Missouri S&T hosted the spring 2024 UM Advise, the University of Missouri System advising summit, on Thursday, Feb. 29. This one-day event, with the theme “Solving for Tomorrow,” provided an opportunity for colleagues to share knowledge and reflect on advising practices.  

The summit focused on harnessing the knowledge advisors have of the universities’ curricula and services to assist students in solving the problems of today and navigating their paths for the future, contributing to helping students “solve for tomorrow.” Dr. April Belback, associate vice provost of student success and advising at the University of Pittsburgh, gave the keynote presentation titled, “Empowering Student Thriving: The Transformative Impact of Shared Collaborative Advising.”

The summit included several breakout sessions, a poster session and a plenary workshop. Jason Newton, academic advisor for computer science, and Kevin Walkup, academic advisor for chemical and biochemical engineering, presented a breakout session on “Academic Advising Career Progression: A Solution to Professional Stagnation.” Simran Bhatia, senior organizational health education specialist, and Jessica Gargus, director of student well-being, presented “Navigating Student Challenges: Strategies for Academic Advisors” and Tera Humphrey, senior educational program coordinator for strategic diversity initiatives, presented on “Crucial Conversations.” For the poster session, Brittany Parnell and Jill Sertell, senior academic advisors for the S&T Advising Center, presented a poster on “Leveraging Early Alert Systems.”