This course is designed to engage participants in examining and discussing an often-understudied population of students in transition, students on academic probation. Academic probation serves multiple functions in the context of higher education. Setting minimum performance standards likely motivates some students to increase effort while performing near or below the threshold may cause other students to drop out. For the individual student, being placed on probation positions them in a unique transition between unsatisfactory progress and either academic recovery or dismissal and is accompanied by a host of social and emotional consequences at school and home. Research over the years has resulted in quite mixed results on the effectiveness of academic probation to support students to success. This course aims to provide participants information, theoretical frameworks, and techniques for engaging with and supporting students on academic probation in effective and meaningful ways.

Course Objectives

As a part of this course, participants will:

• Identify issues that lead students to face academic challenge
• Explore the lived experiences of students on probation
• Examine theoretical frameworks that may be applied when working with students on academic probation
• Develop strategies and transform existing practices to encourage academic recovery for students on probation

Required Text:

Dial, M. (2022). Academic recovery: Supporting Students on academic probation. Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Scholarly articles shared in Blackboard

Mike Dial

Associate Director of Undergraduate Academic Advising - University of South Carolina

Mike Dial currently serves as the Associate Director of Undergraduate Academic Advising at the University of South Carolina (USC). He leads the largest undergraduate advising program on campus that supports 14,000 undergraduate students into and through the university. Since 2014, Mike has been involved in first-year and transition initiatives at USC including advising, the first-year seminar, early intervention, peer education, and student success programming. Mike is the editor of the NRC’s forthcoming book on supporting students on probation, a co-editor on NACADA’s Academic Advising Administration 2^nd Edition, and serves on the manuscript review board for Building Bridges for Student Success: A Sourcebook for Colleges and Universities. He has presented on research and practice supporting at-risk students at several national conferences including the NASPA Annual Conference, the National Conference on the First-Year Experience, the National Mentoring Symposium, the National Symposium on Student Retention, and the inaugural Appreciative Education Conference. His other areas of scholarly interest include early alert programs, the first-year experience, and academic advising.

Registration Deadline: October 16, 2023
Course Capacity: 35 registrants 
Fee: $425

This course will review the various transitions that may occur within the NCAA Athlete experience such as the transition from high school to college, the transition into eligibility requirements and the transition for international student-athletes. The course will also provide an introduction to NCAA initial and continuing eligibility requirements as well as an overview of Academic Progress Rate (APR) and NCAA bylaws that would impact academic advisors. Finally, it will allow participants the opportunity to share their views of working with student-athletes and gain a better understanding of how to support them.

Course Objectives

As a part of this course, participants will:

• Recognize the various transitions of collegiate student-athletes
• Identify strategies to further support the collegiate student-athlete
• Describe key components of NCAA initial and continuing eligibility
• Describe and evaluate Academic Progress Rate (APR)

Required Text:

Course materials will be provided.

Amy Densevich

Associate Athletic Director, Student-Athlete Academic Services, Kent State University

Amy Densevich currently serves as the Associate Athletic Director at Kent State University and has dual roles as a sport administrator and academic advisor. Within the academic advising role she is responsible for education and tracking of NCAA continuing eligibility policies, as well as academic mentoring for student-athletes across six teams. She is also the advisor of the International Student-Athlete program and the graduate academic intern program. Amy is a member of the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics (N4A) and in June 2015 completed N4A’s Professional Development Institute (PDI).

Prior to her return to Kent State and higher education, Amy taught special education in a K-12 setting for the Hudson City School District for seven years while also serving as the head softball coach. A former softball student-athlete, Amy returned to Kent State as an assistant softball coach after her teaching career. Amy earned both her Bachelor of Science in Education and Master of Education degrees from Kent State University.

Registration Deadline: November 6, 2023
Course Capacity: 35 registrants 
Fee: $425