The 2026 OAAA Annual Conference will be held on Thursday, June 4th 2026 from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM. This year, we will return to a virtual format and follow the theme of:
See below for the day-of conference schedule and list of session abstracts so you can get an idea of all the great topics!
Oregon Academic Advising Association (OAAA) 2026 Virtual Annual Conference
Advising in Place - Advisors meeting our community (and each other) where we are!
Thursday, June 4th, 2026
*******************************************************
Opening
8:45-9am
Main Zoom Room
Welcome & Opening Keynote Speaker: Leslie McLees
9-9:30am
Main Zoom Room
Rooted in Place: Context, Creativity, & Care in Advising
…….
Concurrent Session One
9:40am-10:30am
Title: Exploring 101
Session Presenter(s): Silvina Sousa-Ransford
Description: As higher education increasingly emphasizes efficiency, return on investment, and timely degree completion, students often feel pressured to choose a major quickly, sometimes at the expense of meaningful exploration, an essential part of the academic journey. This presentation introduces a comprehensive advising approach that meets students where they are while integrating career and academic advising into a cohesive “Exploring Plan.” Participants will learn a structured yet flexible framework that includes guided reflection, major and career exploration, and clear academic pathways. The session will also highlight the development of an experiential, 1-credit “Exploring 101” course that helps students connect their interests, values, and skills to academic and career options. Attendees will leave with practical tools, adaptable strategies, and new language to advocate for exploration as a vital component of student success. (130)
Location: Breakout Room #1
***
Title: Re-IntroDUCKtion: A Yearlong, Scalable Advising Workshop Model for High-Enrollment Majors
Session Presenter(s): Kim Marshel, Sarah Harder
Description: As enrollment in high-demand majors continues to grow, traditional advising models often fall short in supporting students’ long-term academic and career development beyond initial orientation. Grounded in NACADA best practices emphasizing rapport-building, goal setting, career preparation, and sustained engagement, this presentation highlights a yearlong advising workshop series piloted during Academic Year 2024–25. “Re-Introduction” provides structured, proactive advising at key decision points throughout the academic year, including a fall workshop focused on major overview and graduation planning, a winter session centered on experiential learning, and a spring exploration of career pathways and post-graduation planning. The model integrates degree-planning tools, peer connection, and ongoing advisor engagement. The session shares the program’s design, implementation, and early outcomes while offering a scalable framework for institutions seeking to move from transactional advising toward a more holistic, developmental approach. An implementation toolkit will also be provided.
Location: Breakout Room #2
***
Title: Moving Rocks and Filling Potholes on the Oregon Transfer Pathway to Private Institutions
Session Presenter(s): Linda Samek
Description: As the OAICU/OCCA transfer grant moves into a final year, participants are working on best practices documents and a video series designed for advisors and students. Join in for updates and input to this vital resource for transfer-intending students.
Location: Breakout Room #3
Concurrent Session Two
10:40am-11:30am
Title: Being a Neurodivergent Advisor and the Students Who Need Us
Session Presenter(s): Bonni Goldberg
Description: This interactive workshop explores the unique strengths and perspectives neurodivergent advisors bring to community college advising. Participants will examine how lived experiences can enhance authentic student connections, inform inclusive practices, and support equitable advising environments while navigating workplace expectations, boundaries, and self-advocacy. The session also highlights common experiences of neurodivergent students, including challenges related to executive functioning, sensory processing, communication, attention, and belonging. Through discussion, reflection, and practical strategies, attendees will learn how neurodiversity-informed approaches can improve student engagement, persistence, and success. Whether participants identify as neurodivergent or seek to better support neurodivergent colleagues and students, the workshop provides actionable tools for recognizing hidden barriers, fostering inclusive relationships, and creating advising practices that meet the needs of diverse learners.
