In the years between the Biennial Conferences, NAFA offers summer workshops that provide valuable opportunities for professional development and community building.
NAFA offers focused workshops for graduate advisors and new advisors every year, either through the summer series or Biennial Conference. Descriptions for the 2024 summer workshops can be found below. NOTE: priority is given to active members of NAFA.
2024 Summer Workshops
Registration will open on Monday February 19 at noon Eastern Time. Stay tuned for an announcement about additional virtual programming options.
Questions about Summer Workshops? Please contact Summer Workshops Committee Chair Kurt Davies (ktd234@nyu.edu).
Arizona State University – Tempe, AZ
Tuesday, April 23 (8:00am) – Wednesday, April 24 (5:00pm)
Registration fee: $275 + lodging/meals
Description
Broadly, this workshop centers on radically inclusive and anti-racist approaches to advising fellowship application writers. Panel discussions and workshop activities will explore the following topics:
- Anti-racist writing pedagogies and philosophies
- Strategies for advising and mentoring students from marginalized communities
- Bias awareness training for fellowships committee readers
- Applied rhetorical or linguistic theory (e.g. rhetorical listening, rhetorical empathy, translingualism, linguistic pluralism, etc.)
- Inclusive approaches for fellowships-related programming and initiatives (e.g., program assessment, mentorship programs, outreach initiatives, strategic partnerships, etc.)
- Applied theory on related topics, such as empathy, inclusion, anti-racism from fields outside of writing/linguistics that could provide new ways of thinking for other advisors
The workshop will also feature a keynote address by Felicia Rose Chavez, author of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom.
Additionally, the workshop will feature a ‘speed share’ session that focuses on applied methods for critique, writing advising, and application feedback.
Virginia Commonwealth University – Richmond, VA
Monday, June 3 (1:00pm) – Wednesday, June 5 (12:00pm)
Registration fee: $300 + lodging/meals
Description
This workshop is intended for any and all NAFAns who advise graduate students to any extent. We dive into effectively advising grad students through reflective practices with Erin M. Brown, PhD (Director of Professional Development, VCU Graduate School), trauma-informed advising in a workshop with Greater Richmond SCAN, and best practices in communications strategies for engaging grad students around your campus with VCU Brand Center faculty member, Jess Collins. We will hear from several foundation representatives, including from the NSF on award management. Participants will have a chance to network and get to know one another, as well as to share experiences, tips, and tricks in a poster session.
Drexel University – Philadelphia, PA
Wednesday, July 10 (5:00pm) – Friday, July 12 (12:00pm)
Registration fee: $225 + lodging/meals
Description
As the fellowships advising profession grows, we are seeing a proliferation of multi-person offices undertaking this work at institutions. These offices and teams bring with them distinct management challenges, given the diverse portfolio of and potentially isolating nature of fellowships advising, particularly as advisors are assigned to specific awards and often work independently. This workshop will facilitate an exploration of the following question: What could it look like to build collaborative teams among individuals doing deep, solitary work? Together, we will work to 1) explore the history and development of our respective offices and how that history contributes to its current culture internally and in the context of our institutions; 2) consider the work we are engaged in to identify potential areas of overlap, collaboration, and/or need; 3) examine the daily practices and cultures of our respective offices and how these may align with (or diverge from) our teams’ values; and 4) reflect on how we might leverage our significant expertise and skills we bring to our work with students to build deeper, more meaningful relationships with our colleagues.
Big10 Conference Center, Chicago, IL | Hosted by Michigan State University and University of Michigan
Tuesday, July 23 Wednesday, July 24 (Fulbright FPA training July 22)
Registration fee: $140 (includes meals) + lodging
This two-day annual workshop is intended for participants from across the U.S. who are new to the fellowship/scholarship advising world or those who want a refresher. Topics will include setting up an office, budgets, recruiting, nomination committees, endorsement letters, personal statements and more.
Schedule Overview:
- Mon, July 22: Fulbright Pre-Workshop, evening networking for early comers.
- Tue, July 23: Institution Day: Keynote: Megan Friddle, President of NAFA; sessions on establishing a new office; evening reception.
- Wed, July 24: Foundation Day: Sessions by foundations.
2022 Summer Workshops
June 8 at 2:30 pm – June 10 at 12 pm
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
Registration Page: https://cvent.me/dKY9mb
Registration: $300, includes: Essential Partners grad advisor focused workbook; Assessment materials; NSF-NIH Fellowship materials; Networking event; Two breakfasts; One lunch; Parking on campus. Limit: 35 participants.
Workshop participants can make reservations at the Lumen Hotel for $169 per night (+ tax). Reservations must be made by individual call-in (469-941-7878), referencing the room block for NAFA before May 18. The Direct NAFA Booking site: The Lumen – Reservations – Room Availability (synxis.com)
Description
This workshop focuses on ways graduate advisors can reach and advise students and assess their programs. This interactive and intensive program includes:
- Essential Partners Academic Associate teaching Reflective Structured Dialogue (RSD), which advisors can use to build trust with their students and help students develop stronger personal statements. The curriculum will be developed specifically for personal statement advising for graduate fellowship awards.
