The NACADA Academic Advising Consultants and Speakers Service (AACSS) can provide institutions assistance in two different ways.

First, the NACADA AACSS is designed to provide assistance to colleges and universities in the review, establishment, development, or reorganization of advising services. The AACSS can provide institutions with individual or a team of consultants to provide a comprehensive and in-depth evaluation and audit of the advising services across the campus or of an advising unit. The consultant or team will conduct an on-site study of the advising program which depending on the university or department can take two to three days.  After the review the team will provide both an oral and written report for the institution if requested.   The reports will discuss the strengths and challenges found as well as provide a comprehensive set of recommendations that focus on improvements for the advising services on the campus.

Many institutions involved in Title III and Title V grants as well as other grant programs or who are preparing for accreditation visits or major campus initiatives focusing on student persistence, retention, and engagement have found the advising audits to be invaluable. 

To request an audit or program review please submit a audit-review request form.

Second, the AACSS can also provide you with nationally recognized experts in the field of advising to give keynote or motivational speeches at institutional conferences, meetings, or other special events on your campus. In addition, speakers can be selected to conduct advisor development workshops on your campus for a variety of populations (administrators, faculty advisors, professional advisors, peer advisors, student groups) on a variety of topics. 

To request a speaker or workshop leader please submit a speaker request form. 

The AACSS matches institutions with experts in the advising fields most applicable to the institution's needs. Each consultant has specific skills and knowledge within various fields of expertise.  The areas of consultant expertise includes a wide variety of fields such as advising delivery systems, program review, freshman advising and student retention to name only a few. The NACADA Executive Office will assist you through the steps to find the best consultant for your institution.  The Academic Advising Consultants and Speakers Service provides all of these services at a reasonable cost.  

Please be aware that our consultants are senior administrators at their universities and have full schedules.  Because of their campus obligations our consultants usually need at least two months or more notice in order to set up a campus visit.

• 'The team of consultants who visited our university was able to quickly identify the areas of greatest need, provide timely and incredibly valuable feedback, and has provided continuous support as we disseminate the information provided in their report. Their approach to academic advising places the student at the center of any recommendations, which perfectly matches the culture of our university.'Betty Schaner, Director, SMART Center, Grand Valley State University

• 'The consultant's ability to talk to campus personnel at all levels -- advisors to administrators -- has helped us initiate a conversation about the role of advising at UI. I'm not sure we could have gotten as far as we have in the past year without his visits.'Cyndi Faircloth, Academic Advising Coordinator, University of Idaho

• 'The NACADA Academic Advisoring Consultants and Speakers Service fulfilled our every hope for a nationally recognized speaker. The consultant's visit climaxed several years of very hard work on our campus to improve undergraduate advising and certainly fulfilled our expectation and need for this caliber of speaker.'George Simmons, Virginia Tech.

• ' Out Past the Edges ' a Academic Advising Consultants and Speakers Service experience at Ivy Tech Community College by Jerry Harrell

• 'This was a very positive experience and I would definitely use the NACADAAcademic Advisoring Consultants and Speakers Serviceagain in the future.'Michael J. Prutsman, Director of the Office for Advisement and Student Instructional Support, Adirondack Community College