Location: Breakout Room #1
***
Title: Practicing Advising: Building an Advising Community Through Professional Development
Session Presenter(s): Jennifer Greenlaw, Sam Smith, Angela Dornbusch, & Emma Bjorngard Basayne
Description: How do advisors get professional development on a campus that has limited resources in a national moment where advising is not always recognized as a profession? To answer this question, our grassroots all-campus advising association created a workshop series and hosted a university-wide conference to lower barriers for advisors to share their knowledge with each other. This presentation-style session will address how we developed this series on a limited budget and how other institutions could implement similar kinds of professional development opportunities to strengthen the advising community on their campuses.
Location: Breakout Room #2
***
Title: Faculty Advising
Session Presenter(s): Katherine Schmidt
Description: When faculty are hired as experts in their disciplines, expectations are clear: shepherd students as they learn to engage in conversations of inquiry and discovery within a community of scholars. Faculty members soon discover, however, that they have also been hired as advisors, yet expectations are rarely clear: with no previous training in advising students and with little or no shepherding by the institution, faculty feel their way through the process of helping students navigate the system. Within such a framework, advising mistakes are inevitable and impact students in ways that are difficult to calculate holistically. To compound matters, students often view the process as normal and many faculty learn to settle into the discomfort of advising in the dark. This presentation explores what it takes to turn on the lights for faculty advisors.
Location: Breakout Room #3
Lunch
11:30am-1:30pm
Join a Lunch Location or the Breakout Room!
Main Zoom Room open as info desk.
Concurrent Session Three
1:30pm-2:20pm
Title: Ever Considered a NACADA Micro-Credential? Exploring Definitions and Practice in Integrated Academic and Career Advising
Session Presenter(s): Melanie Jones, Sarah Harder, Kim Marshel
Description: Have you ever thought about pursuing a NACADA micro-credential? Or find yourself curious about how career and academic advising are defined, and genuinely integrated within everyday advising practice? If so, we may have some things in common, and we invite you to join us. This interactive session has two primary objectives. First, we will share our experiences completing a four-week NACADA micro-credential, including what to expect, insights we wish we had at the start, and how we hope to continue building on this work. Second, we will explore key definitions, takeaways, and practical applications of integrated advising through student case scenarios, with an emphasis on translating concepts into meaningful advising practice. Whether you are actively considering a micro-credential or simply interested in strengthening the connection between career and academic advising, this session is designed to offer practical insights, reflection, and conversation.
Location: Breakout Room #1
***
Title: Creating a Hands-On Pathway from Early Coursework to Successful Senior Projects
Session Presenter(s): Meng-Lun Lee
Description: This session presents Dr. Lee’s faculty perspective on how hands-on learning can connect across multiple years of an engineering program to help students build practical skills, confidence, and readiness for senior project work. As an assistant professor and program director, Dr. Lee will discuss how early coursework, lab activities, and project-based experiences can be linked into a larger pathway rather than treated as separate class requirements. The session focuses on how students gradually gain experience with tools, fabrication, testing, troubleshooting, and design thinking, then carry those skills into more independent work. This topic connects to the conference theme by showing how advising can occur through curriculum planning, hands-on teaching, and faculty guidance that help students see a clearer path through their program.
Location: Breakout Room #2
***
Title: Academic Advising Ecological Model - Through the Lenses of First-Generation College Students who are Immigrants.
Session Presenter(s): Silvina Sousa-Ransford
Description: It is part of human nature to seek to belong, be accepted, and find community. College students are similar in their pursuit of belonging in higher education. First-generation college students who are immigrants have the added challenge of being a foreigner, particularly with the current political and national sentiment around immigration and attacks on diversity and equity efforts in higher education. This presentation will explore how first-generation college students, identified as part of the Generation 1.5 immigrant generation, experience college within the framework of belonging and in the context of academic advising. The research was conducted as part of the doctoral program, using narrative qualitative methods to examine students' experiences at a four-year research university in the Pacific Northwest. (119)
Location: Breakout Room #3
Student Panel
2:30-3:15pm
Main Zoom Room
Students from different universities/colleges in Oregon share their insights, perspectives, and experiences on their relation with academic advising. Join us and gain valuable information from the people we serve.
