Meeting Upper-Level Students' Advising Needs: A Departmental Study of Student and Faculty Opinion

Research shows divergent student and faculty expectations of academic advising. However, few studies directly compare the two groups' opinions. Student majors and faculty members in the Sociology Department of The University of Akron were asked to rate academic advisors' level of responsibility for 42 advising tasks. MANOVA of student and faculty opinions showed that the groups differed significantly on two of four identified dimensions: advising students on campus resources and planning for the future. Suggestions for offering students a broader range of help and assisting nonadvising faculty members with advising awareness are included.