Advising Council @ U-M

Purpose/Mission

The purpose of this committee is to create a community for U-M advising administrators to share information and collaborate on campus-wide advising issues within the University’s decentralized structure.

Tasks Performed by the Committee

• Share updates, identify best practices, and generate solutions to common challenges.
• Advocate for U-M students, advisors, and advising-related initiatives to University and School/College leaders.
• Develop a shared vision for the future of academic advising at U-M and identify the actions needed to achieve that vision.
• Oversee the annual ACUM Advising Awards process.

Meeting Frequency

Semimonthly, on the second and fourth Mondays of each month via Zoom.

How to Join

Email acumadvisingadmins-requests@umich.edu to join.

Kerri Wakefield

Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

Kerri Wakefield serves as Assistant Vice Provost for Advising Strategy & Student Success in the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. Her work involves partnering with faculty, staff, and students on a wide range of strategic initiatives to promote academic success. She launched this committee in Fall 2019, inspired by a similar committee at Michigan State, and deeply values this collaborative, supportive community!

 

 

 

 

 

Purpose/Mission

Explore and advocate for an ACUM advisor training curriculum that provides central and accessible training and resources for advisors and is intended to complement unit-specific needs.

Tasks Performed by the Committee

• Identify advisor training resources and practices across different units at U-M Ann Arbor and at other colleges and universities.
• Benchmark core competencies for academic advising and for effective advisor training.
• Assess the need for mentorship opportunities for new and seasoned advisors alike.
• Identify best practices for advisor training that are inclusive, accessible, and promote continuous learning.

Meeting Frequency

Every other week for 1 hour, meeting time will be set each semester by committee consensus.

How to Join

Email acumadvisortraining@umich.edu to be added to the MCommunity group.

Other Information

This is an exciting opportunity to be a part of and contribute to the exploration of an ACUM advisor training curriculum, and to engage at the level that you are able to/interested in.

Libby Jones

Information

Libby Jones serves as Senior Academic Advisor on the undergraduate advising team at
UMSI. Their work focuses on advising students in the BSI and UMSI minors programs and coordinating the transfer student support program at UMSI. Through their role on this committee, they value the opportunity to collaborate with cross-campus peers to elevate training resources and develop new opportunities to advance advisor knowledge.

 

 

 

 

 

Hannah Morch

LSA

Hannah Morch serves as a General Academic Advisor within the Newnan Academic Advisor Center in LSA. Their work focuses on advising undergraduate students in the college of LSA’s major and minor programs. Through their role on this committee, they value the shared conversations that strengthen advisors’ knowledge across campus through community engagement events and helping to guide training and professional development practices.

 

Purpose/Mission

ABCA strives to provide opportunities for advisors across campus to strengthen their advising practices by engaging in trainings and conversations to increase our competency in advocacy, belonging, and culture relevant to advising and supporting students.   

Our committee consists of approximately 6-10 staff and faculty members who advise in some capacity and are committed to helping advisors build inclusive and equitable advising practices.

Tasks Performed by the Committee

The ABCA Committee plans and sponsors two to three initiatives each year focused on helping advisors build inclusive and equitable advising practices. Initiatives we have hosted in the past include: 

• Book clubs 
• Events in alignment with the campus-wide MLK Symposium
• Events on topics such as supporting rural students; the role of faith, religion and spirituality in our students’ lives; and more 
• Trainings with units such as Spectrum Center and SSD

Meeting Frequency

Our committee meets monthly throughout the academic year. Our committee breaks during the summer and does not meet in the months of May, June, or July. 

Beyond our meetings, our committee typically hosts 2-3 events or initiatives each semester that our members attend or help facilitate.

How to Join

We welcome new members to join our committee! Please email us at ACUM-ABCA-requests@umich.edu and our committee chair will reach out to you with more information and to invite you to our next meeting.

Rachel Watson

LSA

Rachel Watson serves as the Undergraduate Program Manager in the LSA Department of Psychology. Her work focuses on supporting student success through increasing advising collaboration and educational equity. Through their role on this committee, they value the opportunity to support and advance the education and engagement of advising professionals in advocating for student belonging and inclusion.

 

 

 

 

 

Purpose/Mission

The purpose of the assessment committee is to support a culture of assessment and evidence-based decision making within the UM academic advising community. This purpose is accomplished by:

•  Acting as a resource and consultant for academic advisors, administrators, and units who are investigating assessment of student learning outcomes, advisor outcomes, and program outcomes. 
• Planning and sponsoring educational and professional development opportunities (i.e., presentations, discussions, workshops) that support assessing outcomes, developing unit assessment plans, and using evidence to make decisions on advising methods and program development.
• Creating and promoting the ACUM Academic Advising Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs).

Tasks Performed by the Committee

• Sponsoring 2-3 educational or professional development opportunities per year.
• Maintaining a collaborative resource of tools, practices, and examples of assessment plans accessible to all ACUM members. 
• Soliciting feedback from ACUM membership to ensure current assessment interests are being addressed.

Meeting Frequency

• This committee will meet approximately twice per month from August to May.
• The time commitment is 1-2 hours per month.

How to Join

Email committee chair Matthew Turner (turnermr@umich.edu) to join.

Other Information

• No previous experience with assessment and evaluation is necessary to join. 
• Meetings will take place via Zoom to accommodate work schedules and locations.

