Topic: Using the Fish! Philosophy in Everyday Work
Focus: General Student Services
Presenter: Amy Stalzer, Georgia Tech
Beyond the mechanics of advising is the style in which you execute your work. The Fish! Philosophy is a national management best practice, particularly in relation to customer service and workplace morale. Come hear how the Pike Place Fish Market philosophy can apply to your office.

Topic: Strategic Exploratory Student Academic Advising
Focus: Advising Administration & Strategy
Presenters: Dr. Rebecca Casey & Dr. Keisha Hoerrner, Kennesaw State University
KSU has developed a three-pronged approach to academic advising for all first-year exploratory students, which includes advising at orientation, within the classroom, and outside the classroom. The presenters will describe this more aggressive approach to academic advising and discuss the results and plans for the future to strengthen academic advising for first-year students through University College.

Topic: Making your job a little easier: An Online Appointment Scheduler
Focus: Advising Technology
Presenter: Elizabeth Miller, Georgia Tech
The Ivan Allen College at Georgia Tech recently launched a web-based advising appointment scheduler that helps advisors post their appointment availability online and allows students to sign up for appointments online. This system has decreased advisor administrative time significantly, increased advisors accessibility, and helps advisors keep track of student appointments.

Topic: Student Success Series
Focus: General Student Services
Presenters: Dr. Mark F. Daddona & Elizabeth Heidler, Georgia Perimeter College
The Student Success Series is designed to provide students with an opportunity to succeed academically and personally as well as to provide students with information to help them select a major and career.  The program consists of 19 different workshops from three series (academic, life skills, and career). The presenters will provide an overview of the series and outline the necessary steps to successfully implement this program at other institutions. Steps include how to recruit presenters, advertise the program, coordinate the workshops, monitor the attendance, and create attendance incentives.

Topic: Academic Contracts for Probation Students
Focus: Advising Administration & Strategy
Presenter: Nancy Gimbel, Georgia Tech
This presentation will describe an academic contract plan created to track students who are on probation or are experiencing academic difficulty. The presenter will cover the contract timeline, the documents used to track the students, the “script” of questions used to guide the student through the first meeting, the requirements of the plan, and the strategies for implementation at other institutions.

Topic: Academic Advising Record Keeping within Banner
Focus: Advising Technology
Presenters: Suzanne Foster & Laura Kennedy, Savannah College of Art & Design
SCAD experimented with various methods of organizing written advisement notes, including hand-written notes and notes stored in an Access database.  It was not until the implementation of record keeping within Banner that advisors felt confident that notes were secure.  Advisors also have easy access to pull data regarding student contacts, which is often needed for assessment purposes.  This data has been instrumental in quarterly reports and has led to the expansion of their office. Presenters will overview usage of their system.

Topic: Residence Hall Academic Advising Initiative
Focus: General Student Services
Presenters: Dr. Leigh Holland, Emily Berreth, Elizabeth Fuller, & Jennifer Patrick, University of Georgia
The Residence Hall Academic Advising Initiative was created in 1998 to improve the quality of the undergraduate experience by infusing the residential lives of students with academic and cultural  programs. There are now academic advising offices in three high rise residence halls. Academic advisors in the residence halls work with lower division students to help them understand the myriad of opportunities and experiences available at the university. The presenters will share the history, development, and initiatives of the program. Although other institutions may offer advising in their residence halls, UGA has developed some unique experiences for first year students that have created a learning environment that expands beyond the traditional advising role.

Topic: Psychology in your PJs, Biology in your Bunnies: Advising Anytime!
Focus: Advising Technology
Presenters: Carol B. Doris & Deb Homer, Georgia Perimeter College
To maximize advising options and to meet the needs of distance learning students, the Advising and Counseling Office at Georgia Perimeter College, Lawrenceville Campus, has developed a functional online academic advising program.  Beginning in February 2003 as a format for answering numerous student questions, “lawadvis” has developed into a system with procedural guidelines that effectively address advising issues for the busy student of today.  The presenters will discuss the evolution of their online advisement system along with ways to implement a similar system on your campus.

Topic: Students First, Always: A simple motto that transformed our College.   
Focus: General Student Services
Presenters: Sharon Fletcher, Sharon Shannon, Jennifer Thompson, Parker Middleton & Sarah Park, University of Georgia
This motto was coined by Dean John Soloski and has become part of the Grady College culture.  Embracing this focus on students resulted in changes throughout the college, including changes in advising practices.  The presenters will explain how this motto shapes the way advisors fulfill their responsibilities and will describe how this motto guides their strategies for addressing pre-Grady, newly admitted, and current student needs. They will share student responses to this best practice, including some results from a UGA-wide academic advisor survey and will show how the idea of “students first, always” can be transformed into a practice on other campuses.