About the Conference
On June 26th, the Georgia Tech Academic Advisors Network (GTAAN) hosted the 2017 Best Practices Conference. The conference began back in 2004 and was originally a Georgia Tech-only event. But In 2006, the conference was opened to colleagues from around the state and region.
While the conference has undergone some changes, it remains a day of professional development for the advising community—although the conference is designed especially for academic advisors, many other professionals in related fields attend and contribute to the programming. The main purpose of the conference is to come together to share and learn from current best practices—what’s new, what’s working, and what’s especially relevant to academic advising.
2017 GTAAN Conference
This year’s conference title was “The Advising Arena: Championing Student Success.” The planning committee chose to use boxing as the theme—an idea that grew from the observation that while advisors work to empower students to accomplish goals and overcome challenges, advisors also often encounter conflicts, challenges, and stressful situations.
As the call for proposals explained, “When you’re championing student success, however, negotiating conflicts and seeking resolutions become a little easier. Just as a boxer gains strength by completing different exercises, we need to develop different practices. It’s our hope that participants leave this conference with a toolkit of practical tips and best practices in all areas of academic support.”
The day opened with a Keynote Address entitled “Successfully Navigating the Turbulent Waters of Academic Advising Through the Application of Key Conflict Management Skills,” delivered by Dr. Susan Raines, Professor of Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University, and an experienced mediator, scholar, trainer, and practitioner. The rest of the day included a total of twelve presentations, two panels, as well as time for networking and socializing.
The conference had record registration this year with over 170 registrants—nearly 100 of whom were from institutions other than Georgia Tech. In fact, half of the presentations were made by colleagues from other Georgia institutions. The planning committee was encouraged by this participation, because in past years some attendees have noted that the conference has been too specific to or dominated by Georgia Tech staff. The committee was also pleasantly surprised by the number of strong proposals received this year, and is considering adding the option of poster sessions at the next conference, scheduled for the summer of 2019.
From the Presenters
Justin Boone, one of this year’s presenters from the Center for Academic Success (CAS), said, “This year’s GTAAN Conference was very organized and jam-packed with presentations and breakout sessions covering a good mix of topics that were helpful for advisors and really anyone who works closely with students outside of the classroom.” Justin goes on to say, “In addition to the presentations, the conference schedule allowed opportunities for us to network with professionals from various institutions, including an exciting discussion about creating innovation in academic advising that revealed some common areas that many advisors would like to get a better handle on such as data collection and better communicating processes to students.” Justin co-presented with Liz Kazungu (pictured left), also from CAS, on how advisors can strategically direct their efforts to reach students in the “murky middle” to maximize the impact of their programs.
“The session was based on a new collaborative approach that Success Programs and Tutoring and Peer Learning experimented with in serving students utilizing the framework of Reboot, a 6-week academic success series held twice each semester and once in the summer term,” Liz said. “Most of the students who attend the 6-week series do so after they receive their midterm progress report. These students are overall doing well, but might be struggling in one or two of their courses. Literature defines these students as the Murky Middle.”
When asked about her experience at the conference Liz said, “the wide variety of topics and discussions catering to this objective was not only educational but inspiring and helpful,” and “…the sessions were critical in providing professional development opportunities and growth in our work with students."