University of Maine System Advising Summit
Summit Presentations from October 2020
Advising is an essential component of student success. Advisors work with students every day to assist them in creating plans for achieving their academic, career and life goals. Working with a variety of student populations makes it imperative that advisors understand the needs of each student, the latest trends in higher education, as well as the current research. The 2020 UMS Advising Summit recordings provide an opportunity to learn from national and regional experts on many topics related to adult and returning students in higher education. The presentations were held as Zoom sessions throughout the week of October 19-23, 2020.
Watch Chancellor Dannel P. Malloy’s welcome message for the 2020 UMS System Wide Advising Group Summit video here.
Keynote – Terri Taylor, J.D. – Lumina Foundation
Terri Taylor, J.D., is Strategy Director for Innovation and Discovery at Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. Working from Lumina’s office in Washington, D.C., Taylor leads the foundation’s efforts to develop new strategies to respond to the increasingly common question: Education for what? This involves exploring new topic areas, building new relationships and promoting systemic approaches to prepare people for human work in an increasingly complex, technology-mediated society. She also serves on the team dedicated to increasing bachelor’s degree attainment at four-year institutions. In her prior role at Lumina, Taylor led the foundation’s post-secondary finance work, including state-level efforts to support adult learner enrollment and success, exploration of challenges and opportunities for borrowers of color, and innovative approaches to post-secondary finance.
Before coming to Lumina, Taylor worked at EducationCounsel, where she advised organizations, institutions, and foundations and wrote on equity, quality, and attainment. She worked with several post-secondary institutions and organizations on race-conscious practices, including deep involvement in U.S. Supreme Court advocacy related to the Fisher and other admissions cases. During this time, she worked with Lumina on new federal policy approaches to quality assurance and served as an advisor for Lumina’s racial equity project.
Terri earned a bachelor’s degree, with distinction, in American studies and religious studies from the University of Virginia and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. She started her career in education as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English as a second language in Kyrgyzstan.
Watch the keynote here.
The Wonderful World of World of Work Inventory (WOWI)
Work can give your life meaning, it often defines who you are, determines who you spend time with and how you live. The right job can enrich your life, whereas the wrong job can drain you mentally, physically and spiritually; it is critical to avoid mistaken career paths and to find your own unique, satisfying place in the world of work.
The World of Work Inventory (WOWI) is a unique assessment that includes career aptitudes, values and interests and the client can use the results almost immediately to find their next destination. This workshop will cover the basics of the WOWI and how it has been used in local higher education, adult education and workforce development realms.
Presenters: Haley Brown, Coordinator of Career Connections, University of Maine at Augusta
Joshua Farr, Director of Adult Education, MSAD 11 and Winthrop Schools
Lisa Sweet, Workforce Development Specialist, New Ventures Maine
Watch the Wonderful World of WOWI here.
GI Bill: Advising in the Trenches
How has COVID-19 impacted student veteran and service member benefits? How has COVID-19 affected student veteran and service member abilities to stay connected? What do student veterans and service members want and need advisors to know?
Presenters: Lorrie Spaulding, Director of Veterans Services, University of Southern Maine
Tony Llerena, Associate Director of VETS, University of Maine
Todd Enders, United States Navy, Ret., University of Southern Maine, Student
Emily Brazee, United States Coast Guard, Veteran, University of Southern Maine, Student
Chris Vogel, United States Marine Corps, University of Maine, Student
Elizabeth Duenne, Air National Guard, University of Maine at Augusta, Student
Watch Advising in the Trenches here.
Advising and Student Success
Is your team ready to support student success for adults and Gen-Z, particularly in the wake of a global health crisis? Student needs are more diverse, course catalogues are more complex and the costs of veering off the credential path are at an all-time high. In response, forward-thinking institutions have begun approaching student success and academic advising not just as moral/mission imperatives but also as a necessary measure for preserving and growing tuition revenue. Research tells us that investing in advising is an effective strategy for retention, student satisfaction, advising, and ultimately the bottom line. This presentation uses case study examples to make recommendations for how faculty and advisors should be investing in student-centered strategies to improve student retention and mitigate the forecasted 2020s enrollment downturn.
Presenters: Khadish O. Franklin, Director of Research Advisory Services, EAB
Melissa Robertson, Strategic Leader, EAB
Watch Advising and Student Success here.
FAME – Meeting Adult Learners Where They Are
Adult students bring a lot of prior experiences to the table, personally, academically and financially. While the financial aid process is more or less the same for adult students, there are important things to keep in mind as you help them navigate paying for college and prepare for success. Learn more in this session!
Presenter: Maria MacDougal, College Access Counselor, Finance Authority of Maine
Watch Meeting Adult Learners Where They Are here.
Online Advising – A Far Reaching Practice
Do the needs of on-campus and online students really differ? We will walk you through how we support students from first inquiry through the successful completion of their degree, certificate and/or non-degree coursework. The partnerships we have developed and fostered across departments and campuses have allowed us to better meet the needs of online students, and provide a higher level of accessibility to students regardless of modality. We will also offer you an opportunity to reflect on how our practices are used currently, or could be used, in your own advising practices.
Presenters: Dagmar Moravec, Director of Online Student Services, University of Maine
Amanda Cupps, UMaineOnline Advisor, University of Maine
Tiffany Peterson, Retention and Enrollment Specialist and UMaineOnline Advisor, University of Maine
Watch Online Advising – A Far Reaching Practice here.
Motivational Interviewing
Come to this session and be introduced to how the University of Maine System has incorporated Motivational Interviewing (MI) concepts into our advising model. Learn basic MI principles, skills and use real play activities to incorporate these into your advising practice.
