Faculty and Career Advising: Challenges, Opportunities, and Outcome Assessment

Psychology prioritizes students’ professional or career development by including it as one of the five undergraduate learning goals. Faculty advisors are critical to that development but likely feel less prepared for the role. Departments face challenges assessing associated student learning outcomes. We introduce an instrument programs can use to evaluate outcomes and advisors can use to measure students’ advising needs, perceptions, and preferences. We share results from an undergraduate sample (N = 91) to illustrate potential data and uses. For example, these students viewed faculty as knowledgeable career advisors and expressed confidence in their major selection but simultaneously reported feeling unprepared for postgraduation life and thought the major was not highly marketable. We offer specific recommendations for using such data to promote professional development