Celebrating National Transfer Student Week - Adventures in Advising

To celebrate National Transfer Student Week, Campbell Keele, coordinator of transfer initiatives at Missouri State University offers tips for advisors working with transfer students in various scenarios, planning activities and events for transfer students with no budget, and receiving the Transfer-Champion Rising Star award.

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Transcript

Matt Markin  
Hello and welcome to the Adventures and Advising podcast as always. This is Matt Markin, and we are at episode 108 and on today's episode, we're chatting with Campbell Keele. Campbell Keele serves as the coordinator of transfer initiatives within the academic advising and Transfer Center at Missouri State University. Prior to working there, Campbell was a transfer student at Missouri State transferring from Three Rivers College. Campbell has now worked with transfer students for five years and enjoys the full circle moments that come with advocating for transfer friendly policies at the university and state level. Campbell was recently awarded the transfer champion Rising Star Award by the National Institute for the Study of transfer students for her efforts in bringing national transfer student week celebrations to Missouri State for the first time in the university's history. Campbell, welcome to the adventures in advising podcast. 

Campbell Keele  
Thank you so much, Matt. I'm a longtime listener, first time caller, as they say, so I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Matt Markin  
Oh no, I'm thrilled that you're here. And I know when we chatted offline a few months ago, you know, we're chatting about transfer students, and we're like, this will be a perfect time to have this episode. So I'm really glad that you're here. And you know, we've heard a little bit about you from your bio, but can you share some more, what's been your journey like in higher education?

Campbell Keele  
Absolutely. So I'm from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, which is a small town in Southeast Missouri, and I knew pretty early on that I wanted to start at the community college, Three Rivers college that was in my hometown. It worked out perfectly for me. I had the a plus scholarship, so I knew I wanted to spend two years there, but I didn't know what my life would look like after those two years, so I toured a few different colleges during my freshman year at three rivers and stumbled across Missouri State, and pretty much the minute I stepped foot on campus, I knew that was where I was going to go. So I spent two years at three rivers, got my associate's degree there, and then transferred to Missouri State, really just with the intention of spending two years there, getting a business degree and then coming back to Poplar Bluff. But it didn't happen that way, as I feel like lots of people's stories in higher ed happen. You start out in higher education institution with a different degree in mind, a different career in mind, and then you just like it so much you want to stick around. And that's pretty much exactly what happened to me. So I spent two years there. I didn't want to leave, so I ended up staying to get my master's degree, and during the last semester of my master's degree, I started applying for different jobs within the finance industry, because that's what my bachelor's degree was in. And the more I applied for those jobs, the more I realized it wasn't really what I was looking for. And I started, kind of just started having a little bit of a crisis of just thinking I had a plan in mind. I knew what I was going to do, and then it wasn't going to be something that was going to make me happy. So kind of just by a moment of fate, I guess, I started looking for jobs at Missouri State's website and stumbled across an open academic advisor position in the business advisement Center, which is where I had gotten to know my first academic advisor. So shout out to Carmen Brewer over at Missouri State. And that was kind of like a light bulb moment for me, because I realized, Hey, I would love to work with students. I would be really good at this. This would be so fulfilling and rewarding for me. So I was fortunate enough to get that job, and I worked in the business advisement Center at Missouri State for about three years, and I work with students in five different departments in that college of business, just kind of helping them navigate everything from freshman orientation to graduation and everything in between. And it was really rewarding. I really loved it, but I had a soft spot for the transfer students that I encountered just because I was a transfer student, I knew what their experience was like and about in the middle of my third year in the business advisement center, the coordinator for transfer initiatives position opened up at Missouri State, and it was an opportunity to work with transfer students all day, every day. So it was kind of difficult to leave an environment that I really enjoyed, and the students that I got to know. But I absolutely love working with the transfer students that I work with now. And it's transfer all day every day, which is, again, that full circle moment, really rewarding for me. 

Matt Markin  
Absolutely, yeah, it's definitely that full circle moment. And I guess with the transfer initiatives coordinator position, was that a newer position?

