2023 Advising & Career Services Conference Schedule

Connect over breakfast with others in leadership or supervision roles to debrief the conference keynote

Time: 9:00-10:15 AM

Location: Industry, Union South

This space is designed for BIPOC staff members to connect, reflect, and debrief the keynote over arts and crafts

Time: 12:00-1:30 PM

Location: Memorial Union – Wheelhouse Studios

Join new staff in community for lunch & debrief of the conference keynote

Time: 1:30-3:00 PM

Location: Union South, Industry (3rd Floor)

This space is designed for LGBTQ+ staff members to informally connect over snacks and discuss the conference keynote.

Time: 3:00-4:00 PM

Location: Union South, Landmark

Grab your nametag, a cup of coffee or tea, and get ready for the breakout sessions which start promptly at 9:00 AM!

Session Title: Imposter Syndrome: Embracing Your Truth and Transforming Cultures

Time & Location: 9:00 – 10:00 AM | Sonata 

Topic Areas: Leadership and/or Supervision

Presenters:

• Ryan Bouchard, Career Development Manager, Career Exploration Center
• Karen Thomas, Director of Office of Online Student Success, Office of Undergraduate Advising

Session Description: 

Impostor syndrome can be experienced by anyone, regardless of job title, years of experience, and even identities. In this interactive session, participants will learn what impostor syndrome is and have an opportunity to hear both personal and professional stories from two UW Administrators on their experiences when they felt that they didn’t belong or that maybe someone else could do the job better or should be in their place. Further, participants will engage in dialogue with one another about their own experiences and learn that instead of running from that feeling of internalized pressure and inadequacy, we should try to embrace what makes us unique, and serve as change agents in transforming the cultures that foster feelings of impostor syndrome.

View the presentation slides

Session Title: Navigating the Career Process with Queer Identities

Time & Location: 9:00 – 10:00 AM | Concerto 

Topic Areas: Advising & Career Services

Presenters: Paul Oshefsky, Academic Advising Manager, Pre-Business, Certificate & Transfer Advising; Wisconsin School of Business

Session Description: Major and career exploration can be a stressful process for all of our students, but exploring majors and careers with marginalized identities can make any already stressful process even more difficult to navigate. Join this session to explore and discuss how having LGBTQ+ identities (as well as other marginalized identities) can impact both major and career exploration.

Session Title: Fostering Student Worker Success

Time & Location: 9:00 – 10:00 AM | Overture

Topic Areas: Leadership and/or Supervision

Presenters:

• Mina House, Peer Advising Coordinator, International Student Services
• Sara Sheibani, International Student Advisor, International Student Services

Session Description: Thinking about your creating or revamping your student employee support system? The relationship between supervisor-supervisee is crucial to the success of student workers. Our session will focus on developing a management style that will support the diverse identities and experiences our student workers have. Based on our experiences with student supervision and support, we have identified a common management style that has been successful in our unit. We invite participants to also be ready to share their experience to have an engaging and collaborative conversation.

View the presentation slides

Session Title: Advising on Learning Support: Engaging Students with Academic Resources

Time & Location: 9:00 – 10:00 AM | Symphony 

Topic Areas: Advising

Presenters:

• Africa Lozano-Yarl, Director of Academic Coaching and Tutoring Services 
• Kim Mueller, Director of Learning Support, Office of Undergraduate Advising
• Eve Williams, former ULC Assistant Director, Undergraduate Learning Center
• Leah Rineck, Math Learning Center Director, Math Department
• Amihan Huesmann, Learning Support Manager, Center for Academic Excellence

Session Description: UW–Madison has over 15 learning centers that support academic success through individual and group coaching/tutoring, study skills appointments, learning labs, exam review workshops, and more! During this session a panel of instructional and administrative learning support community members will share guidance and strategies for connecting students with these resources. This session focuses on students who have historically been underserved by higher education and students at risk of failing.

View presentation slides

Session Title: The Student Benefits: Tips to Advise Military-Connected Students

Time & Location: 10:15 – 11:15 AM – Sonata

Topic Areas: Advising

Presenters:

• Amanda Venske, Education Benefits Specialist, University Veteran Services
• Mike Panaro, School Certifying Official, University Veteran Services
• Jessica DeKuiper, Academic Advisor, Center for Academic Excellence

Session Description: This session will explore the experiences, challenges, and strengths of military-connected students, and the crucial role advisors play in helping these students build successful networks on campus. You’ll also learn about the tensions between supporting military-connected students in their academic exploration and ensuring they receive their financial benefits for tuition and living expenses. We’ll show you the ways that informed and collaborative advisors can work with University Veteran Services to help students navigate course selection, major declaration, and course certification.

