ACA Argosy

1
ACA Argosy

• Fall 2005 Edition
• Beverly Anderson, ACA Historian and Argosy Editor
• Special Thanks to the contributors of this issue
  Ann Permann and Lovelys Powell

2
Monthly Meetings
President Elect Greg Murphy
ACA PDD Co-Chair Theresa Thomas
ACA Secretary Steve Alvarez
ACA President Melva Harbin
Dr. Randa Ryan Athletics
3
Congratulations to our fellow ACA members on
being honored with the James W. Vick Texas
Excellence Award for Academic Advising Paula
Foy - College of Natural Sciences Sue Gamel -
College of Education Briana Mohan - College of
Communications John Theofanis - College of
Natural Sciences Arletta Tompkins - College of
Engineering
4
Important Dates
Diverse Advising for aDiverse World- NACADA
National ConferenceOctober 18-21, 2006

• February 7 (Tues.)- ACA Brown Bag Proposing and
  Presenting at Conferences- Sinclair Suite (noon)
• February 10 (Fri.)- NACADA National Proposal
  Deadline (online)
• February 16 (Thurs.)-APSA Professional
  Development Day
• February 22-24- TEXAAN Conference
• March 9-11- Region 7 Conference
• March 29 (Wed.)- Advising EXPO

5
ACA Professional Development Day November 15, 2005
2005 ACA PDD Committee
6
Musings on Academic and Student Affairs By Ann
Permann Are academic advisors student affairs
professionals? Are student affairs professionals
academic advisors? What did you first think
about when considering these questions? Are
these questions even relevant to our roles as
academic advisors and student affairs
professionals? The questions are relevant
because they allude to the larger question of the
differences between student and academic affairs.
I remember that as an assistant coordinator for
the First-year Interest Group (FIG) Program I was
frequently approached at national conferences by
others who were confounded by the fact that the
FIGs were a student affairs, rather than academic
affairs, program. To me it made perfect sense!
Like many of you, I have worked in both academic
and student affairs, and based on these
experiences I propose that yes, these questions
are important to consider and yes, student
affairs professionals are academic advisors and
academic advisors are student affairs
professionals. So why the need to even address
the opening questions? The scenario above is a
perfect reason why. The divide between
academic and student affairs has been the
discussion of many a graduate course and topic of
various articles. It is rare to hear discussions
about the divide outside of the classroom or
apart from a magazine article. Yet the thoughts
that come out of these types of discussions can
impact our roles and how we serve our students.
Do we as professionals encourage students to
separate the academic from the co-curricular or
do we encourage students to bring them together?
From my observations it is clear that academic
advisors and student affairs professionals are
working toward the same goal. But what do others
think? To answer this question, I embarked upon
a review some definitions as well as mission
statements. Traditionally, student affairs has
been defined as being concerned with the outside
of the classroom experience. In Academic
Advising A Comprehensive Handbook, Gordon and
Habley use David Crocketts definition of
academic advising Academic advising is a
developmental process which assists students in
the clarification of their life/career goals and
in the development of an educational plan for the
realization goalsThe advisor serves as a
facilitator of communication, a coordinator of
learning experiences through course and career
planning and academic progress review, and an
agent of referral to other campus agencies as
necessary (p. 289). Perhaps we are victims of
traditional definitions academic affairs deals
with inside the classroom while student affairs
focuses on outside the classroom. In practice,
most of us are working with students on both
issues. It is more refreshing to look at mission
statements, which minimize this distinction.
7
The mission statements of NACADA (National
Academic Advising Association), ACPA (American
College Personnel Association), and NASPA
(National Association of Student Personnel
Administrators) show how student affairs
professionals and academic advisors define
themselves. If words like advising, and names
like ACPA and NASPA werent used, you could
easily apply these statements to both academic
advisors and student affairs professionals. -Cham
pion the educational role of academic advisors
to enhance student learning and development in a
diverse world -NASPA, as the leading voice for
