2021 AAA Conference

When: Thursday, March 4th, 2021 from 9:00am-3:30pm CST

Where: Virtually via Zoom

Conference registration is now closed. You will receive conference materials either via mail or email depending on when you registered.

Questions regarding the conference can be directed to Conference Co-Chairs: Kristen Aldrich (Kristen.aldrich@unl.edu) and Amanda Lager-Gleason (alager2@unl.edu). You can find the answers to some frequently asked questions here.

The Power of Connection and Change: Innovation, Motivation, Moving Forward

The Academic Advising Association at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is excited to host its 8th annual and first virtual Academic Advising Conference on March 4th, 2021. This year's conference will be hosted entirely through zoom.

2020 has brought many changes and challenges to our lives. Higher education is no exception. Our 2021 theme provides an opportunity to reflect on the past year and how we have changed, adapted, and continued to be motivated within our roles. It also provides an opportunity to focus on the future, to envision how what we’ve learned in the past year might be used to improve our work as student affairs professionals. What strategies and methods have students best responded to? How have we used innovation and creativity to continue to engage with and support students? How have you continued to remain motivated in a highly remote setting? How can we continue to remain innovative and motivated in how we support students as we move forward?

We hope to inspire and motivate the advisors and student affairs professionals who attend our annual spring conference to apply the many lessons we have learned over the past year to their future work in supporting students and institutions.

The conference committee has identified 4 thematic concentrations:

Innovation and Creativity: Using technology, creative problem-solving skills, and other assets to provide students with high-quality advising experiences during the global pandemic

Motivation: Motivating students and team members during these unprecedented times to persevere towards their goals; Providing support for students in academic distress (for example, undecided, high ability, or students on academic probation) who are also adjusting to hybrid and remote instruction

Connections: Cultivating students’ sense of belonging in a remote learning world to connect with campus partners, creating community with fellow students, and developing learning outside of class to prepare for future career opportunities; maintaining connections with team members and colleagues in a virtual environment

Moving Forward: Preparing for the long-term changes in the role and effective approaches of academic advising in a “post-pandemic” world

2021 Keynote Address

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Heath Harding

Dr. Heath Harding is a faculty member at the Federal Executive Institute, US Office of Personnel Management in October 2015. He is currently the program director of the Leadership for a Democratic Society program at the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, VA. The Leadership for a Democratic Society program has graduated over 30,000 leaders in the federal government over that last 50 years. The program focuses on creating visionary leaders in the federal government. He has worked at several universities in the Midwest teaching leadership: Kansas State University, Nebraska Wesleyan University, University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign, and the University of Nebraska Lincoln. He has a doctorate in leadership proudly from the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Dr. Harding is at his best when he is using his skills and experience to help others obtain their dreams.

Keynote Title: Connecting with Change

We all have a story that we like to tell about change. It is shaped by our past experiences, boiled down into a simple story or a few simple stories. These stories become the sound bites in our heads that we use to make sense of the past, and they often define our future. Whether we tell a positive or negative story about change, our connection with change often goes unexamined. Where did this story come from? How does it serve us? How does it get in our way sometimes? What is it protecting us from? Is change something you initiate or is it done to you? 

You work at centers of change – college campuses. You work with people who are usually undergoing dramatic changes in their lives: new experiences, new responsibilities, changing social circles, and competing beliefs. Advisees are facing a complex and constantly changing future – some blissfully unaware. As advisors, helpers and mentors, it is important to understand your own relationship to change as you lead others through these many changes. It is important to be able to intentionally tell your story of change rather than it telling you what to do. 

2021 AAA Conference Schedule - Session Descriptions

*A virtual help desk will be available March 4th from 8:30am-3:30pm. Drop in with any questions you have about the conference! Zoom Meeting ID: 932 9745 7202

Time

Event

Zoom Meeting ID

9:00-9:15am

Welcome

983 8766 6340

9:15-10:00am

Keynote Speaker

983 8766 6340

10:00-10:10am BREAK and Optional Networking Activity

950 8297 9878

Concurrent Session #1 (45 minutes)

10:10-10:55am

Using Instagram for Personal and Professional Development: A Student and Professionals Guide

937 9677 3372

ZOOMing into 2020: Political Experiences and Behaviors of International Students

949 4410 5183

POWER PARTNERSHIPS: Joining forces to increase student success and retention

949 4653 2894

10:55-11:05am BREAK

Concurrent Session #2 (25 minutes)

11:05-11:30am

Supporting International Students During the Covid-19 Pandemic

956 7203 7323

Cultivating Connections: Midland University’s Intentional Pairing Approach to Advising

978 5566 9855

Create a Master Training Notebook using OneNote

973 4497 4229

11:30-12:45pm LUNCH and Optional Networking Activity - *Networking activity will be 12:00-12:45pm

982 2879 9656

Concurrent Session #3 (45 minutes)

12:45-1:30pm

Getting Unstuck: Discovering Our Unconscious Commitments to Not Change

929 2410 2586

NCPA: Innovating Forward amidst COVID-19

928 4923 3033

Powerful Questions to Identify Motivation

958 9001 6495

1:30-1:40pm BREAK

Concurrent Session #4 (45 minutes)

1:40-2:25pm

Cultivating Resilience for Nonbinary Students

966 2296 9169

Supporting Degree Planning Through Innovation

985 2087 2356

It’s the Connection For Me: Staying Connected in a Virtual Environment

966 6126 5519

2:25-2:35pm BREAK

Concurrent Session #5 (25 minutes)

2:35-3:00pm

Asian International Students, Neo-Racism and COVID-19

989 0990 1936

Spring into Success: A Holistic Approach for First-Year Students’ Academic Recovery 

984 7648 9372

Unexpected Benefits from “Getting By”

960 5084 4854

3:00-3:30pm

Closing, Awards, and Evaluations

983 8766 6340