Campbell Keele  
Yes, it is brand new. So they had a transfer advisor position in the academic advising and Transfer Center, which is what my supervisor, Ross Hawkins did before he became the director. But they decided pretty early on they wanted it to be more of a coordinator position. Mission to allow for an opportunity to create transfer initiatives at Missouri State work with other partners across campus and across the state to really put more of a focus on transfer students and help them out. So this is the first time this position has been, you know, at Missouri State, which is exciting, but also a little challenging, because we have to figure out how to make it our own and do what we want to do with it.

Matt Markin  
Yeah. I was gonna say, like, no pressure, yeah. So what would be like the day in the life of in this role that that you have?

Campbell Keele  
Truly something different every day? Honestly, a lot of times, some of my friends across campus will say, so what do you do? What is your job? So I kind of divide it up into four different quadrants. So the main focus is advising. I do work with transfer students who come in, either undeclared as part of our General Studies Program, which is a degree completion interdisciplinary program that we offer, or students who are in the pre professional field, so that would be anything from pre med to pre law, pre dentistry. We don't offer those as official programs at Missouri State, so I help those students kind of figure out where they're intending to go for dental school or medical school or law school, and how to help them get the best bachelor's degree at Missouri State to meet the requirements for the program they want to pursue. So a lot of what I do on the advising front is just helping students navigate their transfer credit evaluation, talk with them about what they're interested in doing at Missouri State and after Missouri State, and help them find the right degree to meet those goals too. So that's really fun and really rewarding. I also do a lot of professional development at Missouri State, so I chair our transfer advising committee, and we offer training and development for faculty and staff who work with transfer students to help them learn a little bit more about what's new in transfer advising or challenges that we're seeing with our transfer students to help raise that awareness. And then I also do a lot of engagement opportunities with transfer students. So that's where national transfer student income in, and a lot of the other opportunities that I have with them. And then the last part is kind of a recruitment event. I have a really close relationship with our office of admissions, and so I will travel with them to various community colleges to answer advising questions that their students might have, or things like that. So really, I'm doing something different every single day, but I never get bored. So there's that.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, there's plenty of things that you're doing, but it also makes me think, though, like you're collaborating with, you know, of course will be meeting with students, helping them out. You're collaborating with the admissions office, other departments, the engagement piece. So I guess for you, like, Is there even like a peak time, or is like peak time all the time?

Campbell Keele  
Truly, it's a peak time all the time. I think the busiest time of the year, though, is probably March and April, just because so many transfer students do transfer in during the fall semester. So March and April is when our registration for the fall semester opens up. So a lot of our transfer students will come in around that time, and that's when they want to start exploring majors at Missouri State, get signed up for classes, things like that. So that's the busiest time for me, but it's a pretty continuous flow of work throughout the year. It just looks different depending on the season.

Matt Markin  
And before I go any further, just for those that might be interested if maybe they don't know so much about Missouri State University, how would you describe your institution?

Campbell Keele  
Yeah. So Missouri State University is in Springfield, Missouri, not to be confused with the University of Missouri and Columbia. That is a common confusion there. So we're not part of the University of Missouri System. Our mascot is the bears. So you'll hear us say, Go bears a lot, but we are kind of the largest institution within the southwest Missouri, and really like the Northeast Arkansas, western Oklahoma kind of area there too. So we see a lot of students come in from that part of the region, and our largest populations of students are really focused more on business programs or the healthcare field. We have a robust nursing program at Missouri State. So shout out to them for the work that they do there. But yeah, a lot of our students are kind of from that rural, small town community, like I was just kind of on the opposite end of the state. 

Matt Markin  
And you were mentioning a little bit while ago about national transfer week, and I know when this episode goes out. Yes, we were recording this in towards the end of September. But this is going out. And those listening right now, it's around October 21 so can you tell us a little bit about national transfer week and why this is important to you and to students?