Session Title: Trends, Changes, and Challenges in Student Engagement at UW-Madison

Time & Location: 10:15 – 11:15 AM | Concerto 

Presenters: 

• Jen Le, Scholarship & Employment Specialist, Office of Student Financial Aid
• TJ Sargent, Director of Student Organization Support, Center for Leadership and Involvement
• Jeff Novak, Director, University Housing
• José Luis Ramirez, Jr., Assistant Director of Civic Engagement, Morgridge Center for Public Service
• Claudia Guzmán, Director, Multicultural Student Center

Moderated by:

• Tara Milliken, Interim Director for Career Services, Office of Undergraduate Advising
• Kim Mueller, Director of Learning Support, Office of Undergraduate Advising

Session Description: Representatives from various student services units across campus will share relevant data points about the students they serve that speak to trends, changes, and challenges since the pandemic and engage in a lively discussion about ways student engagement as a whole is evolving on campus. Panelists will grapple with questions like, “What changes have your units implemented to increase student engagement?” and “Why are students not engaged with employment and other on-campus/virtual opportunities?” Audience members will also have an opportunity to ask direct questions of panelists.

Session Title: From “Me” to “We:” Are you ready to steer the ship?

Time & Location: 10:15 – 11:15 AM | Overture

Topic Areas: Leadership and/or Supervision

Presenters: 

• Andrea Boulanger, Director of Career Advising & Communities, SuccessWorks
• Alicia Johanning, Academic Advising Supervisor, Department of Economics

Session Description: Let’s take stock of what it could mean for you to supervise. What could this path look like if you say “yes” to that supervisor job? Are you ready to lead others while orchestrating your unit’s goals? Are you ready to lead yourself as new things arise? Join us to help assess if you are ready to “emotionally trust yourself” on this path. This workshop is for those considering supervision as part of their professional development journey, or for those new on the job!

View presentation slides

Time & Location: 11:15 AM-1:00 PM | Symphony

Menu:

• Spring Rolls
• Steamed Vegetable Thai Potstickers
• Korean BBQ Station:
  • Lettuce Wraps
  • Wonton Chips – V
  • Bulgogi Beef – GF, DF
  • Spicy Bulgogi Chicken – GF, DF
  • Grilled Portabello Mushroom – Vegan, GF
• White Rice
• Sweet Chili Sauce – V, GF, DF
• Pickled Vegetables – Vegan, GF
• Korean BBQ Sauce – V, GF, DF
• Rice Crispy Bars
• Brownies
• Sparkling Water
• Assorted Soda
• Bottled Water

Session Title: Communication Tips & Tricks: Becoming more effective and inclusive

Time & Location: 1:00 – 2:00 PM | Sonata 

Topic Areas: Personal and Professional Development

Presenters:

• Marissa DeGroot, Assistant Director for Campus-Wide Communications, Office of Undergraduate Advising
• Gayle Viney-Goers, Communications Director, Cross-College Advising Service

Session Description: Whether you are an academic advisor or career services professional – solo in your office or part of a 20-person team – communication is a part of your job. Your day might be filled with creating emails, sharing presentations, navigating social media, updating websites, and making flyers, but are these efforts helping you reach your audience effectively? Join us to learn key communications tips, tricks, and resources that can save you time and effort while making your communication more effective and inclusive.

View presentation slides

View resource sheet

Session Title: Compass of Care: Navigating boundaries and needs while supporting students’ mental health

Time & Location: 1:00 – 2:00 PM | Overture 

Topic Areas: Personal and professional development 

Presenters: 

• Jamie Temple, University Health Services
• Val Donovan, University Health Services
• Erin Polnaszek Boyd, Department of English

Session Description:

Have you ever found yourself supporting a student through a challenging situation and thinking, “Can I do this again?” If so, join us for this interactive session to workshop an advising scenario alongside your colleagues. We will begin with an overview of campus mental health resources and then move into small groups to work through and reflect on a case study. Within the conversation, we will spend time discussing how you can support this student, how to know if a situation is too much (and what to do), what resources are available to support you, and how you can set/adjust boundaries while still demonstrating care for the student.

