2017 Presentation Schedule

Poster Session: 8:00-8:50 a.m. Great Plains Room (2nd Floor)

Guiding First Year Students Through Mentorship:

Presenters:  Jenna Brende and Frae Binder

A two-part overview of the impact of peer mentoring for First-Year students. The poster will theorize some of the key struggles of First-Year students. We will provide an overview of the humanities peer mentoring program in English at UNL. Our poster will feature the work we have done with our mentees including memes, activities and presentations on learning styles before finals week to come up with individualized study plans, as well as other activities.

 

Muslim Students & the 2016 US Presidential Election: Reassessing the Needs of Marginalized Student Populations Impacted by Presidential Elections

Presenter: Maggie Fischer

I spent the fall semester of 2016 gathering empirical data on Muslim Students in America, and the climate surrounding their experiences on and off campus. My goal was to see if/how the 2016 presidential election impacted them, and if we, as Student Affairs professionals, need to reassess the needs of historically marginalized student populations post-election.

 

Navigating Obstacles: Write Here, Write Now

Presenter: Lucy Koch

The UNL Writing Center provides a “one-with-one” tutoring approach to all members of the UNL community with the idea that everyone should have equal access to academic resources. At the Writing Center, we “ally with and advocate for writers from historically marginalized or oppressed groups and for writing that counters traditional accounts of “standard” academic English by extending conceptions of audience, purpose, and meaning.” The resources we offer aid students in navigating new obstacles and we hope by the broader understanding of our space/services, we will be able to promote an even more accommodating/accessible resource for the UNL community.  

 

Serving Students with Eating Disorders

Presenter:  Lauren Kelba

My poster presents information surrounding the frequency and identities of those who suffer from eating disorders on campus. Primarily, my poster presents the variety of identities that suffer from eating disorders, and how that recognition (and subsequent treatment) differs across visible identities. Individuals of color or other marginalized populations often suffer from their disorder in different ways and experience different risk factors, which results in statistically significant physician error or bias when it comes to diagnosing individuals. The poster also includes implications for student affairs professionals based on the research.

Concurrent Session 1: 10:15-11:15 a.m.

Access: The Other Side of Resiliency 

Presenter: Dr. Laura K. Muñoz

Location:  Great Plains Room (2nd Floor)

Resilience paradigms often return the burden of success onto the student who is expected to “bounce back,” overcome pressures, and navigate dilemmas seemingly by sheer will.  However, studies show that the most resilient students thrive precisely because of access to opportunities and networks that help them engage transformative practices.  This plenary will look at ways in which those of us on the frontline create pathways for student access and success.  How do we show students—at whatever stage of development they possess—to successfully maneuver through the bureaucracy of higher education and the structural barriers they may encounter?  Simultaneously, how do we as advisors address the barriers to retention and persistence to graduation that students confront?  

 

Who Has Time for That?  Developing Career Resilience in

Underrepresented Students

Presenters: Paula Caldwell and Katie Sewell

Location: Columbine Room (3rd Floor)

Underrepresented students (nontraditional, low-income, DACA, etc.) come to college with experiences that differentiate them from their traditional peers, and conversations about career development need to be adapted to meet the needs of underrepresented students. Many underrepresented students juggle commitments precluding them from engaging in traditional career development opportunities that are often viewed as the key to full-time employment. This discourages underrepresented students from seeking career assistance from advisors or career coaches. With the number of underrepresented students growing, the programming and resources offered need to assist students in building resiliency as well as confidence in their lived experiences and effectively communicating their experiences/skills to employers. This session will include a dialogue about best practices, open discussion, and facilitated activities to assist in developing effective programming and resources.

