The Professionalization of Academic Advising: A Structured Literature Review

Practitioners and scholars of academic advising have long grappled with the professional status of the field. To better understand the characteristics of professionalization and the obstacles that stand in the way of professionalizing the field, a structured review of the literature from 1980 to 2016 was conducted. Three characteristics of professionalization were discussed in the advising literature: issues with scholarship, expansion of graduate programs, and community. Obstacles to professionalization discovered through the review were the need to define the field further, role of the professional association, training and education required to perform the advising role, personal and occupational autonomy, and lack of a consistent administrative home for advising. Suggestions for future research are offered.