True Adviser

Advisers College is Lambda Chi Alpha’s multi-tiered developmental program for alumni engaged in advising undergraduate chapters. Composed of three progressive levels — Advisers Basic, Adviser Advanced, and Adviser Emeritus — Advisers College prepares alumni to be successful in employing a wide range of teaching and mentoring skills all grounded in the Fraternity’s values-based True Brother Initiative.  Utilizing Lambda Chi Alpha’s Seven Core Values — Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Service & Stewardship, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage — Advisers are trained to guide, facilitate, and support the development and internalization of a personal identity in each undergraduate that defines what it means to be a True Brother in Lambda Chi Alpha.

Adviser Basic

In Adviser Basic, new advisers are trained in the basics of chapter operation and working with Zeta and executive officers. In addition, they are exposed to an overview of the Fraternity’s True Brother Initiative and trained in facilitation of the first component of True Brother — the Outer Circle, which consists of values-based recruitment, a structured and directed associate member program focusing on the application of the Seven Core Values, and a prescribed menu of pre-initiation events designed to reiterate and emotionally illuminate the teachings of the associate member period. New advisers also learn how to work in partnership with ELC’s and the International Headquarters from the perspective of shared values, shared training, and shared expectations. Adviser Basic attendees are also exposed to a variety of challenging case studies designed to increase their critical thinking skills and broaden their view of chapter internal dynamics. Ultimately the goal of Adviser Basic is to give new advisers the basic skills and understandings to be successful, have fun, and stay in the game.

Adviser Advanced

Adviser Advanced is exactly what its name suggests, higher level skill development for graduates of Adviser Basic as teachers, counselors, and facilitators. Special emphasis is placed on training advisers to be facilitators of the first level of the new Lambda Chi Alpha Leadership program with the expectation that advisers will teach that level of leader development in their chapters. Advanced advisers are also trained to fully implement and support the second component of True Brother, Inner Circle, a self-directed, four level personal development program designed to build the True Brother identity. Those in Adviser Advanced also delve into subjects like undergraduate intellectual and emotional development, teaching with film, ethics in advising, and using the Socratic  method  to develop critical thinking skills in undergraduates. The goal in Adviser Advanced is to provide participants with challenging new subject matter grounded in the latest learning theory and practice, while increasing their capabilities to deliver higher level programming  like  Inner Circle and Lambda Chi Alpha Leadership to their undergraduates.

Adviser Emeritus

The final level of Advisers College is Adviser Emeritus. Here, participants are trained to facilitate the second level of Lambda Chi Alpha Leadership, as well as being introduced to the interpersonal development component of True Brother, True ID. Participants are also trained to begin facilitating the first two levels of Advisers College, becoming part of an ever expanding faculty better able to deliver Advisers College programming outside of the General Assembly and Leadership Seminar settings. As we go forward, we want to be able to meet advisers where they are. To date, over half of the Fraternity’s chapter advisers have attended at least the first level of Advisers College, and we are well on our way to realizing  the mission of Advisers College: to teach, develop, and inspire our chapter advisers so that they become teachers, counselors, mentors, and role models for the undergraduate brothers  they serve and for Lambda Chi Alpha.