Professional Development in an Uncertain Profession: Finding a Place for Academic and Career Advisors

Abstract

Professional development for academic and career advisors has not attracted much attention in the advising literature and is more often embedded in discussions of the assessment of advising or professional development for student affairs practitioners. The result of this omission from professional discourse has contributed to uncertainty about advising as a profession and minimized the apparent need for professional development. In this article, the author examines the relationship between advising and professional work and details the need for professional development for academic and career advisors in higher education. Barriers to professional development are considered and a model for change is introduced.