student affairs administration, policy and
practice, affirms the commitment of student
affairs to educating the whole student and
integrating student life and learning -ACPA
leads the student affairs profession and the
higher education community in providing outreach,
advocacy, research, and professional development
to foster college student learning. The
similarity that flows through these selected
statements (as well as the unprinted portions) is
the emphasis on student learning. It is clear
that learning is an essential part of these
organizations missions, as well as our own.
Which brings us back to campus. Why does it feel
like student affairs and academic affairs are
separate universes? Why do I even need to ask
the opening questions? Many of us have seen these
worlds come together in our everyday jobs,
whether it be facilitating a first-year interest
group or writing out a dismissal contract
stipulating the use of particular campus
resources. Ultimately, I believe the divide is
artificial when it comes down to the individuals
in these roles. In fact, I would argue the
organization of a university has more to do with
creating this chasm than anything else. The very
nature of a large bureaucracy is that people
specialize as there is so much to do. Of course,
I am not the only one who believes that this
seeming division is a function of organization.
But our structure emerged as a result of larger
trends in society. In Learning Reconsidered A
Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience put
out in January 2004 by ACPA and NASPA, the
authors write that Seeing students as their
component parts (body, mind, spirit), rather than
as an integrated whole, supported the emergence
of fragmented college systems and structures
academic affairs to cultivate the intellect, and
student affairs to tend the body, emotions, and
spirit (p.3). This last statement captures the
essence of the divide, and if you were to review
the mission statements of divisions of student
affairs, many still emphasize their role in the
out of class arena of student life.
8
Perhaps if we conceptualized this campus in terms
of the student and learning, instead of our
positions, it will help us as well as our
students see the relationships among different
parts of campus, not to mention relationships
among their own learning experiences. This is
the beauty of the Learning Reconsidered document
quoted above. This work focuses on a
comprehensive learning environment for students,
and proposes many ideas to help make learning
meaningful that span across campus. The piece
argues and illustrates that learning,
development, and identity formation can no longer
be considered as separate from each other, but
rather that they are interactive and shape each
other as they evolve (p.10). No matter what
role you are in, if you work with students, you
see the relationship of these parts. As
universities evolve to meet the changing needs of
todays students, perhaps we will see less of a
divide among our campus constituencies. Most
certainly there will be new questions to ask and
debate! References Gordon, Virginia N., Habley,
Wesley R. , et.al (2000). Academic advising A
Comprehensive Handbook. San Francisco Jossey
Bass. The National Association of Student
Personnel Administrators and The American College
Personnel Association (2004). Learning
Reconsidered A Campus-Wide Focus on the Student
Experience. Retrieved January 27, 2006, from The
National Association of Student Personnel
Administrators Web site http//www.naspa.org/mem
bership/leader_ex_pdf/lr_long.pdf The National
Association of Student Personnel Administrators
(2005). About NASPA. Retrieved January 27,
2006, from The National Association of Student
Personnel Administrators Web site
http//www.naspa.org/about/index.cfm The American
College Personnel Association (2004). About us.
Retrieved January 27, 2006, from The American
College Personnel Association Web site
http//www.myacpa.org/au/au_index.cfm
9
Tidbits

• Check out the resources at the NACADA
  Clearinghouse
• http//www.nacada.ksu.edu/Clearinghouse/AdvisingIs
  sues/

Featured Monograph at NACADAs website Peer
Advising Interntional Connections to Academic
Advising
10
Keeping Up with Oscar Do you find that you dont
have enough time to catch flicks at the cinema
with registration and summer orientation looming
in the distance? No problemjust log into your
Netflix account and update your queue with these
films Lovelys Top 20 of 2005.
11
ACA Holiday Party 2005
Bowlin
Co-Chairs Annette and Elizabeth
What was in that cake?!
Sing it!
FESTIVE!