Social Cognition

In this chapter, we examine equity-oriented academic advisor professional identity formation, with a focus on honoring diversity of culture and identity in advising landscapes. Advisors come to this work through a variety of pathways and bring distinctive backgrounds to the work of advising that color our advising experiences and our relationships with students (Dreasher, 2014; Justyna, 2014; McGill, 2019). The day-today work of advising informs our identities both inwardly for our own professional growth and fulfillment, but also outwardly, impacting real students' lives in powerful and meaningful ways (McGill et al., 2020). We imagine the possibilities of the ethical values and transformative power of advising as foundational to the enterprise of democratic higher education and justice for all. Advisors are uniquely positioned in the institution as intermediaries and guides between institutional policies and procedures and the students that navigate these systems. Advisors often bear witness to how policies and procedures create barriers that negatively impact our students, especially those from historically marginalized groups. While reflecting upon purpose in our professional identity and relational work as educators, we, the authors of this chapter, emphasize an equity-conscious orientation critically concerned with issues of power, privilege, and oppression in higher education. We question if the work of advising embeds a moral obligation and ethic of care to bring awareness and change to structural and social inequities affecting our work and the lives of our students. We imagine how advising matters within broader, collaborative transformations in academia that aim to cultivate inclusive, equitable, and pluralistic learning environments. Joining