Updates, Closing & Thank You
2:30-3:15pm
Main Zoom Room
Advising in Place - Advisors meeting our community (and each other) where we are!
Thursday, June 4th, 2026
*******************************************************
Opening
8:45-9am
Main Zoom Room
Welcome & Opening Keynote Speaker: Leslie McLees
9-9:30am
Main Zoom Room
Rooted in Place: Context, Creativity, & Care in Advising
…….
Concurrent Session One
9:40am-10:30am
Title: Exploring 101
Session Presenter(s): Silvina Sousa-Ransford
Description: As higher education increasingly emphasizes efficiency, return on investment, and timely degree completion, students often feel pressured to choose a major quickly, sometimes at the expense of meaningful exploration, an essential part of the academic journey. This presentation introduces a comprehensive advising approach that meets students where they are while integrating career and academic advising into a cohesive “Exploring Plan.” Participants will learn a structured yet flexible framework that includes guided reflection, major and career exploration, and clear academic pathways. The session will also highlight the development of an experiential, 1-credit “Exploring 101” course that helps students connect their interests, values, and skills to academic and career options. Attendees will leave with practical tools, adaptable strategies, and new language to advocate for exploration as a vital component of student success. (130)
Location: Breakout Room #1
***
Title: Re-IntroDUCKtion: A Yearlong, Scalable Advising Workshop Model for High-Enrollment Majors
Session Presenter(s): Kim Marshel, Sarah Harder
Description: As enrollment in high-demand majors continues to grow, traditional advising models often fall short in supporting students’ long-term academic and career development beyond initial orientation. Grounded in NACADA best practices emphasizing rapport-building, goal setting, career preparation, and sustained engagement, this presentation highlights a yearlong advising workshop series piloted during Academic Year 2024–25. “Re-Introduction” provides structured, proactive advising at key decision points throughout the academic year, including a fall workshop focused on major overview and graduation planning, a winter session centered on experiential learning, and a spring exploration of career pathways and post-graduation planning. The model integrates degree-planning tools, peer connection, and ongoing advisor engagement. The session shares the program’s design, implementation, and early outcomes while offering a scalable framework for institutions seeking to move from transactional advising toward a more holistic, developmental approach. An implementation toolkit will also be provided.
Location: Breakout Room #2
***
Title: Moving Rocks and Filling Potholes on the Oregon Transfer Pathway to Private Institutions
Session Presenter(s): Linda Samek
Description: As the OAICU/OCCA transfer grant moves into a final year, participants are working on best practices documents and a video series designed for advisors and students. Join in for updates and input to this vital resource for transfer-intending students.
Location: Breakout Room #3
Concurrent Session Two
10:40am-11:30am
Title: Being a Neurodivergent Advisor and the Students Who Need Us
Session Presenter(s): Bonni Goldberg
Description: This interactive workshop explores the unique strengths and perspectives neurodivergent advisors bring to community college advising. Participants will examine how lived experiences can enhance authentic student connections, inform inclusive practices, and support equitable advising environments while navigating workplace expectations, boundaries, and self-advocacy. The session also highlights common experiences of neurodivergent students, including challenges related to executive functioning, sensory processing, communication, attention, and belonging. Through discussion, reflection, and practical strategies, attendees will learn how neurodiversity-informed approaches can improve student engagement, persistence, and success. Whether participants identify as neurodivergent or seek to better support neurodivergent colleagues and students, the workshop provides actionable tools for recognizing hidden barriers, fostering inclusive relationships, and creating advising practices that meet the needs of diverse learners.
Location: Breakout Room #1
***
Title: Practicing Advising: Building an Advising Community Through Professional Development
Session Presenter(s): Jennifer Greenlaw, Sam Smith, Angela Dornbusch, & Emma Bjorngard Basayne
Description: How do advisors get professional development on a campus that has limited resources in a national moment where advising is not always recognized as a profession? To answer this question, our grassroots all-campus advising association created a workshop series and hosted a university-wide conference to lower barriers for advisors to share their knowledge with each other. This presentation-style session will address how we developed this series on a limited budget and how other institutions could implement similar kinds of professional development opportunities to strengthen the advising community on their campuses.
Location: Breakout Room #2
***
Title: Faculty Advising
Session Presenter(s): Katherine Schmidt
Description: When faculty are hired as experts in their disciplines, expectations are clear: shepherd students as they learn to engage in conversations of inquiry and discovery within a community of scholars. Faculty members soon discover, however, that they have also been hired as advisors, yet expectations are rarely clear: with no previous training in advising students and with little or no shepherding by the institution, faculty feel their way through the process of helping students navigate the system. Within such a framework, advising mistakes are inevitable and impact students in ways that are difficult to calculate holistically. To compound matters, students often view the process as normal and many faculty learn to settle into the discomfort of advising in the dark. This presentation explores what it takes to turn on the lights for faculty advisors.
Location: Breakout Room #3
Lunch
11:30am-1:30pm
Join a Lunch Location or the Breakout Room!
Main Zoom Room open as info desk.
Concurrent Session Three
1:30pm-2:20pm
Title: Ever Considered a NACADA Micro-Credential? Exploring Definitions and Practice in Integrated Academic and Career Advising
Session Presenter(s): Melanie Jones, Sarah Harder, Kim Marshel
Description: Have you ever thought about pursuing a NACADA micro-credential? Or find yourself curious about how career and academic advising are defined, and genuinely integrated within everyday advising practice? If so, we may have some things in common, and we invite you to join us. This interactive session has two primary objectives. First, we will share our experiences completing a four-week NACADA micro-credential, including what to expect, insights we wish we had at the start, and how we hope to continue building on this work. Second, we will explore key definitions, takeaways, and practical applications of integrated advising through student case scenarios, with an emphasis on translating concepts into meaningful advising practice. Whether you are actively considering a micro-credential or simply interested in strengthening the connection between career and academic advising, this session is designed to offer practical insights, reflection, and conversation.
Location: Breakout Room #1
***
Title: Creating a Hands-On Pathway from Early Coursework to Successful Senior Projects
Session Presenter(s): Meng-Lun Lee
Description: This session presents Dr. Lee’s faculty perspective on how hands-on learning can connect across multiple years of an engineering program to help students build practical skills, confidence, and readiness for senior project work. As an assistant professor and program director, Dr. Lee will discuss how early coursework, lab activities, and project-based experiences can be linked into a larger pathway rather than treated as separate class requirements. The session focuses on how students gradually gain experience with tools, fabrication, testing, troubleshooting, and design thinking, then carry those skills into more independent work. This topic connects to the conference theme by showing how advising can occur through curriculum planning, hands-on teaching, and faculty guidance that help students see a clearer path through their program.
Location: Breakout Room #2
***
Title: Academic Advising Ecological Model - Through the Lenses of First-Generation College Students who are Immigrants.
Session Presenter(s): Silvina Sousa-Ransford
Description: It is part of human nature to seek to belong, be accepted, and find community. College students are similar in their pursuit of belonging in higher education. First-generation college students who are immigrants have the added challenge of being a foreigner, particularly with the current political and national sentiment around immigration and attacks on diversity and equity efforts in higher education. This presentation will explore how first-generation college students, identified as part of the Generation 1.5 immigrant generation, experience college within the framework of belonging and in the context of academic advising. The research was conducted as part of the doctoral program, using narrative qualitative methods to examine students' experiences at a four-year research university in the Pacific Northwest. (119)
Location: Breakout Room #3
Student Panel
2:30-3:15pm
Main Zoom Room
Students from different universities/colleges in Oregon share their insights, perspectives, and experiences on their relation with academic advising. Join us and gain valuable information from the people we serve.
Updates, Closing & Thank You
2:30-3:15pm
Main Zoom Room
