Strengths-Based Advising (Fall 2025)

A subtle but pernicious challenge to students from marginalized populations navigating higher education is the presence of deficit thinking in implicit and explicit forms. Advising, as a primary and ongoing site of personal and academic discovery for students, can be one location where deficit framing has the greatest impact. As advisors, the way we speak about, react to, and raise up a student’s background and goals can significantly impact their desire to persist at our institutions.

This webinar will explore the ways a strengths-based advising practice can foster more equitable and supportive advising interactions. We’ll discuss questions and framing that support strengths-based advising and scenarios where strengths-based advising can be challenging but potentially transformative. We’ll also consider how language focused on strengths can support individual, departmental, and institutional change. The webinar should provide the opportunity to learn and practice concrete strategies that can start to shift our advising practice away from deficit framing.

Accommodations

The NED is committed to providing universal access to all of our events, we’d like to discover how we can make the event more inclusive so you can fully participate!

Machine generated captions are available in real-time for all Zoom events, however human generated CART (live caption) service and ASL interpretation can be requested with advanced notice (2 weeks) to make the event more accessible.

Please, let us know of any disability-related accommodations that will facilitate your full participation.

Questions?

Contact the Network for Educational Development.

Registration Required

Use the RSVP tool below to register. After registering, a calendar invite will be sent to you as a reminder of the event start date.