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 |