Office of Undergraduate Studies
30th Annual
Advising Conference

ADVISING THROUGH CHANGE:
30 YEARS OF INNOVATION

Wednesday, October 1, 2025
Stamp Student Union

Check back more information!

Call for proposals

The Undergraduate Studies Advising Conference planning committee is now accepting proposals. The deadline to submit a proposal is Friday, July 11, 2025, at 11:59 p.m.

The 30th Annual Undergraduate Studies Advising Conference invites proposals and topics that speak to the theme of “Advising Through Change: 30 Years of Innovation.”

Advisors play a crucial role in helping students navigate complex situations such as selecting a major, choosing classes, exploring career paths, and accessing resources during stressful times. To better meet students' evolving needs, advisors continually develop new programs and initiatives. What are the ways you’ve adapted to meet the needs of your students? What new initiatives have you developed? What has served us before, and what might serve us in the future? How can we hone our practice, and what new ideas might help us get there?

This year’s conference serves as an opportunity to reflect on the past and share with each other new opportunities for our students. Changing course can be difficult, but ultimately, we work to meet the needs of our students where they are.

Successful conference proposals will highlight one or more of the following topics:

• • Advising during uncertain times
• • How not to “do more with less”
• • Creativity in advising
• • Creativity in advising
• • Collaborating across campus and with other professional colleagues
• • Leveraging lessons learned
• • Reframing ideas of “success” and “failure” with students in the context of their academic and personal journeys

Successful proposals include presentations, community dialogue, panels, or other professional development opportunities in areas that support advisors’ work or professional and personal development.

Preference will be given to presentations that are based in the literature, interactive, and include audience engagement. Also, collaboration is encouraged! Please consider working in teams and/or across departments as you plan your proposal.

Key factors to consider when submitting a proposal include:

• • Degree to which the proposal provides relevant, timely, and educational content
• • Well-defined focus for the presentation
• • Quality and potential to contribute to a balanced conference program for advisors
• • Diverse mix of presenters with a variety of areas of expertise
• • Interactive audience participation
• • Immediate takeaways for audience
• • Best structure for presentation (i.e. facilitated panel, traditional workshop, working group/facilitated audience dialogue, lightning talk, etc.)

Adapted from NACE 2024 Proposal Guide

Resources to help jumpstart your creativity:
Advisors as Originals: Unlocking the Potential in Yourself and Students
Deconstructing Narratives of Failure Through Academic Advising
Inspiration and Innovation: The Value of Pursuing 'Wouldn't It Be Cool?' Projects in Challenging Times

Please direct any questions to proposal sub-committee Christie De Leon or Jess Krenek.

Thank you,
The 2025 Advising Conference Planning Committee