Matt Turner

Business

Matt Turner serves as a Senior Academic Advisor in the Ross School of Business. He is a founding member of the ACUM and is interested in improving communication across units on campus and as well as student-focused, highly effective advising. Through his role on this committee, he values the opportunity to connect with others on campus, learn more about assessment, and develop assessment tools that academic advisors and academic units can use to improve advising for all students on campus.

 

 

 

 

 

Purpose/Mission

• Create a graduate-level advisor committee to share information and best practices, including professional development opportunities.
• The primary goal of this committee is to better standardize and support the graduate student experience at U-M.

Tasks Performed by the Committee

• Rotate bi-monthly meetings to different locations open to graduate-level advisors.
• Provide broader-scale professional development or information-sharing sessions.
• Manage the MCommunity email listserv for more efficient communication across campus.
• Develop a central and accessible space for shared information.

Meeting Frequency

We will meet bi-monthly at different locations.

How to Join

Email umgraduateadvising-requests@umich.edu or attend one of the committee meetings.

Other Information

• Open to anyone who works with graduate students in any capacity or any percentage of their job.
• Considering graduate advising; committee offers a unique opportunity for persons to gain perspective about the unique role as a graduate advisor.

Jenna Blumenauer

Nursing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purpose/Mission

PHAF is a committee for individuals who engage with U-M students interested in health professions graduate and professional programs. This group aims to work collaboratively as a means to support Pre-Health Advising practices on a decentralized campus.

Meeting Frequency

Once a month, September through April.

How to Join

Email committee chair Keith Wittkopp (gambit@umich.edu) to join.

Other Information

• Open to anyone who works with graduate students in any capacity or any percentage of their job.
• Considering graduate advising; committee offers a unique opportunity for persons to gain perspective about the unique role as a graduate advisor.

Nicholas Vanderpool

University Career Center

Nicholas Vanderpool serves as the Pre-Professional Services Coordinator in the UM University Career Center. Their work focuses on supporting students interested in pursuing professional school through career mentorship and programming. Through their role on this committee, they value the opportunity to support campus partners who serve UM’s pre-health students.

 

 

 

 

 

Keith Wittkopp

LSA

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purpose/Mission

• Improve access to, effectiveness of, and understanding of existing advising technology tools.
• Advocate for new advising technology resources.
• Explore and evaluate technology tools that assist advisors in their day-to-day work.

Tasks Performed by the Committee

• Assess current advising technology tools and trainings.
• Identify best practices.
• Make recommendations to administrators.
• Hosting Technology Education and Technology Advocacy Events

Meeting Frequency

Monthly on the second Thursday of the month at 11:00 AM. 

How to Join

Request to join the ACUM Tech Comm MCommunity Group.

Other Information

You don’t need to be a technology expert to join this committee! If you are interested in the topic and want to learn more, we welcome your participation.

Resources

• Advising Technology Tools Database
• ACUM CLE: Technology Tips and Tricks
  • Presentation Slides
  • Technology Tips and Tricks Collection

Tiffany LaPointe

Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

Tiffany serves as Director of Advising Initiatives in the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. Her work focuses on supporting advisor training and development efforts across campus and contributing to a wide range of other advising and student success projects. She has been a member of the Tech Committee since 2021 and loves working with folks across campus to better understand how students and advisors can leverage technology to make their lives easier.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Pozza

LSA

Chris serves as an academic advisor for the Program in the Environment.

Through his role on this committee, he wants to help explore, develop, and improve technologies that impact advisors and students across UofM in their everyday lives and throughout their time at Michigan.

 

 

 

 

 

Purpose/Mission

• The Wellness Committee fosters connection and community among advisors through shared dialogue around well-being and wellness. We aim to create space for meaningful conversations, exchange of ideas, and collaborative learning that support restorative, holistic, and empowering wellness practices for the U-M advising community.
• Grounded in our strengths as advisors, we aim to create a welcoming space for conversations around student & advisor well-being. We recognize there is a diverse array of wellness practices and approaches throughout our academic units. Wellness is a topic many of us care about deeply, and we hope to utilize this platform to share experiences and advocate for improving well-being within the university.

Tasks Performed by the Committee

• Create newsletter content tailored to advisor wellness: 
  • Promote relevant wellness literature and research
  • Share best practices and case studies around wellness and mental health
  • Promote wellness events and training opportunities
• Contribute to professional development efforts:
  • Create and develop one ACUM professional development training session per term around a wellness topic
  • Encourage and support participation at conferences with wellness themes

Meeting Frequency

Once a month for 1 hour. 

How to Join

Email acumwellness@umich.edu to join the MCommunity list and learn about our next meeting.

Other Information

This is an exciting opportunity to be a part of and contribute to the exploration of advisor and student wellness, and to engage at the level that you are able to/interested in.

Emily Freeland

LSA

Emily currently works in the LSA Newnan Academic Advising Center, providing advising support to LSA undergraduate students. Prior to joining the advising team at Newnan, Emily held roles in student engagement and success at Wayne State University and Washtenaw Community College, and also served as a Wellbeing Intern with Student Life Sustainability where she developed a strong passion for integrating well-being and community resilience into co-curricular student activities. She looks forward to strengthening connections with current and new committee members to support advisor and student well-being.

 

 

 

 

 

Michelle Southward

LSA

Michelle currently serves as the Director for the Newnan LSA Academic Advising Center. With a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership and more than 25 years in higher education, she offers deep expertise in institutional leadership, well-being, and student success. Michelle is enthusiastic about connecting with the advising community and championing wellness initiatives.