Rural universities such as FHSU may not have the ethnic diversity of students at an urban university, but census data indicates that the composition of the student body in a rural university will reflect changes in urban universities, the state and national population, and the diversity of the workforce as the United States increasingly shares in the global market. Increasing diversity has implications for academic advisors. Some students may be internationals who plan to return to their native countries, others are bilingual with limited English ability, and others will be American students with various proficiencies in English. The student body, as it changes, will have more ethnic minorities with their own family and community cultures. Minority students, like majority students, will come from various social classes.
Advisors are familiar with rural, urban, and regional differences in all students.
One role of the advisor is to help all students become full participants in the academic community and help them in achieving their goals. The advisor is not alone as other units on campus also have roles and can assist students. As with other students, the advisor is to help the minority student get through the system, with the end product, a graduated student who is educated in the discipline, ready to be a responsible citizen, acculturated to both higher education and society, and mature as an individual. Others on campus will help you in this important responsibility of guiding your advisees. As you advise the diverse student population in your department, you will find conflicting cultural values among students, different levels of responsibility, different levels of motivation, preparation, and determination, and possible conflicts between University policies and procedures and your advisee's concept of how a system functions.