 

When All Else Fails, Parallel Planning to the Rescue:  Shifting Student Perspectives on the Back-Up Plan

Presenter: Janessa Hageman and Katie Hauge

Location:  Goldenrod Room (3rd Floor)

Advisors often have the challenge of discussing alternative degree paths for students’ undergraduate experience. Research shows that 86.1% of freshman state that they go to college to be able to get a better job, but when “Plan A” does not work out for a variety of reasons, it can be hard for students to be resilient and open to selecting an alternative “parallel plan”. This engaging session will focus on the daily practice of parallel planning conversations and how to effectively understand, interact, and motivate through this decision-making process to in-turn help build confident and adaptable students. Audience members will gain perspective from a career development standpoint that includes techniques, tools, and research to have a methodology for parallel planning conversations and ultimately, a new sense on how to be an integral part of not only students’ collegiate success but their success in future endeavors.

 

Powerful Partnerships:  Leveraging Advising Identity to Serve Students

Presenters: Sammi Kaiser, Huai-Mei Furman, and Katie Larson

Location:  Sunflower (3rd Floor)

What does it take to build and maintain a caring, connected web of advisors on your campus? When professionals tackle this challenge, students across campus benefit in a tangible way.  Informed by research in Communities of Practice (Wenger, 2011) and collaborative partnerships across campus (Bourassa & Kruger, 2002; Kezar, 2003; Whitt et al., 2008), we’ll share our story of taking the reins of our campus advisors council. Armed with great insights from our predecessors, we were able to assess our council’s needs and identify some top priorities.  In our presentation, we’ll review relevant research and offer tips to identify partnership opportunities through needs assessment. We’ll explore the rewards and the benefits that make pursuing these connections worth your limited time. We hope attendees will leave feeling empowered to form partnerships at their campus and beyond to build a strong community of advisors serving students.

Concurrent Session 2: 12:30-1:30 p.m.

College-Going Experiences of Male Foster Youth Alumni Who Have Stopped-Out of College

Presenter: Felipe Longoria

Location:  Garden Room (2nd Floor)

This session will focus on a qualitative research study which examined the foster care experiences that led male foster youth alumni to go to college, while also seeking to understand the in-and-out of college factors that led participants to exit college prematurely. Five participants were included in this study. Findings indicated that establishing and maintaining relationships in college were challenging and contributed to vulnerability and affected their help-seeking behavior. Recommendations are offered for higher education professionals, as are areas for future research.

 

The Key to Academic Intervention:  Increasing Self-Efficacy through Goal-Setting

Presenters:  Susie Brown and Ashlee Young

Location:  Columbine Room (3rd Floor)

Challenges with differing levels of college readiness and academic preparedness amongst diverse student populations have become apparent in regards to retention and completion rates. To combat these issues, efforts are being made at both the secondary and postsecondary level to motivate academically struggling students through interventions designed to help students raise their grade point averages. The motivation topics for this presentation focus on self-efficacy and goal-setting as they relate to supporting academic probation students. We will combine our research findings with our own personal experiences with the Nebraska College Preparatory Academy, a college access program (Brown) and the Thompson Learning Community at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, a retention program (Young).

 

Intersectional Everyday Practices for LGBTQIA+ Student Inclusion

Presenter: Jen Skidmore

Location:  Goldenrod (3rd Floor)

LGBTQIA+ students face major challenges on our campuses that we can help address. Even in 2017, the national climate for this community is precarious due to an increase in discriminatory laws, lack of legal protections, no decrease in suicide and murder rates, and bigoted discourse nationally. These students need a supportive community now more than ever. The first steps on our part to changing this climate and supporting our students are to educate ourselves, learn about their challenges on and off campus, and identify ways we can intentionally reduce or eliminate these barriers to success. This session takes an intersectional approach to promoting resilience for LGBTQIA+ students, and is a safe space for professionals of all knowledge and comfort levels. Come engage in productive dialogue for creating positive change and develop an action plan. Note: This is not an Ally Training, so vocabulary won’t be covered heavily.

