Advisor Attitudes Toward AI(A)

Advisors engage with AI both in their work and how they educate students about its use. They hold a wide range of attitudes toward this new technology from enthusiastic embrace to principled opposition. This workshop will ask participants to take part in a brief survey and learn from a panel of advisors who will share their hopes and fears as they consider “Advising for an AI-integrated future.”

Preparing for the Elevate Transition: A Conversation About Workday Student and Advising(A)

The implementation of Workday Student through the Elevate program will be rolled out starting in August 2027. By Spring 2028, academic advisors and students will begin working in Workday Student for the first time -- a significant step in the university's transition to new tools, processes, and ways of supporting student success. Advisors will play a critical role in helping students navigate the change while adapting to the platform themselves. This session will provide an overview of Workday Student and highlight advising-related work completed to date, including what advisors can expect as implementation progresses. Presenters will also explore the human side of the transition -- covering lessons from higher education ERP implementations, common advisor questions, and support being developed to aid change readiness.

Beyond the Numbers: Using Class of 2025 Career Outcomes to Enhance Advising Conversations(A)

Many advisors know the look of a student panicking about life beyond UMD. UMD collects comprehensive data on what our graduates do once they graduate. This First Destination data will be shared with advisors so they can consider how to use the data when working with students. Advisors will work through case studies and explore. ways to use First Destination data to guide nervous first-year students, seniors navigating possible careers and graduate school.

Onboarding and Onward: Rethinking New Advisor Training(M and S)

The onboarding period is an essential time in a new employee’s experience as it is an opportunity to assist employees for success in their position, and establish community among staff. The Computer Science Undergraduate Advising Office has revised its training procedures over the past year with new advisors participating in a 2.5-week training period. In this session, advisors will demonstrate the ELMS training page and review the full introductions in which new advisors will participate.

Know Yourself to Lead Others: Applying the DISC Framework to Advising and Leadership Development(A)

College advisors are expected to build trust, motivate action, and guide decision-making across a wide range of student personalities — often in a single short appointment. Yet most advisor training focuses on policy and process, leaving a gap in how advisors communicate, adapt, and lead relationally. This session addresses that gap using the DISC behavioral framework (Dominant, Influencing, Steady, Compliant) as a practical tool for both advisor self-awareness and student-facing communication.

Supporting At-Risk Students: Overview of STAR (Science Terp Academic Restoration) Program(A)

The S.T.A.R. program is designed to provide CMNS students facing academic challenges with the tools and resources needed to return to and maintain good academic standing. The program focuses on three main components: 1) Time Management, 2) Mindset, Motivation, & Grit, and 3) Goal Setting. Through participation, students learn about the requirements for achieving success and are able to identify campus resources to support academic success. The S.T.A.R. The program is a non-credit course delivered asynchronously via Elms over the course of 5 weeks.

Advising our Pre-Professional Terps: Learning about our Services, Understanding the Needs of our Students, and Appreciating your Integral Role in the Process(A)

Pre-professional academic advising assists students navigate their paths to graduation and supports their interests in law and health professions. This presentation ties in well with the conference theme as the university depends on a community of advisors to develop successful pre-professional students who will make significant impacts on society as they eventually assume integral roles in the workplace.

What's an Ombuds? Helping Students Find Their Way on Campus(A)

The University of Maryland has five ombuds officers: faculty, professional track instructors, graduate students, undergraduate students, and staff. Ombuds assist faculty, staff, and students in resolving issues that occur in the classroom and the offices around campus. This presentation will discuss resources available to students from the undergraduate ombuds and how best to refer students for help on campus.

Pre-College Credits and Student Success(A)

Undergraduates often enter UMD with college-level credits earned before high school graduation. These pre-college credits (PCCs) come from sources such as AP courses and dual enrollment. However, information about PCCs and their impact on student success is not widely shared. This session offers insights into PCC trends and student outcomes using data from the 2012-17 New Freshman cohorts. Exploring PCC impacts using descriptive statistics and propensity score matching, a quasi-experimental method that creates matched pairs to simulate a randomized controlled trial and help control for confounds. We found: 1) most students had AP PCCs, but this varied by student characteristics; 2) more students with PCCs graduated, and in less time, compared to those without; and 3) while students with PCCs from higher education institutions had similar six-year graduation rates as students with AP PCCs, a larger percentage graduated in under four years.

The Differences in Academic Experiences Between First-Year Students and Upperclassmen(A)

This presentation focuses on how students navigate academics in an ever-changing world using data from The Campus Assessment Working Group (CAWG) survey of first-year upperclass students. This survey looks at their academic experiences and use of academic resources, in the 2025-26 school year. CAWG runs two annual surveys: one of first-year students, and one of juniors and seniors. These surveys have high response rates, leading to reliable and generalizable results that can aid in decision-making on campus.

Learning on the Job: AI Literacy Through Internship Experience Student Panel(A)

According to the Economic Innovation Group and the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs report, employers expect that nearly 40% of workers’ core skills will change by 2030, with analytical thinking and AI literacy ranked near the top of this list. Given these rapid changes we are experiencing in the world of work, how are our students beginning to use AI in their internships? The panel presentation will discuss how UMD students from a variety of majors are using AI in internships. Advisors will learn how students are using AI in their jobs and internships so they can provide them with meaningful guidance when it comes to course selection and career planning.As part of this presentation, advisors will also receive a Career Readiness AI Prompt Playbook featuring ready-to-use prompts aligned with the NACE Career Readiness Competencies and NCDA Career Development Guidelines.

Peer Mentors as Institutional Translators(E and M, but open to all)

Students seeking support for a number of issues inside and out of the classroom such as financial aid, academic policies, degree requirements, and campus resources. These students have the ability to succeed yet they may lack the ability to do so as higher education has its own language, bureaucracy and hidden curriculum. Participants in this session will explore practical strategies for preparing peer mentors to support institutional navigation and engage in a facilitated discussion to exchange ideas, explore challenges, and build connections with colleagues supporting peer leaders across campus.

Transfer Credit Essentials(A and M)

With the increased enrollment of transfer students at UMD, as well as the significant rise in dual enrollment and Prior Learning Credit, a majority of incoming students at UMD arrive with some type of transfer credit. In this session, members of Transfer Credit Services (TCS) will provide a comprehensive overview of the policies and procedures that impact students’ transfer records, while reviewing available resources and services available to support academic advisors in their work with students. Topics will include a discussion of a) the types of credit accepted, b) transfer credit limits, c) the course evaluation process, d) an interactive review of the transfer course database, e) an explanation of footnotes, and f) the Permission to Enroll (PTE) process. The session will close with a discussion period to address additional transfer credit concerns pertaining to students’ academic planning and success at UMD.