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The New Advisor Guidebook: Mastering the Art of Academic Advising (2nd ed.) Pat Folsom, Franklin Yoder, and Jennifer E. Joslin (Editors) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2015, 355 pages, $55.00 (hardcover, e-book)
Given that many higher education institutions provide little to no training for new (or experienced) academic advisors, it is clear that The New Advisor Guidebook (2nd ed.), edited by Pat Folsom, Franklin Yoder, and Jennifer E. Joslin, is an important addition to the academic advising literature. Although this is technically the second edition, it is a substantial upgrade to the first edition which first appeared in 2007 as a NACADA monograph that was edited by Folsom. This edition for new advisors is the first in a sequence of three books produced through a partnership between NACADA and Jossey-Bass that seeks to meet the needs of beginning, intermediate (year 2 and beyond), and advanced (over 3 years) academic advisors. The Guidebook seeks to provide new faculty and professional advisors the information and skills they need to be effective in their jobs. The six parts of the book are undergirded by Habley's (1995) three essential advising components: conceptual (part 2), informational (part 3), and relational (part 4). Each chapter includes basic terms, information, concepts, as well as strategies and case studies to bring the information shared to life.
The first part of the book has one chapter. Folsom makes the case that academic advising involves much more than just registering for classes. She deftly sets up Habley's (1995) conceptual, informational, and relational components as the framework for presenting NACADA's advisor competencies list in "The New Advisor Development Chart." This chart "identifies essential topics and proficiencies for effective advising - the knowledge and skills advisors need to demonstrate in effective practice" (p. 8). I strongly concur with Folsom's statement that "At first glance, new advisors may find the scope of the chart overwhelming" (p. 9). As an advisor for over 25 years, I found the chart with three columns (Foundations, Year 1, and Year 3, and Beyond: Foundational Mastery) to be indeed overwhelming and a bit humbling. However, there is value in the chart if used appropriately to help guide the work of new advisors and the people charged with training them. It may have been less...