 

Rerouting:  Guiding Foreclosed Students Toward Career Ownership

Presenters:  Katie Wessel and Laura Sansoni

Location:  Sunflower (3rd Floor)

One of the first questions college students are asked is “What’s your major?” Their major becomes a significant part of their identity. “Foreclosed” students appear very decided, but have committed to a specific path without much exploration. When things don’t go as planned, it can lead to crisis for these students and impact retention. Drawing from our background in an integrated academic and career advising center, we recognize how commonplace, yet challenging, these conversations can be. This presentation will focus on recognizing foreclosed students and helping them move from being stuck to taking ownership of their major and career decisions. We will share techniques grounded in James Marcia’s Identity Status Theory and other career and identity theories to guide students through career and major exploration. Session will include facilitated discussion of best practices and advising scenarios.

Concurrent Session 3: 1:45-2:45 p.m.

Preparing for Change: Overcoming Obstacles through Parallel Planning

Presenters: Megan Friesen and Kayla Person

Location:  Garden Room  (2nd Floor)

Parallel Plan: A secondary educational plan to help students maintain progress toward graduation and meet life goals. Through a  visual and interactive presentation, this session will introduce you to methods used for parallel planning to help guide students through overcoming academic obstacles and build resiliency to reach career and life goals. Session topics include identifying students who could benefit from parallel planning, conversation starting techniques, and supportive tools and resources. A provided handout can be used with students to identify their career related strengths, interests, and values, and aid in exploring alternative major and career options.  Through small group discussion, participants will practice parallel plan conversations and techniques with real world  scenarios. This session will provide participants practical knowledge and skills needed to help students in their own departments overcome academic obstacles and generate parallel plans to meet life goals. 

 

Students in Psychological Distress:  The Advising Game Plan for Student Success

Presenters:  Tony Lazarowicz and Charlie Foster

Location:  Columbine Room (3rd Floor)

Mental Health is a serious concern on college campuses and advisors are a key player in the game plan for assisting students in reaching academic and personal success. In the most recent National College Health Assessment of undergraduate students by the American College Health Association (2016), 51.2% reported feeling hopeless, 86.0% felt overwhelmed by all they had to do, 60.8% felt very lonely, and 10.5% seriously considered suicide within the last 12 months. 48.7% of students indicated that issues with mental health have been traumatic or very difficult in handling their academics. Participants will leave this session with: a) an understanding of prevalent mental health conditions students face in college, particularly highlighting differences among students from under-represented backgrounds; b) a range of questions to engage in conversations with students relating to mental health and effective referrals; and c) open conversation about campus networks for identifying and assisting students in crisis.

 

How to Infuse More Career Development Into Your Advising Sessions

Presenters:  Tracy Lungrin and Bill Watts

Location:  Goldenrod Room (3rd Floor)

What do you want to do with your life? Does the question terrify you? Excite you? What about asking it of students? How will they respond? What if that’s a giant can of worms? Scared if you go down this path the student will be in your office for hours?   In this session we’re going to explore how to infuse more career development into advising conversations with your students.  We’ll outline the UNL exploring majors and career model, share coaching questions to assess the needs of your students & help you identify what referrals you can make to add depth to their career development and goals. Learn about important stages of career development including exploring students, gaining experience, resume positioning, and networking/connecting. Be ready to work in small groups where together we will generate coaching questions and tools to start meaningful conversations with your students around their career development.

 

Taking Care of Our Students & Ourselves

Presenters: Ann Callies and Kassi Woods

Location:  Sunflower Room (3rd Floor)

Just like an airline passenger is advised to put on their oxygen mask before helping someone else, student affairs professionals also need to remember to take care of themselves first. This presentation will discuss the NASPA/ACPA competency areas for student affairs professionals. Participants will self-assess regarding the competency areas, discuss strengths and areas for improvement, as well as guided activities which focus on mindfulness. The intersectional nature of these areas can only help us improve our work with students. An informational handout will be provided with all of the references noted in the presentation.