Four major lines of research on sojourner adaptation are reviewed and their influence on the development of mission statements in international student advising offices in American universities are posited. It is suggested that two lines of research are historically important in the sense that inferences derived from research on the "problems" of foreign student adaptation provided a basis for the establishment of international student advising offices whereas research on culture shock, stages of adjustment, and cross-cultural counseling led to a significant expansion of the mission of these "newly created" departments to include a host of counseling activities and more "psychologically" based orientation programs. The latter (more recent) lines of research are important because they provide empirical support for including in the mission statements of international student advising offices the notion of culture learning and the important role communication plays in facilitating adaptation. The paper concludes by discussing the training implications that derive from these four lines of research. © 1992.

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