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Presentations 1:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.

Spotlight Sessions Murray Student Center Rooms 3101-3104

New Students, New Navigators: Holistic Advising for the Contemporary Student

Jennifer Hankin, Associate Director of Academic Advising, The College of Saint Rose
Kelly Meyer, Director of Academic Advising, the College of Saint Rose
Matt Ruiz, Academic Advisor, the College of Saint Rose
Maggie Wright, Academic Advisor, the College of Saint Rose
Student responses to the NSSE 2015 topical model on academic advising at the College of Saint Rose were disheartening, placing
us below our peers and aspirants in terms of most metrics. As a result, the Office of Academic Advising implemented a new advising
model, assigning incoming students to both a professional advisor and a faculty advisor in their first year. NSSE 2017 results have
improved dramatically, placing us above peers and aspirants in almost all areas.

A Study In Persistence: The Weekend College Student Experience
Dr. Ellen C. Miller, Associate Dean, Advising, Hofstra University
With older students being the new majority on campus today, it is imperative to understand the experience of adult learners who decide
to return to school to complete their degree. The reasons for this surge of older students enrolling in undergraduate degree programs
include the need for a more educated workforce. This study explored the following questions: which program factors facilitated degree
completion, which non-programmatic factors influenced persistence and how did this experience impact these graduates' lives both
personally and professionally?

Establishing Non-Traditional Learning Communities: The impact of professional advisors and

faculty collaboration to enrich student academic engagement and career exploration
Clara Chen, Academic Advisor, LaGuardia Community College (CUNY)
Jose Ramos, Academic Advisor, LaGuardia Community College (CUNY)
Esther Rosa, Senior Academic Advisor, LaGuardia Community College (CUNY)
Many higher education institutions offer Learning Communities (LC’s), as they have been found effective in increasing student
success in courses and persistence for the next semester (Wurtz, 2014). LC’s traditionally consist of a group of students taking the
same two or three (linked) courses together in a semester. At an urban Community College, participation in a traditional LC may
be difficult for our diverse commuter population due to various factors, including but not limited to: varying developmental needs,
academic level, work or personal obligations, and/or financial aid restrictions in course offerings. Considering all these limitations,
how can we provide the elements of traditional LC to individual courses so that our non-traditional students can still benefit from
increased support and engagement? This presentation will discuss how our advising office incorporated successful elements of a
traditional LC and transformed it to meet the needs of an urban non-traditional commuter student. We will share our best practices in
promoting a collaborative relationship between professional advisors and faculty, and how it can be adapted at other institutions.

Collaboration can enhance student success and maximize the learning experience in and out of the classroom within a single course.
This parallel relationship can empower faculty to create a comprehensive curriculum that emphasizes critical thinking and scholarly
research. Furthermore, in conjunction to curriculum enhancement, professional advisors will liaise with faculty and students in
tracking academic progress, implementing academic interventions and referrals to other resources as needed. Moreover, professional
advisors in our non-traditional LC can support the faculty coalesce the curriculum by coordinating educational programming and
experiential learning opportunities.

What makes Non-Traditional Learning Communities effective is that this model can be replicated with any student population, varying
majors, and allows for cross-departmental collaboration to flourish. This holistic approach between faculty and professional advisors
considers both the academic and personal needs of a student to serve as a catalyst for student success.