Welcome to the 2022 Summer Institute on Equity in the Academic Experience!

Our goal for the Institute is to help your campus team connect your project:

to a specific equity issue that will serve as a high-leverage opportunity for your progress.
to the strategic equity goals of your institution.
to similar work happening in other parts of your institution.
to the broader higher education equity ecosystem, including institutions with common geographic and/or project interests.

The 2022 Summer Institute on Equity in the Academic Experience is hosted by the American Talent Initiative and the following leadership sites who shared responsibility for the planning and programming:
Claremont-McKenna College | George Mason University | Georgetown University | Ohio State University | Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg | Princeton University | Rutgers University, New Brunswick | University of Iowa | University of the Pacific | University of Pittsburgh | Xavier University of Louisiana
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Browse and filter the 2022 Summer Institute schedule below. Register for the event using the green “Sign Up” or “Log In” buttons to indicate your attendance at in-person events and gain access to zoom links for plenaries and virtual sessions. After you register, you may return to this page to add/edit your personal schedule. Zoom links will be made available in Sched 10 minutes before the start of each session.

To Add and Remove Sessions from Your Schedule: First, be sure to login to your existing Sched account (or create a new one) with your institutional email address. Once logged in, you can make live updates to your personal Summer Institute schedule below. Click the circle next to a session’s name to add that session to your schedule—a check mark will appear indicating that this session has now been added to your schedule. Click the check mark again to remove the session from your schedule.

To Join a Zoom Session: Each virtual or streamed session description will include a button titled “Join Zoom Session”. This zoom link will show up 10 minutes before the start of the session. Clicking this button will automatically direct you into that session’s Zoom waiting room.

April Belback

University of Pittsburgh
Director of Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring

https://personaled.pitt.edu/

April E. Belback is the Director of Student Success in the Office of the Provost. She leads and implements an institutional collaborative vision for holistic advising, mentoring and student success by connecting campus innovators, advisors, faculty, and students. As Director of the Student Success Team, she leads professional development and training opportunities across the University and administers programs to support exceptional students who are at-promise. In 2022, she launched the opening of the inaugural "Student Success Hub" at the University of Pittsburgh, which aims to reduce equity gaps for first-generation, limited-income and underrepresented minority college students and build a campus where every student can feel they belong. These include the Kessler Scholars Program, Provost Scholars Program, and TRIO McNair Scholars Program. Dr. Belback also leads initiatives such as the University Undergraduate Advising Committee (UUAC), Pitt ACT Program, the annual Mentoring and Advising Summit, the Program Impact Project, and the Pitt Transition Study.

Prior to joining Pitt, Dr. Belback served as the Director of Advising and Division of Undergraduate Studies Coordinator at The Pennsylvania State University, Greater Allegheny Campus. Under her direction, the Advising Office launched a host of new campus-wide initiatives including the rollout of new training curricula and professional development experiences for academic advisers, orientation programming, and the formation of a campus-wide student success and support collaborative. Additionally, Belback served the campus as the Program Director for TRIO Student Support Services. Earlier in her career, Belback taught high school English, and was awarded “Educator of the Year” for Secondary Schools by the Fayette Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Belback leads a national community of practice of academic advising leaders for the Association of Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU). She serves on the advisory team for the American Talent Initiative’s Academic Equity Community of Practice. She also serves on NACADA’s Advising Administrator Community steering committee.

A proud first-generation college student, Belback earned her DEd in Administration and Leadership Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a MSEd in Secondary English Education and a BA in English from Duquesne University. Her research is focused on advising, retention, student success, and leadership.

Publications

Belback, A. E. (2021). The relationship between academic advising and student outcomes: A retrospective analysis of research universities.
Belback, A. E. (2022, December). Reflections from a new D.Ed. Academic Advising Today, 45(4).
Belback, A. E. (2021, February). “Advising students foreclosed to academic major decisions.” E-Source for College Transitions. 18(2).
Belback, A. E. & Spears. J. (2021). University of Pittsburgh “Forge Your Own Path Strategy.” In Fountain, C. (Ed.). (2021). Academic advising as a tool for student success and educational equity. University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.

The Summer Institute on Equity in the Academic Experience

April Belback

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