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Schedule and Program

16th Annual Advising Matters Conference

Conference Schedule

  • 8:00–8:30 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast
  • 8:30–9:00 a.m. Welcome
  • 9:00–11:00 a.m. Keynote with Tara Stopfel Warden
  • 11:00–11:20 a.m. Connection Break
  • 11:20 a.m.–12:20 p.m. Concurrent Session I
  • 12:20–1:20 p.m. Lunch
  • 1:20–1:30 p.m. Connection Break
  • 1:30–2:30 p.m. Concurrent Session II
  • 2:30–2:50 p.m. Connection Break
  • 2:50–3:50 p.m. Concurrent Session III
  • 3:50–4:00 p.m. Connection Break (Turn in Connection Passport at Registration)
  • 4:00–4:20 p.m. Conference Closing and Connection Passport Raffle Drawing

Concurrent Sessions

Leadership and Trust:  An Open Conversation Among Colleagues 

Tara Stopfel Warden, University of Cincinnati 

Location: Lathem DEF 

Join Tara Stopfel Warden for a follow-up conversation to the morning keynote address.  We’ll dive into how campus leaders build (or re-build) and sustain a culture of trust, deepen collaboration, and strengthen their teams. Tara will share personal leadership stories and ask participants to consider their own impact in fostering the growth and performance of the people they lead. This session invites those in formal and informal leadership roles, as well as those aspiring to these roles, to deepen their understanding of leadership practices that build trust and ultimately impact student success outcomes.  

We're All Retention Managers: Inter-Divisional Support for Early Student-Centered Experiences

Carey Usher and Elaina Hill, Mary Baldwin University

Location: Solitude

Using Maslow’s Hierarchy and other theories, we redesigned onboarding to provide holistic support for transition to our university. Historically siloed divisions operating independently were brought together to build a student success ecosystem from recruitment to post-completion. By cross-pollinating ideas and acknowledging expertise across campus, we streamlined student onboarding to also include frontloading academic expectations and early advisor contact, while strengthening communication between admissions, academic and student affairs. Participants will be able to identify challenges in their current advising programs, compare different modes of student support among those on their campus, and articulate a theory-driven framework for moving toward a more collaborative practice.

International Student Support

Lindsey Hamilton and Susie Young, Virginia Tech

Location: Cascades

Virginia Tech's Cranwell International Center staff will offer an interactive session to foster cultural awareness and practical tips for supporting international student success through case studies, polling, and small group discussion. This session will enhance understanding of key immigration concepts and international student realities of navigating an educational visa status. We will explore structural and cultural barriers and challenges that impact international student success. Attendees will be equipped with practical, culturally competent tools and strategies to successfully advise and support international student population. Applicable to any advisor, administrator, or educator who works closely with international students.

Training for Connection: Linking People, Purpose, and Student Success

Meghan Jester and Amanda Weaver, Virginia Tech

Location: Drillfield

At large, decentralized universities, collaboration across advising, student services, and enrollment teams can feel fragmented—even when everyone shares the same goal: student success. This session highlights how Virginia Tech’s College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences launched the Student Success Collaborative, a college-based group connecting advisors, coordinators, and administrators through shared training and dialogue. Attendees will explore an adaptable model for fostering care, connection, and data-informed collaboration, and engage in design activities to imagine similar efforts within their own units and across colleges.

Competing Narratives: Helping Students Navigate Contradictory Success Messages in Higher Education 

Rebecca Franklin, Virginia Tech

Location: Smithfield 

Today's college students are caught in a storm of contradictory messages about what success means and how to achieve it: viral TikTok career advice clashes with parental pressure for stability, and institutional encouragement to explore conflicts with peers' survival strategies. For many students, especially those without inherited knowledge about navigating higher education, these competing narratives don't feel empowering; they feel paralyzing. So how do we, as advisors, help students make sense of it all? This interactive session introduces "narrative literacy" as a practical advising approach, giving participants tools and conversation strategies to help students critically evaluate the success messages they're receiving and make more intentional, independent choices. 

Identifying Distressed Students in Virtual Advising Meetings 

Caitlin Fanning and Rachel Hall, Virginia Tech

Location: Latham DEF

Have you ever met with a student in a virtual meeting who seemed disengaged or unresponsive? In-person advising meetings enable advisors to use their five senses and intuition to observe a student’s well-being. While virtual advising meetings offer convenience and flexibility for students, the lack of in-person body cues can make it more challenging for advisors to identify a student in distress. In this session, we will discuss observable and quantifiable signs of distress and strategies advisors can use to identify distressed students during virtual advising meetings.

