their insights into how academic advisors can better meet the needs of this unique, often invisible, student population. These articles clearly demonstrate that the contributions of Burns Crookston and Terry O'Banion have served NACADA members as a foundation both for advancing knowledge of the advisor–advisee relationship and for grounding effective advising practice as well.
Editors' note: Having both lived in Pennsylvania for many years, we are reminded of a familiar road sign often posted near construction zones that reads, Temporary Inconvenience, Permanent Improvement as NACADA has, after extensive exploration of the options, found a company to provide improved technology for managing manuscripts as well as cost-effective means of production and delivery of the NACADA Journal. We are pleased to announce that NACADA has entered into an agreement with Allen Press in Lawrence, Kansas, to provide a new publication management system with state-of-the-art Peer Track software.
While looking ahead with positive anticipation, we look behind with great appreciation. We thank Bob Maddula, the former NACADA information technology professional for creating the manuscript management system used for the past decade, as well as Gary Cunningham, the current IT Systems Manager, and Marsha Miller, NACADA Assistant Director, Research and Services, for maintaining it to date. The management system, as designed by our predecessors, Terry Kuhn and Gary Padak, offered greatly improved efficiency as increasing numbers of contributors sent manuscripts for review.
We express gratitude to Kansas State University Printing Services for successfully producing and printing each Journal issue since 1996, when membership consisted of 4,600 Americans, to 2012, when more than 11,500 advisors and advocates from The United States, Canada, and 25 other countries joined the organization. Printing Services kept up with this dramatic increase in demand, mailing all copies domestically during that time frame. We are especially indebted to Rick Butler, graphic designer at Printing Services, for his invaluable dedication and professionalism as our production expert for the NACADA Journal during this period.
We also acknowledge the contributions of Kennan Ingalsbe of TSF Consulting. NACADA members have enjoyed access to PDFs of past articles because of his programming. Beginning in summer of 2013, Allen Press will provide online access of Journal articles for members and up-to-date information for authors interested in publishing with the Journal.
Finally, we thank our authors and reviewers for their patience and diligence in working with us as we manage the business of the NACADA Journal during the transition from the old system to the new one.