This session, unfortunately, had to be cancelled. We encourage you to attend one of the other two sessions or spend time in the Wellness Room.

Session Title: Career Readiness across the Curriculum (CRxC): Transforming how your campus engages students in skills and career development

Time & Location: 1:00 – 2:00 PM | Concerto

Topic Areas: Career Services

Presenter: Matthew T. Hora, Associate Professor, Division of Continuing Studies and School of Education, Co-Director of the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT)

Session Description: In this interactive workshop participants will learn about the new Career Readiness Across the Curriculum framework. Developed by CCWT the framework problematizes the generic “soft skills” discourse, provides instructors with a 6-step guide for teaching skills in a culturally responsive manner,, and outlines strategies for faculty and career services to create coherent skills pathways for students.

Presentation slides will be available after the session

Session Title: “Taking a Step Back”: What White Student Affairs Practitioners Engaged in Social Justice Work Say about Followership

Time & Location: 1:00 – 2:00 PM | Concerto

Presenter: Molly Censky, Assistant Director of Advising and Student Success, School of Nursing

Session Description:

The study of followership is underrepresented in leadership literature. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological study was to explore how White student affairs practitioners engaged in social justice work at a predominantly White public research institution experienced and navigated followership. The findings indicated that the concept of followership had not been given substantial thought prior to this study, and that the way the participants understood and performed followership was largely dependent on the salience of their White identities within the context of their work. Findings also suggested that White student affairs practitioners engaged in social justice work desired a more intentional followership practice. Recommendations for the implementation of more intentional followership practices are provided for student affairs graduate programs, White student affairs practitioners, and White university leaders.

Session Title: It Takes a Village: Transfer Credit Processing and Advising

Time & Location: 2:15 – 3:15 PM | Sonata

Topic Areas: Advising

Presenters:

• Tracy Mores, Credit Evaluation Services Business Analyst, Office of the Registrar
• Anna Dunn, Credit Evaluation Services Specialist, Office of the Registrar
• My Linh Do, Credit Evaluation Services Specialist, Office of the Registrar

Session Description: In this workshop, we will start with a brief overview of Credit Evaluation Services (CES), what we do for students and where our abilities end. The primary focus of our session will be on leveraging the experience of other advisors in the session to help generate productive answers for frequently asked questions about transfer credit and navigate difficult conversations about how transfer credit applies to degree requirements. You will also help CES look forward by contributing new ideas of topics to include in future presentations and trainings.

Presentation Slides

Session Title: Your Rights at Work: Advocating for Yourself & Your Colleagues

Time & Location: 2:15 – 3:15 PM | Concerto

Topic Areas: Personal and Professional Development

Presenters:

• Sara Gia Trongone, Project Assistant/Graduate Student, Department of Sociology
• Amihan Huesmann, Learning Support Manager, Center for Academic Excellence

Session Description: Every job, no matter how fulfilling, has its challenges. Join us to learn about your rights on the job and how you can advocate for yourself and your colleagues about the issues that matter to you. Together, let’s make sure UW-Madison is a supportive and sustainable place to work! This session, led by campus workers and members of the United Faculty and Academic Staff (UFAS) includes three components: (1) A short primer on public sector employee rights; (2) a collaborative discussion of what would make UW an even better place to work; and (3) an applied activity of your choice that helps you feel confident moving forward as a peer or departmental advocate.

Presentation slides

Session Title: Centering Equity in Career Services

Time & Location: 2:15 – 3:15 PM | Symphony

Topic Areas: Career Services

Presenters:

• Leanne Morris, Employer & Community Engagement Managers, Career Center, School of Education (Panel Facilitator)
• Seng Thao, Employer Relations Coordinator at SuccessWorks
• Joy Benz, Recruitment Manager at Facilities, Planning and Management (UW Employer)
• Kristina Vack, Career Development Manager, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
• Jacy Imilkowski, Director of Organizational Strategy, Reach Dane

Session Description: All of our students want to be successful once they leave the classroom, but not everyone has the same access and opportunities when it comes to their careers. Career services staff and employers alike are looking at how they can center equity in their practices to ensure that every student has the opportunity to be successful. Come and hear from our panel consisting of career advisors, employers and employer relations folks, about what they are doing to help remove barriers for students.

Presentation slides

Conference Closing, Raffle, and Fun!

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Location: Symphony in Gordon Dining & Event Center

Join for a wrap up of the 2023 conference, announcement of the raffle winners, plus board games, crafts, and button making!