Meet our staff
Our team is tasked with providing support, new ideas, and professional development opportunities for the advising community at-large. Each individual on the team helps support academic advising at Virginia Tech, whether it is through advising technology, such as Navigate, working to bridge the gap between Virginia Community Colleges and VT to assist our transfer students, or increasing professional development opportunities for advisors. The Academic Advising Initiatives team looks forward to assisting the advising community while implementing new initiatives.

Lauren Thomas
Director for Academic Advising Initiatives
lwthomas@vt.edu

Nasim Schwab
Associate Director for Academic Advising Initiatives
nschwab@vt.edu

John Ray Roberts
Assistant Director for Academic Advising Initiatives
johnray@vt.edu

Dana Trask
Associate Director of University Studies
dctrask@vt.edu

Heather Whedbee
Assistant Director of Advising Technology
heathew@vt.edu

Allison Silknetter
Assistant Director of Transfer Student Initiatives
asilknetter@vt.edu

Janice Chatham
Academic Advisor and Student Support Specialist
jchatham@vt.edu

Joe Daniel
Academic Advisor and Student Support Specialist
josed86@vt.edu

Helene Goetz
Academic Advisor and Student Support Specialist
goetzh@vt.edu

Jason Johnson
Academic Advisor and Student Support Specialist
jwjohns@vt.edu

Alicia Pierce
Office Services Specialist & Receptionist
alicp13@vt.edu

Annie Leap
Graduate Assistant

Valentina Leon-Ledezma
Graduate Assistant