Presentes: Gail Minichiello, Academic Advisor, University of Southern Maine
Beth Round, Academic Advisor, University of Southern Maine
Erica Mercier, Academic Advisor, University of Southern Maine
Watch Motivational Interviewing here.
Advising Partnerships: Serving & Supporting the System’s Multilingual Students
Multilingual, New Mainer and international students attend university with a complex set of needs, objectives and challenges that academic advisors will play a central role in helping to support. What role does language acquisition play in academic success, and what types of support may be needed for students struggling with this? What other challenges might come into consideration for such students, and what support tools and pathways have students found most helpful? Watch Andrea Vasquez, director of USM’s ESOL programs and a panel of students to learn more.
Presenters: Andrea Vasquez, Program Director, English for Speakers of Other Languages
Bianca Arcencio, Student
Bhan Karam, Student
Cynthia Luyindula, Student
Watch Advising Partnerships here.
It Takes A Village – Holistic Advising for Adult Learners
Advising adult students requires using a holistic approach which meets adults where they are both academically and physiologically. In addition to traditional academic concerns, approaches for success require addressing socio-economic needs, development of self-efficacy, crisis resolution and increasing comfort and competency with technology. Reflecting on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and relevant adult learning theories, we will explore strategies and non-academic supports that increase retention and foster persistence toward degree completion.
Presenters: Shelley Taylor, Student Services Coordinator, UMA Brunswick Center
Laurie Grant, Student Services Coordinator, UMA Saco Center
Watch It Takes A Village here.
Leveraging Navigate to Specially Support Adult Learners
Advisors across the University of Maine System utilize Navigate, the Student Success Management System, to streamline student communications, centralize advising interactions and connect students with important support resources. These capabilities can be particularly useful as advisors work to address the unique challenges and needs of adult learners. Advisors need an adaptable strategy to identify adult students in need of support, reach out to those students proactively and track the impact of advising efforts.
Grounded in EAB’s best practice research and drawing on real examples from advising colleagues, this session will focus on the innovative, data-driven ways advisors can use Navigate to connect with and support adult students.
Presenter: Erin Doyle Lastowka, Strategic Leader, EAB
Watch Leveraging Navigate to Specially Support Adult Learners here.
Advising Justice-Involved Students
Post-secondary education has a big impact on students’ economic security and job prospects. For incarcerated students participation in a college program can have dramatic effects on individual self-esteem, hope for the future and their ability to successfully face employment obstacles after release. Laurie Grant, Student Service Coordinator at the University of Maine at Augusta Saco and Deborah Meehan, Executive Director of the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA) Centers will discuss UMA’s college programming at 5 Department of Corrections facilities and how participation can lower recidivism rates for this population.
Presenters: Deb Meehan, Executive Director, University of Maine at Augusta Centers
Laurie Grant. Student Services Coordinator, University of Maine at Augusta, Saco Center
Watch Advising Justice-Involved Students here.
Adult Learner and the University of Maine System
Engaging adult learners is a well-established University of Maine System (UMS) priority. UMS’s Adult Degree Completion (ADC) initiative has been active since 2013 and issued an updated set of recommendations in 2019. More recently, led in part by UMS, Maine was one of four states selected by SHEEO with funding from Lumina to participate in a multi-state pilot for engaging and retaining adult learners (Maine Adult Promise). The UMS is one of six core team members of MaineSpark, Maine’s statewide initiative to meet Maine’s attainment challenges; connecting to the work of MaineSpark, and its strategic focus on adults via Maine Adult Promise, will be an important factor in the “next generation” of the UMS’ approach to responding to the adult credential and degree attainment challenge. Rosa Redonnett will update participants on the initiatives underway within the UMS and statewide and will lead a brainstorming session on how each campus can best support this unique population.
Presenter: Rosa Redonnett, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success and Credential Attainment, University of Maine System
Watch Adult Learner and the University of Maine System here.
University of Maine System Micro-Credential Initiative: Adding Skills, Upskilling, Reskilling
Initiatives across the country are focusing on the development of micro-credentials that represent the attainment of critical skills and competencies of need for the workforce–both those that are considered 21st Century skills (the so called “soft” or foundational skills) and those that are more technical in nature. Ultimately, the goal within the University of Maine System (UMS) is to implement and execute strategies to provide adult learners with affordable, flexible, stackable credential- and degree-based programming that is aligned with the needs of the adult learner population and their employers. This is an evolving, transformational concept within higher education; the framework and recommendations contained within the 2019 Micro-Credential report are designed to put the UMS at the forefront of this rapidly expanding approach to skill and credential attainment closely aligned with the needs of the state’s economy and workforce.
Presenters: Claire Sullivan, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Innovation in Digital Badges & Micro-Credential, University of Maine System
Rosa Redonnett, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success and Credential Attainment, University of Maine System
Watch University of Maine System Micro-Credential Initiative here.
Creating Access Through Advising: Working with Students with Disabilities
Students with disabilities represent approximately 10% of the University of Maine System (UMS) student body and there are important considerations for many of these students in creating a schedule and navigating the academic environment. During this session, we will talk about topics including the challenges students with disabilities face, disability accommodations related to advising and classes, ableism and the academy, questions and prompts you can ask to learn more about your specific advisees with a disability and answer all your questions.
Presenters: Sara Henry, Director, Student Accessibility Services, University of Maine
Joanne Benica, Director, Disability Services Center, University of Southern Maine
Watch Creating Access Through Advising here.