By SUSAN JONES
Pitt’s upcoming Mentoring and Advising Summit is once again attracting people from throughout the country, with more than 3,000 from 200 institutions signed up to attend the day-long March 6 event so far.
April Belback, associate vice provost for student success and advising, said they try to make the online event seem as much like an in-person conference as possible, with opportunities to connect outside of the main sessions.
“We found that our audience is actually a lot more engaged than you might think, but that’s because the platform is set up in a way that it looks like you’re at a conference and it feels a little bit more like you’re at a conference,” Belback said. “We utilize the chat so that chat is very engaging. Folks can ask questions. They can talk with each other throughout the sessions and the keynotes. And we will be putting questions in there.”
Many attendees come from R1 universities, driven by the summit’s partnership with the Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (ueru.org), but there also are people from liberal arts schools and community colleges, she said. This is the ninth year for the conference, and it has continued to grow.
Other sponsors of the summit are NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising and the Advising Success Network within NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
Belback is most excited about the summit’s keynote speakers:
Jenny Bloom, professor, College of Education, Florida Atlantic University, and founder of FAU’s Office of Appreciative Education on “Appreciative Advising for Today’s Student” (9-10:15 a.m.). Belback said appreciative advising “is one way to think about how you advise students when you’re right beside them. … It’s about using specific behaviors, asking students questions, really seeing them as a whole person, and thinking about appreciating the person in front of you.” Her talk will provide an overview of appreciative advising, including the six phases of the practice — disarm, discover, dream, design, deliver and don’t settle. Bloom will share specific behaviors and questions for each phase that advisers can immediately begin to use.
Melissa Walker, statewide director of workforce solutions, state of Colorado, on “Skills, Story, and Strategy: Advising Students Toward Career Readiness in a Changing Economy (3:50-5 p.m.). Walker has worked in TRIO programs and done organizational development and workforce strategy across different state agencies. She will discuss “how can we really translate the things that we help our students do in higher education, … and how do we help our advisors make sure that they’re translating those into things that employers will recognize and getting (students) really workforce ready and career ready.” Walker also identifies as autistic, and Belback said, “we talk about neuro diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and how those skills translate too.”
A lunchtime panel discussion (11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.) will focus on “Beyond the Classroom — Faculty Mentoring in a Shared Advising Ecosystem.” Steve Dandaneau, UERU executive director, will give opening remarks and Belkys Torres, Pitt’s associate vice provost for curricular innovation, will moderate.
Panelists include Kelly Myers, associate dean for undergraduate education and student success, College of Arts and Sciences at Boise State University; Bridget Trogden, dean of undergraduate education and academic student services at American University; Amie Grills, associate provost for undergraduate affairs at Boston University, and David Sanchez, faculty fellow and associate professor of civil & environmental engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.
“One of the roles that we’re really keyed into right now is faculty mentoring, and so we really wanted to highlight that role and talk about how faculty are integral to the shared advising model,” Belback said.
There are numerous other concurrent sessions during the morning and afternoon. Attendees can follow one of four tracks: Undergrad; grad and professional; post doc; or advising administration. The sessions also have different tags that participants can use to choose what to attend, including #belonging, #studentsuccess, #technology, #holistic, #collaboration and #leadership.
The free summit is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 6. Those interested can sign up even as late as the date of the event. Find more information on the Office of the Provost’s Student Success website and a link to register.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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