2017 Winter Advising Forum

UCSC Advising: Riding the Waves of Change

March 17, 2017, at the Scotts Valley Hilton. 

Registration has closed for this event.

Schedule:

Session 1 Workshops (10:15 - 11:30 AM):

A. Advising Goes Online: Preparing for "Slug Success" (aka SSC Campus)

Over the past year and a half, UCSC advisers from a variety of units have been piloting and assisting with the implementation of "Slug Success" (aka SSC Campus), a web-based tool to help coordinate and target advising and other student support. Coordinated and targeted approaches to supporting students are key for retaining and graduating students, thus increasing student success. Slug Success will be available to all campus advisers by the start of the fall quarter 2017. In this workshop for advisers not currently using the system, you will have the opportunity to explore the tool, hear about the experiences of two advisers currently using Slug Success, and learn more about the current implementation timeline and how you can become involved. Sam Foster, Managing Director of the Student Success Evaluation and Research Center (SSERC), Kalin McGraw, Lead Academic Preceptor at Kresge College, and Brenna Candelaria, Undergraduate Academic Adviser for MCD Biology, will present.

• Presentation Materials

B. Major Wipeout!

Come to this session to learn how students think about major selection and discuss strategies to help students move through the process of major change. During this session we aim to introduce student development theory to better understand how students go through the process of changing a major, explore advising strategies to help students move through the process of major change, and empower advisers to have these life changing conversations with students. Beth Thompson, Lead Academic Preceptor at Merrill College, Magdalena Serrano, Academic Adviser at Merrill College, and Tina Nikfarjam, Undergraduate Program Coordinator for the Sociology Department, will present.

• Presentation Materials

C. Turning the Tide Toward Inclusive Advising for African/Black/Caribbean Students

The tides have not always been in the favor of African/Black/Caribbean (ABC) students here at UC Santa Cruz. ABC students report feelings of isolation, exclusion, and race-related stress inside and outside of class which can contribute to attrition . It is our hope to turn the tide and improve retention and graduation for ABC students as a whole. In this session, we will briefly review the history of African Americans in higher education, theories that support equity based approaches, and how the theories and history relate to college campus climate today. Aaron Jones, the new ABC Retention Specialist will provide data from the 2014 UCSC Campus Climate Survey, the Black Experience Team Town Hall, and anecdotal evidence from current students to provide a framework for more inclusive advising and hopefully turn the tide towards student success.

• Presentation Materials

Session 2 Workshops (1:15 - 2:30 PM):

A. Student Success and Service Learning 

How do students of color and first generation college students define success, and can service learning help students achieve their goals? An assessment of service learning programming at four colleges (Oakes, Kresge, College 10, and Merrill) began with conducting focus groups at Oakes regarding how these students defined success. We then created a questionnaire to measure the aspects of success that students mentioned. We gave the questionnaire to students in service learning classes at the four colleges, as well as first year Oakes students who had not yet had service learning classes at UCSC. Come to this presentation, led by Oakes College Provost Gina Langhout, to learn how students defined success and about differences in success-related outcomes for those who did and did not enroll in service learning classes.

• Presentation Materials

B. Changing Tides and New Support Strategies: Immigration Policies and Higher Ed

With the recent anti-immigrant rhetoric, it is more imperative than ever before for educators, scholars, and policymakers to support undocumented students and their families. As Suarez-Orozco et al., (2015) highlights, even though administrators cannot directly influence the country’s national immigration agenda, they can significantly influence the kinds of resources available to undocumented students on college campuses. Join Valeria Chavez and Martha Ortega from UC Santa Cruz’s Educational Opportunity Programs office to learn more about how recent immigration policies are affecting the college trajectory of undocumented undergraduates in higher education. Ultimately, the goal of this workshop is to discuss what UC Santa Cruz is doing as a campus to respond to students’ needs and address best practices for helping undocumented students persist during these critical times.

• Presentation Materials: ICE, Service Dates

C. Supporting Transgender Students

This interactive workshop, facilitated by Sy Simms, the Transgender Educator, is designed to help attendees explore key gender concepts and terms , discuss some of the campus policies regarding transgender, genderqueer, and gender non binary students and staff, and discuss and develop skills needed to support trans staff and faculty and create a more inclusive campus.

Session 3 Workshops (2:45 - 4:00 PM):

A. Chinese Student Panel: Understanding how our Students Navigate the Waves of Change

This session focuses on the experience of Chinese students, who make up about 75% of our undergraduate international student population. Come and get to know some of our Chinese students: Kun (Victoria) An, Zhiyi (Jones) Feng, Shao-Hung (William) Hsiao, and Jui (Cloe) Huang. Learn about the educational system and academic culture they come from, and find out why they decided to come to UCSC. Hear firsthand accounts of how the UCSC experience has been thus far, and engage in dialogue to better understand the challenges they face in order to understand how to best support them. Keri Toma, International Programs Coordinator in International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) will facilitate this panel.

B. Enriching Opportunities…for Students and Advisers

While some students are hanging on and just surviving, others may be looking to ride the waves of challenge. How can advisers engage in conversations with students who are looking for engagement beyond their classroom experience? In this workshop Sara Sanchez, Coordinator of Undergraduate Honors and Research Opportunities, and Hayley Mears, Economics Field Studies and Job Placement Coordinator, will share enriching opportunities available to students during their UCSC experience and beyond. We will discuss how advisers can engage in conversations about these opportunities and the impact on individual student experiences and greater campus goals.

• Presentation Materials

C. In the Pipeline: Emerging Online Tools

In the age of technology, the amount of emerging online tools can seem overwhelming. Take a deep breath as we plunge into how we can implement these resources to better serve us and our students. This workshop will focus on Google Core Apps and will give participants the support they need to evaluate whether to incorporate these tools into their advising efforts and how to get started using them. Bennett Williamson, from Games and Playable Media, will present his use of Google Sheets for academic planning and Sarah Shane-Vasquez, from Kresge, will present on using Google Classroom for academic standing supervision. The workshop will conclude with a final brainstorming session to stimulate ideas for a better, more efficient academic future.

• Presentation Materials (googledoc)

Many Thanks!

Many thanks to this year's planning committee!

Mary Barton, Division of Undergraduate Education
Jan Burroughs, Rachel Carson College
Catherine Chang, MCD Biology
Aaron Jones, African American Resource and Cultural Center
Jade Loftus, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Sara Sanchez, Office of Campus Advising Coordination
Sarah Shane-Vasquez, Kresge College
Stacey Sketo-Rosener, Office of Campus Advising Coordination

And we appreciate the following businesses and organizations, who have contributed prizes for our drawing: