The Office of Academic Advising hosts virtual monthly conversations designed for advisors to share experiences, gain skills and insights, and connect with others in the George Mason advising community. These meetings are open to any George Mason faculty, staff, and graduate assistants that are currently academic advisors, have academic advising experience, or are interested in becoming advisors. Explore the topics for the upcoming year below. Email [email protected] if you have any questions.
2025-2026 Schedule
October 2025: Professional Development
Professional development encompasses anything that adds to your career, makes you a better advisor, and helps you grow as a person. What types of professional development have you experienced? Which ones do you recommend for others or hope to explore yourself?
Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Zoom registration link
November 2025: Memorable Moments
People really enjoyed this topic last year, so we are doing it again! We invite you to share a memorable experience you have had while advising. It can be a heartwarming, humorous, unusual, frustrating, or simply intriguing moment. Whatever you would like to share as if we were sitting around a campfire…but without the marshmallows.
Date: Thursday, November 13, 2025
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Zoom registration link
February 2026: Building Rapport Virtually
Many individuals find it more effective to foster personal connections and build rapport in face-to-face interactions; however, a significant portion of our work now occurs in a virtual environment. Regardless of whether you have successfully adapted to this online format or are still working to establish connections equivalent to those in person, we invite you to participate in a discussion focused on strategies and best practices for building rapport with students in a virtual setting.
Registration information TBD
March 2026: Advising Theories
There are many philosophies and theories when it comes to academic advising, so let’s talk about them. Share which ones you find the most beneficial and learn about ones you might be unfamiliar with.
Registration information TBD
If you have attended any conferences over the past year and participated in sessions that you found especially beneficial for advisors, please take this opportunity to share your insights. Let’s collaborate to inform, learn, and inspire one another.
Registration information TBD
Past RoundtablesSeptember 2025: Technology in Advising
Using technology in advising has its upsides and downsides, but regardless, it is inevitable. In this session, we can talk about our thoughts and concerns about existing technologies we all use, ones we use ourselves that we recommend to others, ones we wish we had, ones we would never use again, etc.
If you have attended any conferences over the past year and participated in sessions that you found especially beneficial for advisors, please take this opportunity to share your insights. Let’s collaborate to inform, learn, and inspire one another.
March 2025: Moving Up
Join us for a discussion with former academic advisors who have successfully transitioned into new roles, whether through promotion to administrative positions or by moving into different areas or fields. This session offers a unique opportunity to learn from their experiences, gain insights into the skills and strategies that facilitated their transitions, and explore potential pathways for your own career growth.
February 2025: Memorable Moments
In this session, we invite you to share a memorable experience you have had while advising. It can be a heartwarming, humorous, unusual, frustrating, or simply intriguing moment. Whatever you would like to share as if we were sitting around a campfire…but without the marshmallows.
December 2024: Advising Before Mason
How does advising at George Mason compare to advising at other colleges? What are our strengths in this area, and what successful practices from other colleges could be adapted to enhance our services? We invite those with advising experience at other institutions to share their insights. Additionally, individuals who have only worked at George Mason are encouraged to engage in the discussion.
November 2024: Tough Conversations
Even for seasoned professionals, engaging in difficult conversations can be challenging. If you have strategies or best practices for navigating these discussions, we encourage you to share them during this session. Additionally, we invite you to join us to learn valuable skills from each other that can help facilitate these conversations more effectively.
October 2024: Major Changers
The statistics regarding the frequency of students changing their majors vary, but the general consensus is that such changes occur more frequently than not. Let’s talk about best practices and the different ways in which we engage with our students once they’ve expressed an interest in changing majors.
September 2024: “Why I Advise”
Academic advising is not a career path that high schoolers have in mind when applying to college. It comes to our attention later in our educational journeys, and each of us has unique experiences that have led us to this field. Join us for this session and share your story of how and why you pursued a career in advising.