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
Interim Associate Vice Provost for Student Success Initiatives and Director for Academic Advising Initiatives
lwthomas@vt.edu
Nasim Schwab
Associate Director for Academic Advising Initiatives
nschwab@vt.edu
Dana Trask
Associate Director of University Studies
dctrask@vt.edu
Chris Takacs
Assistant Director for Academic Advising Initiatives
ctakacs@vt.edu
Heather Whedbee
Assistant Director of Advising Technology
heathaw@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
Leighanne Perry
Project Coordinator
leighannep@vt.edu