New Advising Model

We aim to establish an Academic Student Success structure that aligns advising policies, practices, accountability, and reporting across all units. This will ensure that all students receive a standard of care that includes timely and proactive outreach relative to academic plan progression and early alerts. This new model will also standardize the use of technologies across units to encourage the systemic use of tools to help with mapping, communication, and tracking.

Combined, the model, training, and technology will enable us to be proactive with students who do not ask for help, prescriptive with students who need direction, and holistic with students who are struggling to find their way.

Advisors and coaches will be merged into the role of Academic Student Success Coaches, with classifications of Academic Student Success Coach I and Academic Student Success Coach II.

Managers and assistant and associate directors of advising and coaching will become Associate Directors for Academic Student Success.

Directors of advising will become Directors for Academic Student Success.

College Directors, Associate Directors, and Academic Student Success Coaches will be integrated into the Division of Student Success and Well-Being.

Everyone will continue to serve and reside in their current colleges. They will continue to work on behalf of their assigned college, utilizing their knowledge and expertise in degree programs and requirements to deliver customized academic support to their students.

College Directors for Academic Student Success will report to Jenny Sumner, Assistant Vice President of Advising and Coaching for the Division of Student Success and Well-Being.

• The appointment of Academic Advocates case managers to coordinate the persistence and completion initiatives and accelerate progress toward goals.
• The appointment of Kyle Martin to the Director of Communications and Marketing role to coordinate and streamline communications to students.
• The consolidation and enhancement of a CRM platform to better serve undergraduate students.
• The addition of a degree-planning tool.
• The deployment of a course-scheduling platform with the capability to project student demand by term.
• A curricular analytics project to streamline degree pathways and accelerate time to degree.
• Tighter academic pathways for DirectConnect students to ensure that students are major-and transfer-ready upon enrollment at UCF.
• The Implementation of playbook drafted by Georgia State’s National Institute for Student Success.

Implementation will start in October 2023 and continue through March 2024.

The market-based pay salary adjustment for the advising community will take place by Dec. 1, 2023, with a one-time placement bonus of $1,500 awarded to all Academic Student Success employees.

Jenny Sumner has been appointed Assistant Vice President of Advising and Coaching, effective immediately. She will directly supervise the work of the college directors of advising and directors of coaching.

An implementation team inclusive of key stakeholder voices is being assembled to guide the process, with support from Georgia State University’s National Institute for Student Success. Recommendations for individuals to serve on the implementation team should be shared with Ryan Goodwin, Ryan.Goodwin@ucf.edu.

Reporting lines are expected to change Jan. 15, 2024, following the add-drop period. At this time, all reporting lines will shift from colleges to the Division of Student Success and Well-Being.

All Academic Student Success employees will be trained on policies, procedures, essential information, technology use, and accountability metrics through March 2024, with ongoing training and professional development planned following the implementation period.

We aim for the new model to be implemented by March 1, 2024, in time for Orientation to allow for all 2024-2025 Summer and Fall entrants arrive campus with a 4-year degree map (3 years for transfers).

UCF must stay aggressive to meet our preeminence goals, while also fulfilling our mission to graduate students in a timely manner so they can bring their talents to the workforce and fuel industry and innovation. There is urgency to this task, as we cannot expect different results without making significant changes intended to directly benefit our students.

Yes, the university is investing more than $1.65 million in our people as part of our move to this new model.

The university is adopting a market-based salary program for Academic Student Success, which offers competitive salaries in alignment with State University System peers.

Pay increases will vary, but under the new model, we will move to the following placement salaries, with possible variations for years of experience, education, performance, and other factors:

• Academic Student Success Coach I: $48,000
• Academic Student Success Coach II: $56,000
• Associate Director, Academic Student Success: $65,000
• Director, Academic Student Success: $80,648