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Enhancing advising: a new model to support student success
Better access, clearer guidance and more personalized support. Discover how the University of Alberta is evolving its advising model to improve the student experience.
Enhancing Advising Project
The Enhancing Advising initiative is about building a stronger, more connected advising system that better supports both students and the people who advise them. We’re building on the expertise and relationships that already exist, while addressing the workload, process and system barriers that advisors have told us make it harder to provide the level of support they want to give students.
Our Vision
To create a proactive and inclusive advising ecosystem that empowers students to independently navigate their academic journeys while receiving high-touch, in-person support when they need it most.
Key Objectives
- Student-centred: Prioritize the student experience and evolve to meet their needs.
- Empowered staff: Foster a connected, supportive environment that recognizes staff expertise and prioritizes professional and career development.
- Service excellence: Commit to delivering and outstanding advising service.
- Advancing one university: Encourage collaboration and improve effectiveness through the integration of local and university-wide services.
Why This Matters
Advising is more than just course selection; it is a collaborative process that helps students define their own version of success. By investing in our advising staff and infrastructure, we are investing in the future of every student at the University of Alberta.
Implementation Pillars
Pillar 1: Foundations and Governance
- Advising Leadership Committee (ALC): Establish a representative body to provide strategic direction and oversight to campus advising.
- Common advising competency framework: Establish and adopt shared advising competencies across the institution.
- Common advising job elements and titles: Define consistent advisor roles, responsibilities and titles where appropriate.
- Advising Quality Assurance (QA): Implement a structured quality assurance process to evaluate and continuously improve advising services.
- Student Service Centre (SSC) Evolution: Reposition the SSC as a standalone unit and expand its role as the primary entry point for university-wide student services.
Pillar 2: Innovation and Peer Support
- Peer advising pilot: Establish a peer advising program within the SSC to provide student-led guidance.
- Expanded Ambassador program pilot: Extend wayfinding and triage support within large direct-entry faculties.
- Advisor and system capacity optimization: Identify opportunities to reduce administrative workload and increase advisor capacity.
- Technology review: Assess advising and student support technologies to improve functionality, outreach and the student experience.
- Advisor co-location: Pilot advisor co-location between the Student Service Centre and other student facing units to improve collaboration and reduce student redirects.
Pillar 3: Optimization + Scale
- Advising website: Create a centralized hub for advising services, resources, forms, contacts, referrals and escalation pathways.
- Advisor onboarding curriculum: Develop a standardized onboarding program for all advising staff.
- Advisor professional development (PD) curriculum: Deliver ongoing training aligned with the advising competency framework.
- Continuous improvement and opportunity assessment process: Establish a process to identify, evaluate and prioritize ongoing system improvements.
Advising Leadership Committee Membership
The Advising Leadership Committee (ALC) is supporting the rollout of the new advising model and leading the responsibilities and initiatives assigned to it under the model.
| Category | Representatives |
|---|---|
| Project sponsor | Melissa Padfield, Deputy Provost, Students and Enrolment |
| Implementation Lead | Julie Naylor, College General Manager, College of Natural and Applied Sciences |
| Strategic Initiatives Officer, Student Advising | Stephanie Dickie, Office of the Deputy Provost Students and Enrolment |
| Committee co-chairs | Sarah Wolgemuth, AVP Student Experience (Chair) Kristy Wuetherick, Faculty Student Services Manager, Arts (Rotating Co-Chair) |
| Student Service Centre (SSC) | Courtney Rippin Kaufman, Director, SSC Amy Chae, Manager, Service Improvement, SSC |
| Office of the Registrar | Courtney Walker, Student Recruitment Director and Assistant Registrar |
| International Education and Enrollment | Kumarie Achaibar-Morrison, Director, International Student and Visitor Services |
| Access, Community and Belonging | Remonia Stoddart-Morrison, Graduate Ombudsperson |
| Student Success and Experience | Emily Gregory, Manager, Career Education |
| Faculty and colleges | Joanna Auger, Associate Dean Undergraduate, Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation Michelle Inness, Associate Dean Undergraduate, Alberta School of Business Jim Bohun, Director, Office of Education, College of Natural and Applied Sciences Stephanie Gillis, Team Lead - Science Student Services, Faculty of Science Katelyn Brown, Manager, Academic Services, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine Megan McCaskill, Student Advisor, Faculty of Education Natasha Wismark, Student Advisor, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences Kalli Lirette, Team Lead, Student Services, Campus Saint-Jean Jayla Lindberg, Manager, Work Integrated Learning and Student Supports, Augustana Campus Sara Horseman, Faculty General Manager, Native Studies Bobbi Schiestel, Faculty General Manager, Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies |
| University of Alberta Students’ Union | Susan Huseynova, Vice-President Academic, University of Alberta Students’ Union |
| Graduate Students’ Association | Kingsley Igwilo, VP Academic, Graduate Students’ Association |
| Students-at-large | Sehar Qureshi (Open Studies) Jessica Jiang (Faculty of Science) |
Contact
For questions, contact enhancing.advising@ualberta.ca.