Conveyors and Purveyors: College Advisers and the Value of the College Experience

• In Event: Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Pathways to Student Success: Lessons of Learning and Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of higher education is contested terrain, as neoliberal forces shape how its value is understood. Still, many argue for the holistic purposes of the college experience. Of interest in this study is how those situated within the intersections of these tensions navigate their work within the broader context of higher education as the interpret and implement values of their institutional context. Drawing from focus group discussions with college advisors, this paper explores academic advisors’ perceptions of the value of higher education. Emerging findings highlight advisors’ perceptions of the value of their own roles in fulfilling higher education’s purposes, ways in which the higher education context impedes students’ growth, and the vocationalization of higher education and their own practice.

Authors

• Desiree Zerquera, University of San Francisco

• Emerald Templeton, University of California - Berkeley