- Assessment experts (one focused on academic assessment and the other on administrative assessment) working with advisors on what they can measure and the best ways to implement a reporting system. Participants can expect to walk away with tangible tools for measuring success within fellowships.
- Grant consultant Lucy Deckard discussing the differences between the NSF and NIH and how those differences impact the fellowship programs each agency offers.
- Foundation representations, including ORNL, explaining their fellowships for graduate students. Other invited foundations include Fulbright (joint Fulbright Student/Fulbright Post-Doctoral presentation), Soros and the NSF.
Between these presentations by external speakers, attendees will have opportunities to present their work and insights to others in poster sessions. There will also be networking time among advisors and with foundation representatives.
Attendees will leave with tools they can implement immediately to help improve their work with graduate students.
Please note: all speakers are developing material focusing on the needs of graduate advisors.
June 15-17, 2022
College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA
Registration Page: https://cvent.me/QqwrY5
Registration: $300, includes lodging and meals. Limit: 35 participants.
Description
Holistic advising has been named as a particularly effective strategy for working with underrepresented students, bringing our attention to the whole application process, shifting attention away from the external benefits of a “win” to the internal benefits—opportunities for growth and self-knowledge—that are inherent to honest exploration of one’s motives and experiences.
But how can we pass something on that we don’t have ourselves? This three-day immersive workshop will be held at the College of the Holy Cross’ Joyce Contemplative Center in the countryside near Worcester, Massachusetts. Each day will offer periods of reflection, meditation, and optional yoga to give advisors both an opportunity for personal and professional development as well as experiential familiarity with the benefits of holistic advising, allowing participants to craft their own advising practices to best reflect their skills and values.
Participants will be housed on-site at the Joyce and will eat together in the dining room overlooking the Wachusett Reservoir Valley, and all food is made in-house. And with an eye towards professional development, we will host an advisors’ career discussion to help you think about paths towards greater job satisfaction and/or career transition.
June 13-14 2022
Hosted by Clemson University
Registration Page: https://cvent.me/rqm1gV
Registration: $60, includes copies of three books including Bridging the Gap, NAFA’s At-A-Glance scholarship guide.
Description
This annual workshop offers an overview of issues faced by newcomers to the field of fellowship advising, including setting up a new office, assessment, learning about major awards (Fulbright, Goldwater, Truman, Rhodes, Marshall) as well as lesser-known opportunities (Humanity in Action, FAO Schwarz, NY Urban Fellows), and helping students manage failure/rejection.
Additional Past Workshops
- Fulbright U.S. Student Program: Program Basics, Virtual
- Reapplying for Fulbright: Assisting ’19 and 20’ Grantees Impacted by COVID-19, Virtual
- Trends in Higher Education, Virtual
- Successful Online Strategies for Recruitment, Social Media Referrals, and Cohort Advising, Virtual
- Creating a New Fellowships Office or Program, Virtual
- Tough Truths in Personal Statements, Virtual
- Virtual Skill Share, Virtual
- Ask Me Anything! New Advisor Workshop, Virtual
- New Grad Advisor Workshop, Virtual
- Using Science Communication Principles to Teach Proposal Writing in Any Discipline, Virtual
- Advising a Personal Narrative, Virtual
- New Advisor Workshop: Foundation Roundtable, Virtual
- Graduate Funder Roundtable Session 1, Virtual
- Graduate Funder Roundtable Session 2, Virtual
- Best Practices in Virtual Advising with Graduate Students, Virtual
- NAFA Research Symposium, Virtual
- New Advisor Workshop, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida
- Graduate Student Fellowships Focus, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
- Assessment – Re-accrediting – Justification, University of Portland, Portland, Oregon
- Our Changing Demographics and Roles: Diversity and Nationally Competitive Scholarships, Claremont Colleges Consortium, Claremont, California
- Public Service and Nationally Competitive Scholarships—Government, Social Activism, Research and Advocacy, American University, Washington, D.C.
- New Advisor Workshop, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Midwest Fellowships Advising Symposium, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
- Large-School Summer Workshop, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
- Small to Mid-Sized School Summer Workshop, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts
- New Advisor Workshop, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa
- A Holistic Approach to Fellowships Advising, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia
- Developing Expertise: NAFA Workshop and Resources for New and Seasoned Advisors, Bechtel International Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California
- Reaching Out and Digging in: Workshop for Fellowships Advisors, Earl Mack School of Law, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Beginning with Confidence: A Summer Workshop for New Advisors, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
- High Tech/Low Tech: Strategies for Identifying, Recruiting, and Keeping Track of Fellowship Applicants, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana
- Words of Wisdom: A Writing Workshop for Fellowship Advisors, Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pennsylvania
- Getting It Right: A Workshop for New Advisors, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas
- Supporting the Work We Do, Williamette University, Salem, Oregon
- Best Practices for Campus Collaboration in Fellowship Advising, SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
- A Workshop for New Advisors, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska
- Assessment and Professional Development for Advisors, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida
- University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington
- Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
- University of Missouri, Kansas City, Kansas
- National Fellowships and the Successful Advisor: Introduction and Overview, Williamette University, Portland, Oregon