Thomas J. Grites is assistant to the provost at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.  He has been directly involved in and a student of the academic advising process in higher education for over 30 years.  Information and materials from his presentations at national conferences and from his publications have been used by advisors in a variety of institutions.  Tom has served as a consultant and faculty development workshop leader to over 100 different campuses, and he has addressed numerous high school and community groups in his home state.  He was instrumental in forming the National Academic Advising Association and served as its second President for two terms.

His research and writing have linked the importance of academic advising to such seemingly diverse areas as admissions, general education, high school counseling, economic profits, ethics, collective bargaining, and faculty development.  His landmark publication, Academic Advising: Getting Us through the Eighties, served as a basis for the review of campus advising programs for many years.  Developmental Academic Advising, of which he was a co-author, was used as the “standard text” for advising programs and advisor training programs for many years.  He has authored more than 50 journal articles, position statements, book chapters, and consultant reports, and he has delivered over 70 conference presentations.  He recently completed an orientation/textbook for transfer students. 

In addition to his work in academic advising, he worked in college housing programs on three campuses; he regularly taught a general methods course in teacher education; he has also taught a Freshman Seminar course, a Basic Skills course in Critical Thinking, a graduate course on “Developmental Academic Advising” at Teacher’s College, Columbia University, and most recently a “transfer student seminar” that is modeled on the freshman seminar concept.  He has also served on his local Board of Education for over 20 years.

He is a native of Danville, Illinois and earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Illinois State University.  His doctoral work was completed at the University of Maryland.  Both these institutions have awarded him their Distinguished Alumni Awards.  Most recently he was inducted into the College of Education Hall of Fame at Illinois State during its 150^th Anniversary celebration.  Tom resides in Absecon, New Jersey.