How Engineering Student Services launched Coffee Chats, a new proactive advising program

14 July 2026

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Strong connections with students are key to academic success, but traditional one-on-one meetings do not always reach everyone. To better connect with students, the Engineering Student Services team, which supports undergraduates, launched Coffee Chats for the 2025-26 academic year. This pilot program offers a more casual and accessible alternative to formal drop-in sessions and appointments, changing how students interact with academic advisors.

The idea for Coffee Chats came from the 2025 Student Experience Action Plan survey, which showed that students want more personalized advising. Academic research also supports this need. To address it, we built on previous proactive advising pilots to create a new approach:

  • Casual Setting: Instead of meeting in a formal office, advisors held weekly two-hour drop-in sessions in places where students already study and socialize. Midway through the year, we moved the events from the DICE 8th floor commons to the Engineering Incubator. The new location, with its glass walls and central location, caught the attention of students walking by and led to more drop-ins.
  • Comprehensive Support: Students can get help with program planning, website navigation, quick questions, and referrals to other services.
  • Raising Awareness: We promoted the events through social media, digital displays, and newsletters. Students were attracted by the chance to get quick answers and coffee or tea.

Students have responded very positively, showing a real need for easy-to-access advising. Each session brings in 12 to 15 students, and more than 25 during busy times. Most students stop by for about 15 minutes to get quick help. Students ask about many topics, from academic questions like GPA calculations and discipline placement to well-being issues such as stress, burnout, and mental health resources. Feedback showed a clear difference from traditional advising:

"I prefer Coffee Chat much more than drop-ins, as drop-ins feel so professional and focused, while in Coffee Chat I feel I can be more comfortable and open-minded."

"Sometimes it's uncomfortable to book an appointment knowing you're going to be sitting across from a desk, so this is a good and casual way to connect with people."

Coffee Chats have shown that making academic advising easier to access helps us connect better with students. The team presented this pilot at the inaugural Student Success and Experience (formerly the Dean of Students) Conference in the Spring to share the results with other units across campus. In the future, the Engineering Student Services Team plans to offer these sessions at more times, so engineering students have even more flexibility to get support when they need it.

The Engineering Student Services team's road to student engagement 

References

Higgins, M. (2017). The advising relationship is at the core of academic advising. NACADA. https://nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/The-Advising-Relationship-is-at-the-Core-of-Academic-Advising.aspx

Walker, R. V., Zelin, A. I., Behrman, C., & Strnad, R. (2017). Qualitative analysis of student perceptions: “Some advisors care. Some don’t.” NACADA Journal, 37(2), 44–54. https://doi.org/10.12930/NACADA-15-027