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In this episode, we have a panel of guests! Joining is Landon Peterson, Director of Academic Advising at Snow College, Julia Carlo, Executive Director of Advising at Northeastern State University, and our own Rob Friedhoff, Vice President of Community Development at Civitas Learning. If you’d like to hear a previous episode with Rob Friedhoff, he spoke about boosting academic advising capacity in Season 1, Episode 7.
In our discussion today, we explore how to use student success analytics to deliver the right support instead of the same one to every student. We share ways to diversify student outreach and intervention to better serve students and maximize limited resources. We discuss how to navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with change management. With the perspective of two institutions using the same tools, you can see the different approaches to the same goal and how this change in advising has impacted students in both.
Full Transcript
Show Notes:
- [2:19] – Today, we’re focusing on tailoring support with shrinking resources.
- [5:40] – Julia shares how her team is shifting from the same support model to finding the right support through Civitas Learning.
- [7:54] – The bottom quartile students are typically not those who advocate for themselves and take advantage of open advising.
- [9:56] – There’s “magic” in advising, especially when we are able to help the students who need it the most.
- [11:27] – Landon describes the changes made at his institution that created a synergy between departments and advising and created more space for students.
- [13:03] – The students that need to be seen the most are often the least engaged.
- [14:59] – Change is hard and can be approached differently. Julia implemented change gradually, and she describes the growing pains.
- [18:17] – There was 100% participation over time, and the institution saw the impact.
- [19:45] – It’s not about ignoring the student’s need, it’s prioritizing how much of a need we can meet.
- [21:14] – Katy shares a story to help with peak registration periods.
- [23:19] – The results have kept advisors motivated during busy periods of the year.
- [25:01] – Civitas has data points for predictors of success that are specific to your institution.
- [27:48] – Landon describes the outcomes and their impact on student retention.
- [30:00] – Julia explains the impact and the data that shows it just by acknowledging a student once by an advisor.
- [32:07] – Faculty and advisor relationships are powerful.
- [34:35] – Leverage and celebrate those who are doing the work.
- [37:22] – Find what works for students and help them get what they need. That’s the goal. Knowing the data is part of telling that story.
Links and Resources:
Julia Carlo, Executive Director, Advising, Testing, & Transfer Student Services, Northeastern State University
Julia Carlo is in her 10th year at Northeastern State University, currently serving as the Executive Director of Advising, Testing, and Transfer Student Services. In her role, she has helped rebalance the advising model - with support from Civitas Learning solutions - from a one size fits all approach to intentional relationships with students who could benefit most from the compassionate support of an advisor. She transitioned to academic advising after 12 years as a collegiate volleyball coach and time as a grant writer creating education and training programs for workforce development. Both experiences shaped her passion to provide supportive and motivating pathways for students to achieve their goals.
Landon Peterson Director of Advising, Snow College
As the director of advising, Landon leads, coordinates, and assesses the advising at Snow College. In his 14 years of experience in higher education, Landon has worked as a peer advisor, an academic advisor, an advising administrator and has served on Snow College's Strategic Enrollment Planning committee. Landon assisted in selecting Civitas Learning as Snow College's data analytics partner and worked on the implementation team. Landon is passionate about using data to create better experiences for both advisors and students.
Robert Freidhoff Vice President of Community Development, Civitas Learning
Rob provides strategic support and collaboration around best practices for implementing and utilizing Civitas Learning solutions. In his 20-year higher education career, Rob gained experience and valuable insights as an academic advisor, advising administrator, strategic enrollment management specialist, an educational consultant focused on improving advising practice, and an Associative Vice President (AVP) for Student Success. In his role as AVP, Rob was part of the team to identify, select, and deploy the Civitas Learning Student Impact Platform on his campus.
Katy Oliveira, Host & Producer, Next Practices Podcast
Katy oversees content at Civitas Learning, where she showcases customer experience and practices to improve student success and reach institutional goals with the Civitas Learning Student Impact Platform. In her 15-year higher education career, Katy gained extensive experience in student success as an academic advisor, advising leader, and instructor. She is also the creator and host of the Apple Podcast featured show, Collegehood Advice.
