Empowering Advisors: Fostering a Culture of Engaged Learning and Continuous Improvement
10th Annual UC Davis Academic Advising Conference
Schedule: All events will be held in Ballrooms A|B|C
8 - 9 a.m.
Check in and breakfast
Tabling: Transitional and Enrichment Programs and Services
Learn about becoming a First-Year Aggie Connections (FYAC) facilitator. Facilitators are matched with around 25 first-year students in a Connection. Each Connection is different — some are associated with for-credit seminars, others are affiliated with on-campus groups and others are based on a common academic or co-curricular interest.
9 - 9:30 a.m.
Welcome
Kayton Carter | Executive Director, Academic Advising Enrichment, Undergraduate Education
Remarks from leadership
Michael Bradford
Vice Provost and Dean, Undergraduate Education
9:30 - 10:30 a.m.
Keynote presentation
Empowering advisors to address the changing landscape of higher education
Kyle Ross
Executive Director, NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising
10:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Break
10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Strengths workshop
Lisa Laughter
Senior Career Coach, Human Resources Learning and Development
Explore the power of CliftonStrengths and its potential to shape your professional journey. Gain clarity on your values and discover how CliftonStrengths can elevate your effectiveness in guiding students. Whether you’re new to CliftonStrengths or a seasoned enthusiast, this session is designed to support all participants in reflecting on their career journeys as academic advisors.
12:15 - 1 p.m.
Lunch
Tabling: Transitional and Enrichment Programs and Services
Learn more about becoming a First-Year Aggie Connections (FYAC) facilitator. Facilitators are matched with a group of around 25 first-year students in a Connection. Each Connection is different — some are associated with for-credit seminars, others are affiliated with on-campus groups and others are based on a common academic or co-curricular interest.
Tabling: Summer Sessions
Connect with the Summer Sessions team and grab some swag!
1 - 1:45 p.m.
State of academic advising
Kayton Carter
Executive Director, Academic Advising Enrichment, Undergraduate Education
1:45 - 2 p.m.
Break
Presentations
2 - 2:45 p.m.
Session one
Navigating career exploration: Empowering students with essential tools - (Ballroom A)
Reina Gonzalez Smarkel
Senior Career Advisor, Internship and Career Center
Elizabeth Storer
Senior Career Advisor, Internship and Career Center
This session offers an introduction into the world of career advising, drawing from our experiences transitioning from academic advising to career advising. We’ll shed light on what we wish we knew about career exploration during our time as academic advisors, emphasizing the pivotal role of online tools in guiding students towards successful career decision making. We will share UC Davis tools and external sites, including ONET Interest Profiler, Internship and Career Center (ICC) Major Data Pages, California Career Zone, LinkedIn Alumni Tool, and strategies for networking and informational interviews. These tools provide invaluable insights into common career pathways associated with different majors, helping advisors better understand the diverse opportunities available to their student populations. We encourage participants to bring laptops or devices to follow along and experience using the tools from a learner perspective.
Emotional strategies for social justice changemaking - (Ballroom B)
Malina Gillies-Doherty
Advising Supervisor, Yellow Cluster
Anya Gibson
Advising Supervisor, Blue Cluster
Ariel Collatz
Advising Supervisor, Arts Group
The academic advising field is beginning to show its commitment to social justice as a key part of working with students. Still, doing this work brings daily challenges. In addition to knowledge of concepts like privilege, oppression, identity and power, academic advisors need additional strategies to do this daily social justice work. This workshop focuses on emotional components of social justice work to empower advisors to meet these challenges using mindfulness, emotional awareness and selfcompassion. When we place our attention in the present moment with compassion and without judgment, we expand our ability to intentionally choose how to engage. From this point, we can more easily begin to deconstruct oppressive systems. Participants will engage in interactive exercises, and self-reflection that enables more effective social justice advocacy.
Advising students taking a nontraditional route - (Ballroom C)
Marissa Weiss
Transfer Retention Specialist, Transfer and Reentry Center
Nationally, students with any nontraditional characteristics (students who are working, raising children, returning from a break in school, over 25 years old, attending part time, financially independent) are increasing at two times the rate of traditional students. These students are an incredibly heterogeneous population with a higher education journey that falls outside of the dominant narrative. This session will give an overview of this population nationally and at UC Davis, and some considerations to incorporate when advising these students. The session will feature a video presentation of nontraditional UC Davis students sharing their experiences, brief slides, and role play scenarios.
