The NACADA Journal 1981–1997: Fulfilling Its Purpose?

Abstract

This article traces the history and content of the NACADA Journal through an analysis of its 33 published issues. Over the past 18 years of its existence, the Journal has been the purveyor of important information about many topics relevant to the field of academic advising. An extensive analysis of the Journal's content, such as number and length of articles, type of author (s), methodologies, and references cited by authors is provided. Prominent advising themes and trends during two decades are revealed through this study of the Journal.

NACADA Journal Authors: 20 Years of Contributions

“…As discussed in our previous study of Journal content areas (Gordon & Grites, 1998), the variety of topics found in almost two decades of Journal issues reflects the broad subject matter associated with academic advising. In this analysis, to determine if any particular type of personnel favored writing about certain topics, we compared the position title of the first author to article themes.…”

“…Five editors are associated with the first two decades of the Journal: Edward L. Jones (1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986), Edward J. Danis (1987-1989), Howard K. Schein (1990-1995), Michael L. Lynch (1996-1998), Joel S. Freund (1999-2000, and the current editor, Thomas J. Kerr.…”

“…Table 1 summarizes the weighted frequencies of the authors' professional titles. Because an analysis of the authors' gender was included in the previous study (Gordon & Grites, 1998), it was not included here. In addition, the title and institution analyses for Toolbox and Forum authors were conducted separately.…”

“…To provide consistency between this study and that of 1998 (Gordon & Grites, 1998) and to associate author with article types, we duplicated six of the seven major themes outlined in the previously published piece: general advising topics, administrative/organizational systems, student populations, developmental advising, retention, and professional development. Because our purpose was to examine the literature about academic advising (the profession) rather than NACADA (the professional association), those articles that would best be classified under "NACADA organization" were assigned to one of the other six themes (if applicable).…”

Adding Insight to Intrusive Advising and Its Effectiveness with Students on Probation

“…Focused research on the impact of advising on student success and the effectiveness of advising practices has been very limited (Gordon & Grites, 1998). Regarding students on probation, in particular, much emphasis has been placed on various strategies to address the academic factors that influence academic achievement (Abrams & Jernigan, 1984;Steinmiller & Steinmiller, 1991;Taylor, 1987;Whitner & Sanz, 1988).…”