Advising Across Difference:
Academic Advisors Course

Advising Across Difference is a year-long program for academic advisors at Cornell.

Our goal is to continue expanding the reach of the program to individual advisors and units, in addition to influencing the broader culture of academic advising at Cornell. Since the program’s launch in fall 2019, we have provided over 40 advisors across 35 advising units and academic departments with tangible skills, concrete practices, and a dynamic professional community committed to meaningful advising and education.

Program Goals

Through an interactive process, this course will provide participants with sustained opportunities to:

  • Learn tools and skills for advising, collaborating, and leading across difference
  • Practice ways to foster human connection in their role as educators, colleagues, and leaders
  • Explore how differences in perspectives, identities, and lived experiences inform advising and educational processes
  • Explore their role as an advisor in an uncertain, changing, and challenging reality
  • Build a professional network of academic advisors interested in enacting collaborative change beyond the completion of this course

When is this program offered?

2025-2026 Schedule

Fridays from 9:00 am – 11:00 am on:

September 26, 2025

October 17, 2025

November 7, 2025

December 12, 2025

January 9, 2026

February 6, 2026

February 27, 2026

March 13, 2026

April 10, 2026

Program Structure

The program comprises nine two-hour sessions that provide opportunities to learn, practice, and implement dialogue skills with a cohort of peers. Sessions will be held in person. The course is co-facilitated by Bonnie Comella, Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, and Adi Grabiner-Keinan, Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Senior Lecturer, and Director of the Center for Dialogue & Pluralism.

Participants will be asked to:

  • Review assigned materials between sessions (approximately two hours).
  • Reflect on assigned materials and session content in writing between sessions (approximately 30-60 minutes).
  • Attend all nine sessions, and communicate promptly with course facilitators if unable to attend a session.  Active contribution to dialogues, interactions with other participants, and engagement in sessions are critical components of the course. Participants’ attendance and participation are required for the successful completion of this course.

Program Fee

To help offset program expenses, we are asking units to contribute $750 per staff member participating in the course. Recognizing the budget challenges many units are currently facing, we are offering this year’s course at half its usual rate to help ensure affordability. If your unit is unable to cover the program fee, please reach out to us at dialogue@cornell.edu—limited funding is available to support participants from units in need of additional assistance.

Apply

Contact dialogue@cornell.edu with any questions.

Testimonials from Former Participants

“

I had expanded the way I experience professional community here at Cornell. I feel so much more connected, understood, seen, and supported. I leave here with a sense that I can go to any person in this room (and even feel more comfortable going to those not in this room) for nearly any type of support - personal or professional - and be seen, heard, and respected.

2023-2024 participant
“

This course has really strengthened my identity as an advisor and my feelings of connectedness within the advising community. I am profoundly grateful for this experience, as I feel much more capable/likely to reach out to advisors in other units, and more likely to try out new collaborative efforts.

2023-2024 participant
“

I realize that even in these short appointments, I have so many tools at my fingertips to get to a deeper place of understanding with my students.

2023-2024 participant
“

This course has helped become more aware about how my colleagues think, the challenges that they experience with their students/units and how I might be able to support. I have also gained support from colleagues and opportunities for collaboration.

2023-2024 participant
“

[This course has impacted me as an advisor by] Really thinking about students as whole complex humans and prioritizing dialogue so interactions go beyond answering questions to being more more meaningful and truly impactful.

2021-2022 participant
“

Relationships have always been the key of my advising philosophy and the skills shared in this course are helping me develop even deeper relationships with students, my team, and other advisors on campus. Increasing the depth of relationships with other advisors on campus allows me to be more impactful in my daily advising work.

2023-2024 participant
“

While much of my focus has been critically focused on myself I've also gained a wider perspective to critically analyze some of the policies, procedures, and practices of my unit. I can now more clearly identify practices that are not necessarily equitable and feel much more confident bringing them up for discussion with my supervisor or team when appropriate.

2019-2020 participant
“

This course has profoundly influenced the way I see my role as an academic advisor. Most broadly, learning about and practicing actual dialogue, generative listening, and strategic questioning have shifted the axis from which I do my work – namely, by highlighting specific ways (abstractly and concretely) in which we can and must place students as central agents and partners in our advising relationships.

2020-2021 participant
“

I've really been challenged to be more intentional about the actions I take and the conversations I have. I think it has changed how I want to start advising appointments in order to have students be able to drive the conversation where they want it to go.

2020-2021 participant
“

This course has helped me to see my role as part of a larger community of advisors, who can work together to make positive changes at the University... It has been particularly helpful to have the CDP tools and the structure of the class to make connections with other advisors, develop common language and understanding, and make an action plan…

2020-2021 participant