Identifying international student needs: Resources, inclusion and advocacy - (Conference room A)
Sharon Ericsson
International Student Advisor, Tier 2
Tammy Silver
Associate Director of International Student Services
Lorena Galvan
International Student Advisor, Tier 2
Lena Zadorzhna
International Student Intake Advisor, Tier 1
Matthew Kaminski-Lucas
International Student Advisor, Tier 2
Linda Amrou
Assistant Director, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, Global Affairs
This session will focus on fostering a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) with international students. Participants will engage in interactive dialogue about advising within a DEI context, taking into consideration stress factors such as financial considerations, inclusivity, health and wellness, advocacy, and support. The session will address what Global DEI means and how cultural factors affect the international students’ experience; additionally, participants will have space to gather ideas and practices to improve engagement and support for international students.
Focus group
Academic Advising Enrichment inquiry - (Conference room B)
Kayton Carter
Executive Director, Academic Advising Enrichment, Undergraduate Education
Andrea Duff
Collaboration and Data Coordinator, Academic Advising Enrichment
Space limited to 18 participants. Provide insight into your experiences with and perspectives related to Academic Advising Enrichment programs. Participants should plan to engage actively and openly. Input will be used as data for an assessment project and will inform planning for the future.
2:45 - 3 p.m.
Break
Presentations
2:45 - 3 p.m.
Session two
#Slayyy your advising game: Supporting Gen Z scholars (Ballroom A)
Lauren Wong
Interim Coordinator of Student Leadership and Development, Undergraduate Education and Advising, College of Letters and Science
Emma Wong
Academic Advisor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Generation Z is currently the largest age demographic on college campuses today. Having grown up in a world where social media and constant connectivity is assumed and expected, Gen Z students carry values distinct from generations prior. This presentation will explore key cultural differences revolving around mental health trends, values on openness and transparency, and leadership relationships. We will share our personal advising experiences and innovative student engagement strategies implemented on the UC Davis campus. This presentation aims to create a collaborative space to share practical approaches to support Gen Z scholars.
Flow with the go: Shaping change in advising (Ballroom B)
Malina Gillies-Doherty
Advising Supervisor, Yellow Cluster
Anya Gibson
Advising Supervisor, Blue Cluster
Ariel Collatz
Advising Supervisor, Arts Group
Change is constant. We can react, we can respond or we can proactively generate the change. We acknowledge that our institutions are inequitable and that we have increasing disruptions in our world. We must change to create equitable and inclusive institutions and create resilient systems that are more adaptable to disruption. To transition to equitable, inclusive, and resilient systems, we need tools for sustainable leadership to stay motivated and heartened. In this workshop we connect core ideas from emergent strategy and biomimicry (relationship between small- and large-scale actions, intentional adaptation, nonlinear and iterative pathways of change) to academic advising change-making. This is for advisors who are interested in social justice change-making.
Fostering a culture of lifelong learning: Continuing and Professional Education as a resource for students to reach their professional goals (Ballroom C)
Chelsea Norris
Interim Manager, Health Sciences Portfolio, Continuing and Professional Education
Gina Reed
Assistant Marketing Director, Strategy, Continuing and Professional Education
Crystal Babowal
Assistant Director, Business and Leadership Portfolio, Continuing and Professional Education
After establishing the lifelong-learner framework, and what that looks like at Continuing and Professional Education (CPE), their staff will dive deeper into explaining diverse upskilling avenues beyond traditional graduate degree attainment – including academic certificate courses, boot camps, microcredentials, Continuing Education Unit (CEU) courses, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and badges, all offered under the umbrella term Continuing and Professional Education. These alternative routes provide targeted upskilling solutions tailored specifically toward industry needs, thus bridging existing skill gaps effectively. As active members of higher education communities, committed to student success and now lifelong learning, CPE wants to partner to provide these resources to your students.
Mind the gap: Improving communication strategies to strengthen the advising and campus community (Conference room A)
Brianne Holden
Director of Quarter at Aggie Square, Undergraduate Education
Saranjit Uppal
Academic Adivsor, Undergraduate Education and Advising, College of Letters and Science
This dialogue-focused session addresses the importance and methods of fostering positive communication channels, empowering colleague collaboration and building key resource synergies across campus. Participants will engage in brainstorming activities that enhance positive bilateral communication to both aid in working with shared students and scholars, and to improve campus connections and development of referral resources. By practicing positive communication and collaboration across campus amongst colleagues, advisors can best support students in their academic, professional and personal goals while also relying on each other as experts in their areas.
Focus group
Academic Advising Enrichment inquiry (Conference room B)
Kayton Carter
Executive Director, Academic Advising Enrichment, Undergraduate Education
Andrea Duff
Collaboration and Data Coordinator, Academic Advising Enrichment
Space limited to 18 participants. Provide insight into your experiences with and perspectives related to Academic Advising Enrichment programs. Participants should plan to engage actively and openly. Input will be used as data for an assessment project and will inform planning for the future.
3 - 3:45 p.m.
Break
4 p.m.
Final remarks and giveaways (Ballroom B)