2015 Advising Fall Welcome

2015 Fall Welcome

A warm welcome to the 2015-16 academic year to all UC Davis advisors, new and returning! There was much to report at the Fall Welcome, held September 22nd. Here are highlights from the event, attended by approximately 150 advisors from across campus.

UC Davis Academic Advisor Certification: Joe Lee and Erin McMurry

UC Davis is implementing a new certification program to ensure that advisors are professionally trained in industry-standard key advising competencies. Rolling out this year, the UC Davis Academic Advisor Certification Level One will establish standards of knowledge for interacting with students, and provide a solid introduction to essential campus resources.

  • Nuts & Bolts: this popular course offers a full introduction to a variety of campus offices useful in advising. Registration is now open for fall quarter.
  • Developing Deeper Advising Relationships: a four-part series focused on communication, social justice, and awareness of self and others. Registration is now open for fall quarter.
  • Students of Concern: what to do when you are concerned that a student may harm himself or others; where to refer students in difficulty.
  • Introduction to Advising Technology: an onboarding training pertaining to the Online Advising Student Information System (OASIS) as well as other electronic advising tools.
  • One elective: a variety of options throughout the year.

UC Davis Academic Advisor Certification Level 2 is currently in development and will provide an opportunity for co-curricular coursework and further specialization. Development of the UC Davis Academic Advisor Certification Level 3 will follow as a scholarly pursuit for advisors with ambitions to publish and conduct scholarly inquiry in an advising context.

Mentoring: Nancy Davis

“Mentorship is partnership, providing mentees an opportunity to expand their network and professional advising skills, and mentors a chance to add to the advising knowledge base and develop a colleague by sharing their successes and challenges in the field.” --Brad Horton

Mentorship is one of the best ways to pass on wisdom. The new mentor program allows seasoned advisors to share their knowledge. The program fills a gap in training, and keeps new advisors from having to “reinvent the wheel.” Applications to serve as a mentor or to request a mentor close at the end of September.

Peer Advising Subcommittee: Wendy Haws and Perry Gee

Ritika Iyer, peer advisor in the College of Letters & Science, and Majesta Ewing, the First-year Experience peer coordinator, announced that the peer advisors will host a cross-college Meet & Greet event on October 13th at 5pm in the Chemistry Building Courtyard.

Coffee Talks: Kelli Sholer and Perry Gee

Co-chairs Kelli and Perry announced upcoming Coffee Talks for Fall, including Getting Started with Assessment of Academic Advising (Kara Moloney and Tiffany Johnson from the Office of Undergraduate Education); Understanding Financial Aid; and Empowering Undocumented Students. Future topics include Addressing Spirituality in Advising and the University Honors Program.

Technology Update: Megan Richmond

The campus is developing a Secure Messaging System for communicating with students, which integrates MyUCDavis with OASIS to provide a messaging system that is more secure than email. The Contact an Expert page accessed from MyUCDavis will include advising resources. Please update your advising contact information in OASIS; the new center will autopopulate with the current information.

Majors Fair: Melissa Whaley

Melissa is organizing a majors fair with the goal of bringing together advisors representing every major and minor into one place where students can fully explore UC Davis’s degree programs. The focus is on providing information, not on recruitment. In addition, co-curricular programs will be invited to table. The fair will take place on January 26th from 11-2, in ARC Ballrooms A&B.

2015 Sunflowers
2015 Sunflowers

UC Davis Academic Advising Conference: Thursday, March 17th

Conference co-chairs Anthony Volkar (logistics & marketing), Reina Smarkel (programming), and Elizabeth Dudley (hospitality) announced the call for volunteers. The theme will focus on campus change.

Conferences and Awards: Brett McFarlane

It’s important to share this work with one another. Upcoming events include:

  • NACADA Annual Conference – October 4-7, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada
  • California Collaborative Academic Advising Conference - October 20-21, 2015, CSU Dominguez Hills. This conference brings educators from California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California together to create a transparent system that allows students to move seamlessly through California's higher education system, optimizing progress to degree completion and eliminating the achievement gap.  Advisors are the key to laying out plans, and must work with faculty as advocates. This is the first time all three of California’s public higher education systems will meet in an advising capacity. Registration closes on October 1st, 2015.
  • NACADA Region 9 Conference – March 14-16, 2016 at USC
  • UC Davis Advising Conference – March 17, 2016 at UC Davis Conference Center
  • UC Academic Advising Conference –May 2-4, 2016 at UCSB

“You do tremendous things here in the advising realm, and others need to know about it.” --Brett McFarlane

Awards: Kat Jackson and Kate Creveling

UC Davis has talented and dedicated advisors, so why aren’t we represented at regional and national conferences? The answer is that we’re not structured to reward and recognize the outstanding advising talent we have on campus. Thanks to the awards committee we now have a UC Davis advising awards program as well as a pipeline for forwarding award winners to broader recognition at the regional and global level.

For the 2015 inaugural year, awards include $65 NACADA bucks to spend toward NACADA membership or resources.

2015 Fall Welcome Award recipients.

The 2015 UC Davis Advising Award winners are:

  • Outstanding Peer Advisor: Laura Knox, L&S Dean’s Office
  • Outstanding New Advisor: Julie King Zech, CA&ES Dean’s Office
  • Outstanding Advising Administrator: Beth Floyd, Director of Academic Advising, L&S
  • Outstanding Campus Collaborator: Joanne Snapp, Director of Health Professions, CBS
  • Outstanding Innovative Advisor: Melissa Whaley, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, CA&ES
  • Outstanding Faculty Advisor: Dr. Hwai-Jong Cheng, Professor Center for Neuroscience, CBS
  • Outstanding Academic Advisor: Perry Gee, Department of Chemistry
  • Outstanding Student Affairs Advisor: Eric Sanchez, Assistant Director TRIO Scholars Program in the Student Academic Success Center