Session attendees will learn to recognize and respond to students in distress, thus improving upon their conceptual and relational competencies. Novice and seasoned faculty and professional advisors are encouraged to attend.

What Did We Talk About? Turning Advising Conversations into Clear and Concise Notes

Barbara Parker, Virginia Tech

Location: Solitude 

In this workshop, participants will explore how academic advisors can write clear and purposeful notes. Participants will learn to identify the purpose of advising notes and recognize the elements of an effective note including what to avoid. The discussion will include tone, language, and professionalism, with examples to illustrate best practices. The workshop will also highlight how technology including AI can support advisors in writing and managing notes.

Guiding Growth: The Power of Help-Seeking in Retention and Persistence

Asha Sneed, George Mason University 

Location: Cascades

This presentation navigates the crucial role of help-seeking behaviors in the retention and persistence of undecided and exploratory college students. With critical dialogue through an academic advising lens, we will acknowledge the barriers to help-seeking and the challenges faced by undeclared students when selecting a major. Exchange and discuss strategies to promote student self-advocacy and empowerment to help students express their voices effectively in Higher Ed. Explore approaches that foster confidence and lead to informed and fulfilling decisions about their academic paths, contributing to their long-term success and persistence in higher education.

Building Bridges:  Mentorship in Action

Carolyn Sutphin, State Council of Higher Education for Virginia

Location: Drillfield

This session will present a framework for developing an inclusive, scalable mentorship program that supports students and early-career professionals through intentional relationship-building, skill development, and career exploration. Drawing on evidence-based practices and case studies, the proposed program emphasizes equity, access, and impact by pairing participants with mentors from diverse backgrounds and industries to support academic persistence, identity development, and career readiness.  

This session is ideal for educators, internship coordinators, HR professionals, nonprofit leaders, and others interested in mentorship as a strategy to promote retention, leadership, and equitable opportunities.  

Embedding Career Readiness: A Collaborative Approach to Student Success

Heidi Gilbert and Priscilla Baker, Virginia Tech

Location: Smithfield

Employers report gaps in career readiness despite students’ confidence in their skills. Two years ago, an academic advisor and Career and Professional Development partnered to embed career readiness into required courses at key intervals. This session will reflect on their initiative, including strategies to build an impactful and sustainable approach, frameworks for embedding career readiness, and lessons learned in the past two years. We will highlight how advisors can shift student perception of career readiness from a graduation milestone to an ongoing process of skill development, and participants will identify approaches to integrate career development into their advising and curriculum.  

Power Skills for Advisors: Growth Mindset, Leadership, and Navigating Change

Reneldo Randall, Old Dominion University

Location: Latham DEF

In a time of rapid change across higher education, advisors need more than processes; they require powerful skills that enable them to lead with clarity, care, and confidence. This session examines how mindset, emotional intelligence, and adaptive leadership foster stronger advisor–student relationships and cultivate more supportive, student-centered environments. Through interactive discussion, participants will examine their own mindsets, identify blind spots, and learn practical strategies to build trust, promote a sense of belonging, and guide students through academic and personal transitions.

Belonging in Action: Student-Centered Advising that Builds High-Impact Advisor-Student Relationships

Krista Davis and Maria Zareen, Virginia Tech

Location: Solitude

This session offers a practical look at how advisors can build strong, lasting connections that help students feel supported and confident in their career path. Participants will see how clear goal-setting, strengths-based tools, structured follow-ups, and reflective conversations guide students from uncertainty to action. Using real systems and data from Pamplin Career Services, the session highlights simple, repeatable habits that keep students engaged beyond the appointment and create a more inclusive, effective advising experience for every learner.

