Division of Undergraduate Studies

The Fourteenth Annual Professional Development Conference on Academic Advising is sponsored by Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies, University Faculty Senate, Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, Office of Undergraduate Education, and The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal.

Conference Details

Date: September 11, 2015

Time: 8:30 AM–3:30 PM

Location: The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel

Topic: Looking to the Future: The Importance of the Academic Adviser in Higher Education

This year's conference examines the breadth and depth of the academic adviser's role in higher education and the importance of diverse and intentional measures that support, uplift, challenge, develop, and analyze the adviser's work, dreams, and growth. This holistic theme promises a myriad of conversations and thought-provoking presentations led by experts who will guide participants toward a better understanding of academic advising's position on campuses today and the exciting directions the field could take in the future.

Keynote:

This year’s program begins with a keynote address by guest speaker Marc Lowenstein, Ph.D., who suggests thinking about the future may begin with predicting, with a focus on how forces outside advising will affect our work, and on possible changes in the tools we will use. He encourages us to also move beyond these matters to envisioning a future we would like to see, thinking about the impact that we can have on our institutions' priorities and on those of higher education, and discussing the underlying goals and purposes of advising, which could lead to a comprehensive philosophy of advising.

Retired in 2012, Dr. Lowenstein last served as the associate provost for Personnel, Programs and Policy at Richard Stockton College (now Stockton University) of New Jersey. He has published a number of articles and spoken at numerous conferences on topics regarding the ethics of advising and the theory and philosophy of advising. He addressed the future of advising in Academic Advising at the University of Utopia, published in 2011 in The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal, and Envisioning the Future, included in NACADA's 2013 Academic Advising Approaches volume.

Conference Schedule

The conference schedule is available online.