A Preliminary Report of Advisor Perceptions of Advising and of a Profession

Practicing advisors may not agree, know, or understand that advising does not meet the scholarly definition of a profession. Through a phenomenological study, members of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising were invited to describe the position of academic advisor. The data gathered were used to address two research questions: “How do advisors describe the occupation of advising?” and “How do advisors describe a profession?” Answers to these questions provided a foundation to understand advisors' views of advising as an occupation, definition of their own career, and understanding of a profession as it relates to advising.