The Student Success Initiatives & University Advising team engages in a number of projects and initiatives with partnering campus units. For questions or comments related to these projects and initiatives, please email universityadvising@csuchico.edu.
Current Projects and Initiatives
Advising Intern Hiring
Each fall, advising units across campus participate in a centralized process to recruit, hire, and train a new cohort of Advising Interns. Students who hold the Advising Intern title must be hired through this joint process and must be hired under the supervision of a professional staff advisor or advising administrator.
Lead:
- Kylee Sharp, Director of University Advising
Participants:
- Erin Wilson, Intern Coordinator, Academic Advising Programs
- Denise Crosswhite, College Advising & Retention Specialist, College of Agriculture
- Yung-Hwa Anna Chow, Senior Coordinator of Advising & Student Success, College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
- Shawn Brackett, Senior Coordinator of Advising & Student Success, College of Communication & Education
- Sandra Jauregui, Student Success Advisor, College of Engineering, Computer Science, & Construction Management
- Shawna Lucas, College Advising & Retention Specialist, College of Humanities & Fine Arts
- Jaime Murphy, College Advising & Retention Specialist, College of Natural Sciences
- Victoria Bass, Associate Director, Educational Opportunity Program
Fall 2025 Recruitment Process
- September 1 - Application opens
- September 19 - Application closes
- September 22 - Review of applicants begins
- October 10 - First round interviews begin
- November 10 - Second round interviews begin
- November 18 - Final candidate selection
- December 15 - Hiring complete
- January 5 - Training begins
- January 16 - Training concludes
Academic Advising Council Creation
At the recommendation of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising and with the support of the Vice President of Student Affairs and the Provost, University Advising will lead the development and launch of Chico Stat's Academic Advising Coucil.
Lead:
- Kylee Sharp, Director of University Advising
Participants:
- Cheryl Lugo
- Jenn Duggan
- Shawna Lucas
- Maria Barriga
- Greg Morales
- Rosio Catomerisios
- Meredith Huddleson
- Jennifer McKee
- Rachel Mason
- Taylor Hinchcliff
- Liahna Gordon
- Tasha Alexander
- Anna Chow
- Sandra Jauregui
- Kristina Brown
- Cheryl Sprague
- Pablo Soto
- Denise Crosswhite
Development Process:
- Solicit working group membership
- Convene working group
- Develop recommendations from working group
- Draft Academic Advising Council constitution
- Seek feedback and approval from VP and Provost
- Solicit Council membership in alignment with approved constitution - Current stage
- Determine meeting pattern
- Convene the Academic Advising Council
View the current Academic Advising Council Constitution here (PDF).
HELP Team
The HELP Team is a committee of student services professionals who have been charged with developing a holistic undergraduate student-centered support model with clearly aligned roles, responsibilities, and practices. The HELP Team was initially convened in academic year 2022-2023 as a part of the Graduation Initiative 2025 Advancing Equity Project. The HELP Team is currently in their 3rd year of operation.
Initiative Lead:
- Kylee Sharp, Director of University Advising
Team Members:
- Cecilia Santillan-Robles, representing Student Affairs-based support programs
- Victoria Bass, representing Student Affairs-based support programs
- Danielle Anderson, representing Financial Aid
- Jasmany Garcia, representing Academic Advising Programs and the CARE Team
- Karel Llamas, representing Graduation Advising & Transfer Credit
- Shawna Lucas, representing college-based advising teams
- Megan Odom, representing the Career Center
- Zoe DiMercurio, representing Enterprise Applications
- Rosio Catomerisios, representing Academic Affairs-based support programs
Referral System Objectives:
- Expand usage of the HELP Team referral systems to incorporate as many student services units as possible.
- Increase adoption of the referral system to capture data on the needs of Chico State students and the workload of Chico State staff.
Early Alert Objectives:
- Design a data-informed alert system to identify students' needs before academic performance is impacted.
Stupski Grant
In 2022, our campus was awarded a $30,000 grant from the Stupski Foundation to support advisor wellness and retention. The grant enactment committee utilized this funding to distribute the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Educators to staff members within the broader advising community. The inventory was distributed for the first time in spring 2023 and a second time in fall 2023. Both rounds of results indicated that Chico State advisors are more personally invested in their work and feel more of a sense of personal accomplishment from their work than other professionals in the education field. However, results also indicated that our advisors experience more emotional exhaustion than other professionals in the education field. In response to these results, the grant enactment committee hosted two events for the Chico state advisor with the goal of building community for emotional support.
In 2023, Chico State was awarded a second grant of $20,000 from the Stupski Foundation to continue our efforts to support and retain academic advisors through the development of a multi-tiered training and professional development program. The team is currently working to develop the first tier of the training program with goals of launching the program in CSULearn in spring 2025.
Project Leads:
- Kylee Sharp, Director of University Advising
Project Participants:
- Shawn Brackett, College Advising & Retention Specialist, College of Communication & Education
- Shawna Lucas, College Advising & Retention Specialist, College of Humanities & Fine Arts
- Gregory Morales, Academic Advisor, Academic Advising Programs
- Caroline Oster, Distributed Learning Advisor, School of Social Work
- Taylor Hinchcliff, Student Success Advisor, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
- Cheryl Sprague, Lead Graduation Advising & Transfer Credit Specialist
- Pablo Soto, Director of the Academic Advising Office
Process:
- Outline training program
- Create training program curriculum
- Consult with campus partners
- Develop learning modules - current stage
- Publish learning modules