Advising Graduate Adult Learners at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: An Exploratory Study of Faculty Advisors’ Experiences

This article explores faculty advisors’ perceived experiences in advising graduate adult learners at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). The extant body of literature does not adequately examine the experiences of faculty who serve as graduate academic advisors and does little to address the unique issues, challenges, and barriers faced by graduate adult learners. Furthermore there is nothing in the literature that addressees academic advising of graduate adult learners within the HBCU context. This exploratory study sought to address this gap in the academic advising literature. Using purposive sampling, 13 faculty members who are affiliated with an HBCU were interviewed in our attempts to learn about their experiences as academic advisors to graduate adult learners. It is hoped that the findings of this study will increase understanding of faculty’s experiences in the advisor/advisee relationship with graduate adult learners, provide some contextual understanding of academic advising of graduate adult learners at HBCU, and provide an impetus for further research in this area.