Connecting with Students on Academic Probation: Designing a High-touch, Collaborative Academic Support Framework

Dana McGuire, Julie Burger, Maggie Johnson, and Melissa Cumbia, Virginia Tech

Location: Cascades

Many units find it difficult to develop an achievable approach that helps students improve their academic standing. Advisors in the College of Natural Resources & Environment created an effective, holistic, high-touch support program for undergraduates on academic probation. Since 2022, the percentage of students in the college on academic probation decreased from a high of 6 to 2 percent, and the share of suspended probationary students decreased from a high of 52 to 35 percent. In this interactive session, we will showcase our high-touch program with actionable tips and templates that advisors easily implement and maintain. Through facilitated discussion, attendees will learn how to implement their own high-touch academic standing program. While always important, this conversation is timely given Virginia Tech’s revised academic eligibility policy, which will increase the number of students at risk of academic suspension.

Purposeful Advising to Passionate Response - A Journey from Listening to Hearing

Trent Pace, James Madison University

Location: Drillfield

Intentional advising begins with intentional reflection. This session will explore key concepts of purposeful and passionate advising through the lens of the “5-Ps” framework, "Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance," which provides a shared language for moving from transactional advising to transformational relationships that support student growth, resilience, and purpose. Through interactive discussion and guided reflection, participants will examine the student journey toward autonomy and how advising practices must evolve to meet emerging student needs and institutional change. Content areas include understanding purpose and passion in advising, building authentic communication, identifying and addressing barriers, and empowering students through responsive and reflective practices.   

Advising with Care:  Coaching Strategies to Support Students with Disabilities

Christina Fabrey and Mya Hooks, Virgina Tech

Location: Smithfield

Advisors often serve as the bridge to student success, and building that bridge requires trust, empathy, and understanding. This session explores how neurodiversity coaching principles help advisors create more authentic connections with students with disabilities. We’ll examine educational trauma, honoring lived experience, and why one-size-fits-all approaches fall short. Participants will gain practical tools to integrate holistic support, link students to campus and community resources, and foster inclusive advising environments. We will define neurodiversity coaching in advising, apply coaching techniques that build trust and autonomy, use relational strategies to support students with disabilities, and integrate support through relevant resources.

Conference Program

Academic Advisor Mentor Program (AAMP)

The Academic Advisor Mentor Program (AAMP) has been created to enhance the professional development of Virginia Tech’s academic advisors. This program strives to create an engaged community of professional academic advisors at Virginia Tech and provide participants with information and resources that can be incorporated into their advising curriculum to meet the needs of their unique student populations. Mentors guide mentees in developing professional goals and provide tailored support to each of their mentees.

Meet Our Fall 2025 Mentors

Advisor of the Month

The goal of the Advisor of the Month program is to recognize outstanding undergraduate academic and career advisors. Recognition is based on evidence of qualities and practices that distinguish the nominee as an outstanding undergraduate academic or career advisor to include:

  • Quality of information and advice
  • Strong interpersonal communication skills
  • Implementation of a "support and challenge" environment
  • Accessibility
2026
2025

Academic Advising Academy 

Academic Advising and Transition Support is excited to announce the Spring 2026 cohort of the Academic Advising Academy! The academy is a comprehensive, semester-long training and development program designed for academic advisors at Virginia Tech. Tailored to advisors at all levels of experience, the program enhances advising skills through a series of progressive learning opportunities. Each cohort is equipped with the data, tools, and resources necessary to deliver impactful and relevant academic advising, supporting students in their academic success and a seamless transition to university life.

Spring 2026 Cohort
  • Andrew Doblin-MacNab, College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
  • April Grizzard, College of Science 
  • Chris Savage, College of Science
  • Courtney Lira, College of Engineering
  • Jenn Million, Graduate School
  • Jeremy Wilson, College of Engineering
  • Jessica McMahan, College of Science
  • Michelle Kovac, College of Science
  • Michelle McKellar, College of Engineering
  • Paige Normand, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
  • Paige Showalter, College of Engineering
  • Philip Twumasi Ankrah, College of Science 
  • Vanessa Van Winkle-Ghaderi, Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute

Congratulations to our 2026 Annual Advising Award Winners!

The Annual Advising Awards program is designed to recognize individuals who are making significant contributions to develop and implement quality advising services to promote student development. Award winners have the opportunity to put forward their dossier to the National Academic Advising Association global awards

Winners to be announced:

Thank you to our Conference Sponsors!

  • College of Agriculture and Life Sciences  
  • College of Architecture, Arts, and Design 
  • College of Engineering  
  • College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences  
  • College of Natural Resources and Environment  
  • College of Science  
  • Division of Enrollment Management  
  • Office of the University Registrar 
  • Pamplin College of Business