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.

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

This course will next be offered in the 2027-2028 academic year.

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.

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.

Here’s what participants have said about the program…

“

[Advising Across Difference] expanded the way I experience professional community here at Cornell. I feel so much more connected, understood, seen, and supported.

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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.

“

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.

“

I feel more confident in seeking support and asking questions that will positively impact my unit, the students I support, and those with whom I interact.

“

[Advising Across Difference] made me a better advisor all around. I have been using LARA and strategic questioning in meetings with students and I have noticed the difference in the quality of conversation and connection.

Contact dialogue@cornell.edu with any questions.