As a great academic advisor, you don’t take summers off. While the students are away, you build up your skillset and come up with new strategies to ensure that you can provide the best support possible and ensure that your students graduate on time. You recognize that your job is not just advising your students on how to meet their prerequisites; your calling is to provide support. So while the students are away and you are considering hitting the beach or just sitting on your porch enjoying the summer weather, consider reading these three books.

1. “Academic Advising Approaches: Strategies That Teach Students to Make the Most of College”

Incoming first-year and new transfer students provide a unique challenge because you want to make sure to set them on the right path. They should explore everything your college or university has to offer and find the right courses and activities for them as individuals. “Academic Advising Approaches” provides a series of frameworks for you to help your students find their way. Based on established theories, this book discusses different methods of engagement so that you can customize your approach to each student. It is a bedrock book, something upon which to build all of your future approaches.

2. “The Undecided College Student: An Academic and Career Advising Challenge” (4th Edition)

One of the biggest tests for an academic advisor is advising a student who is not sure what to do next. “The Undecided College Student” addresses that point of view. In its fourth edition, this book updates its content with the results of new studies. The book still addresses how to overcome the mental biases of the undecided student. “The Undecided College Student” is especially helpful for new advisors who are looking to develop a program to support students who have not yet decided on a major.

3. “How Minority Students Experience College: Implications for Planning and Policy”

A major concern for any advisor is that minority students will feel disconnected from their college experience and not get as much out of it as a result. This book is especially helpful in addressing that issue. The basis of the book is a study that took place in several universities that have been recognized for their strength as multicultural organizations. The book provides the results of the study, as well as quotes and thoughts from minority students. While the book itself does not provide any suggestions on how to better engage minority students, it provides insight about how these students feel. If you can couple those insights with the strategies laid out in the first two books, you can have a powerful advising framework.