In 2015, the UIA won a U.S. Department of Education’s First in the World (FITW) grant to study the scaling and impact of proactive advising in a project designed by Tim Renick from Georgia State University. The four-year, 10,000-student RCT was a massive project generating significant insights and learning for each of our campuses.
Our innovation and scale work is never just about us; we are committed to sharing what we learn to benefit the rest of higher education. To that end, we have compiled our most important lessons learned from implementing proactive advising in an easy-to-use playbook for the higher education community. We are thrilled to share our Proactive Advising Playbook with our newsletter subscribers first.
A few of the high level insights from our Proactive Advising Playbook include:
- It is critical for advisors to employ empathy driven and student centered advising practices in every 1:1 interaction with students since they are the frontline for supporting underserved students.
- The main challenge for advisors today is how to do this when they are dealing with convoluted course registration processes, high advising caseloads, outdated technology, and unnecessary paperwork, and are often burnt out from managing these day-to-day challenges in the midst of caring for themselves and their families during an ongoing pandemic and higher ed labor shortage.
- We must figure out new ways to work together to support this vulnerable but important group of student success professionals and empower advisors to lead from where they are at their institutions.
- Building more effective advising practices has implications not just for the future of advising but also for faculty, administrators, and student affairs professionals in their own student success work.
On May 26th we are co-hosting a webinar with The Chronicle of Higher Education to discuss the future of academic advising. The former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, colleagues at the Department of Education, Georgia State University, and NACADA will join us as we delve into why institutional leaders should prioritize data-enabled, proactive advising as an essential tool to help boost retention and completion rates for first generation students, low-income students, and students of color. We will also share key insights and practical tools campuses can implement from our “Proactive Advising: A Playbook for Higher Education Innovators” playbook going live to the public on May 26th. If you’d like more information about the webinar or to register click here.
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Behind the Team
As the UIA continues to grow and expand, so does the UIA Central Team. Composed of a small but mighty team of dynamic higher education and nonprofit leaders, the UIA Central Team is responsible for overseeing the UIA’s mission and vision, day-to-day operations, diverse member engagement needs, strategic initiatives, professional development resources, and leadership training for UIA Fellows, Liaisons, and each student success campus team.
Meet the newest UIA Central Team member, Dr. Candice Staples! As the Director of Alliance Engagement, Dr. Staples brings expertise spanning higher education, nonprofit, and consulting, most recently at Charitable Ventures in Orange County, CA. Her higher education experience includes work with Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) and the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP).
This month, Ashley Broomes, UMBC UIA Fellow, sat down with Candice to learn more about Candice, including what draws her to student success and equity work today as well as important lessons learned from her former professional life before joining the UIA in April 2022.
What is your career mission? The term "lifting as we climb" comes to mind. I aim to provide opportunities for others and leave environments better than I found them.
What behavior/personality trait do you most attribute your success to and why? My natural curiosity serves me well. It has helped me to observe and ask thoughtful questions. This trait allows me to identify gaps and plug myself in to help!
What advice would you give to emerging leaders in education? Policies and trends come and go in this field, but stay true to your "why" that led you to being an education professional.
What topic could you give an hour-long presentation on with little to no preparation? My dissertation topic: The Career Trajectories of Black Women in Senior Academic Administrator Roles. Parenting a toddler would be another good topic! My daughter keeps me on my toes every day.
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