The editorial team celebrates the ongoing quality of the submissions to the NACADA Journal. Each issue reflects the dedicated and skilled work of our advising community, and this issue is no different. It contributes four new, important articles to the academic advising literature base.
We open this issue with a study conducted by Matthew Rust and Dr. Ann Elizabeth Willey, who used a very large, multi-institutional survey to query advisors and advising administrators on the conceptualization and application of proactive advising at four-year colleges and universities. They proposed a definition of proactive advising that incorporates themes and attributes endorsed by their respondents. Their results point to implementation strategies, advising practices, and technology needed to successfully employ proactive advising across an institution. They stress the importance of resource allocation for successful implementation.
Next, Dr. Jaron Paschke and Dr. Annie Ditta delve into the nuances of executing flipped advising. They investigated best practices in the asynchronous online delivery of advising materials—both in writing and via video. They found that students advised through video tutorials benefitted from a pre-tutorial on how to optimize their learning; however, a pre-tutorial hindered subsequent delivery of advising information when delivered in a written format. This study illuminates the fascinating interplay of advising delivery through technology and metacognitive learning strategies.
Our third article is a NACADA-funded study by Dr. Krista Soria and Stacey Vakanski, which explores the academic, financial, and health-related obstacles rural students faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey responses from 31,575 four-year students revealed that those attending rural colleges and universities were significantly more likely to experience all of these obstacles. These results illuminate the systemic barriers that challenge students in rural communities. While this pandemic may have ended, the authors note that these obstacles not only persist but are likely to be exacerbated again by future disruptive events. The authors recognize that, while academic advisors cannot solve societal problems, they play vital roles in supporting these students.
We close this issue with Dr. Felicia O’Rourke’s investigation of workplace stress and burnout among Division I athletic academic advisors. Introducing two models of athletic academic advising in Division I institutions – a single team model and a split team model – she explored how burnout manifested within each. Dr. O’Rourke interviewed eight athletic academic advisors, four from each model, to understand how they experienced job burnout antecedents. She found that the impacts of turnover, family conflict, and being constantly “on” significantly contributed to burnout. In response, she calls for a culture shift within athletics with workload and expectation adjustments needed to reduce turnover and retain advisors who support the college athlete population.
As the editors, we review every manuscript submitted to the NACADA Journal and acknowledge the impact this scholarship has on student success, institutional goals, and the continual advancement of practices within the advising profession. As you read these articles, we ask that you take note of any articles that resonate, impress, assist, or impact you in a meaningful way. Additionally, we have chosen to reprint a classic article by former NACADA Journal editor Dr. Leigh Shaffer and Dr. Jennifer Zalewski from 2011, “Career Advising in a VUCA Environment.” VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. With the proliferation of new technologies, artificial intelligence, and the changing nature of higher education, we thought this was an appropriate gem to share with our readers again.
The Leigh S. Shaffer Award recognizes an article or chapter, published by the NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, for its relevance and influence on advancing the field and contributing to the scholarship of academic advising. As 2025 is about to begin, we ask that you make 2025 the year that you nominate an article for the Leigh S. Shaffer Award in recognition of his legacy and the incredible scholarship which is being published in the field.
Along with a new issue and a new year approaching, a new editor is also joining the team! The NACADA Journal Editorial Team welcomes Dr. Sarah Champlin-Scharff as new coeditor along with Dr. Lisa Rubin. Dr. Sarah Champlin-Scharff has over 20 years of involvement with NACADA, including serving on the Journal’s editorial board, publishing in the Journal, leading the NACADA Research Committee, chairing NACADA’s Theory, Philosophy, and History Community, and much more. She is currently the Director of Academic Policy in the Office of Undergraduate Education at Harvard University and thus adds an advising administrator perspective to the Journal.
As we welcome Sarah, Kari would like to share what an honor and privilege it has been to serve as coeditor of this journal for her term over the last three years. She had the opportunity to collaborate with so many inspiring authors, reviewers, and editorial team members and will treasure this experience always and look forward to seeing how the Journal continues to advance the scholarship of advising.
Lisa and Ashley thank Kari for her outstanding leadership as coeditor of the NACADA Journal the past three years! She has contributed so much of her expertise in quantitative research, expanded the editorial board to include diverse backgrounds of content and methods, led the author survey initiative and the content analysis of 10 recent years of scholarship in the Journal, and has continued to share innovative ideas to further academic advising scholarship. We are grateful for her service to NACADA!