NASPA Announces the Advising Success Network

NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education is excited to introduce the Advising Success Network. The Advising Success Network, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is a partnership among higher education organizations and leaders who believe advising is the bright star in a constellation of student support services. 

The Advising Success Network is facilitated by NASPA and comprised of Achieving the Dream (ATD), the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), EDUCAUSE, NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, and the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. Kevin Kruger, president of NASPA, had this to say about the launch of the Advising Success Network, “One of the biggest challenges facing higher education is to bring student success innovations to scale across a wide range of institutions. The Advising Success Network is perfectly positioned to do just that and to drive innovations in advising reform that will have a significant impact on the educational outcomes for tens of thousands of students.” 

As institutions work toward completion agendas, they are moving away from understanding academic advising solely as an academic transaction. Many institutions are revisiting how advising roles can serve students more comprehensively. The mission of the network is to identify, build, and scale effective advising solutions across the field of higher education to ensure academic, career, and personal success for all students, with a focus on low-income students and students of color. This shift toward holistic support requires institution-wide reflection on the current student experience from recruitment through graduation, change and leadership management, and the strategic use of technology. Academic advising is one of the most impactful levers in this landscape, where 6-year graduation rates for full-time students hover at 55% (Tyton, 2015).  

The Advising Success Network will provide thought leadership, resources, and services to advance academic advising as a tool for helping institutions pursue equity and excellence in their support of students. The network will cultivate a list of resources, including case studies and research, and share these resources via a public website by mid-2020. To learn more, contact Sara Ackerson, Assistant Director of Advising Initiatives at [email protected].