Each year, more advisors in either two year colleges or four year universities are faced with a growing new group of advisees. These advisees often speak English as their second or third language or different cultural backgrounds. This new student population encompasses students from a wide range of cultural and economic backgrounds. They are diverse in age, education and abilities. Many face particular challenges that are difficult for advisors to address. They face cultural adjustment, financial, emotional and language proficiency problems.

This is not a group that is easy to categorize: some may be foreign students studying on student visas, others may be citizens who have arrived in the country as immigrants or refugees, some may have been in the country only a matter of days, others for many years. Some may be very proficient in spoken English; others may still be struggling to speak.

The premise for the ESL/International Student Advising Commission is that this new student population has unique needs that require different approaches from Advisors. The ESL/International Student Commission highlights the needs of this segment of the student population, and provides a framework within which ESL/International Student Advisors or other advisors who work with this student population can share their knowledge and experience, and learn from others.

For further information, or to join the ESL & International Student Advising Commission, please contact the NACADA Executive Office.

Chair: Leslie Staggers, Transfer Specialist, Indiana University-Southeast, Office of Admissions

Phone: (812) 941-2188        E-mail: lyeage01@ius.edu