Campbell Keele  
Yes, absolutely. So national transfer student week is organized by the National Institute for the Study of transfer students. Students or NISTS. It is always the third full week in October. So this year, it'll be October 21 through the 26th and it's really just a week to recognize and celebrate transfer students, and those who work with transfer students at higher education institutions. And NISTS is really great about providing a centralized theme. So this year, it is unlocking your potential as a transfer student. But they've had other themes in the past about kind of getting aboard the transfer train and things like that. And they have that centralized theme. They have a marketing kit to really allow institutions to band together across the country to take part in these celebrations and have it be a cohesive effort. But then what institutions can do and choose to do for national transfer student week is really up to them and what they have time to do, what their students are interested in doing. And I started this role in 2022 and one of the first things My boss asked me was just, what do you want to do in this role? What do you see yourself doing? And national transfer student week was one of the first things that came to my mind, because great way to just make transfer students feel recognized and celebrated on campus. I think overall in higher education, we could do better about making our transfer students feel more like they are welcomed, and, you know, kind of value their presence. So this was a great way for Missouri State to get to do that, and it's grown every year. This will be the third year that we're celebrating it, and I'm really excited for what we have planned. 

Matt Markin  
Wonderful. And can you chat about or talked about some of the events that you've done in the past, or even what you have thoughts about the upcoming transfer national transfer student week, or, in this case, those listening to it, it's already going on right now. 

Campbell Keele  
So I'm going to first talking about my favorite event. Everyone knows this is my favorite event. I get really excited about this. So we have a therapy dog organization in the Springfield area called pet therapy of the Ozarks, and they will take their therapy dogs to hospitals, elementary schools, places like that, just to allow the people who are in those environments to get to interact with the therapy dogs. Pet the animals. Just have a good afternoon or morning with those animals. And so I thought of the idea of having those therapy dogs come to our counseling center. So with our counseling center at Missouri State, we do offer every student eight free counseling sessions per semester, but sometimes students don't know about it, or they're really intimidated about the thought of coming to the counseling center for the first time, so I thought, what if we brought the dogs to the counseling center? Make it very low stakes. And thankfully, our counseling center was really on board with it. So the event is called pause, pet away worry and stress. So last year we had three therapy dogs come into the Counseling Center. We had about 100 students stop by and pet the animals. I really liked the ones who came by and said, Oh my goodness, let me go get my friends, and they would grab their friends and bring them back. And just spent about an hour and a half with the animals. But while they were there, the Counseling Center also had some resources for students, letting them know about the individual sessions or group sessions they offer, all the other resources they provide. And that was a really wonderful way for them to their foot in the door, see what the space is like, meet some of the counselors in that center, and obviously pet the dogs too. I'm a huge dog lover, so that was really fun. And a lot of those students ended up coming back and taking advantage of those free services. And that idea really came from conversations that I kept having over and over the students who would talk about how homesick they were and how much they missed their dog or cat or hamster or whatever they had. And obviously I couldn't bring their pet to them, but I could bring some pets to them. So it was a really great event, a lot of fun, and we're going to do that again this year, which I'm really excited about. We also have a kickoff event with free donuts. So Dunkin Donuts is a really wonderful partner with Missouri State, and they donate donuts for us to do so every Monday morning during National transfer student week, that's the first thing we do. We'll pass out donuts to anybody who walks by and lets them know about the other events that we'll have throughout the week. So it's a good way to kind of spread awareness, just in case they don't see our social media efforts or flyers or anything like that, too. Those are some of my favorites.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, very cool. And you know, in this case, you know, the two that you mentioned, you're, you're working with other organizations. And so I guess that leads into a question I have is, like, budget wise, you know, it seems like budget is a thing that is always an issue at many institutions. You know, you only have so much money to spend on things. You know. So how can you have this engagement? How can you have these types of events? So how do you work around that, with working with other organizations, other departments, but still trying to put on something and make these students feel welcome and engaging with them?

Campbell Keele  
Yes. So fun fact for the listeners, I have zero budget for national transfer student week, absolutely $0 which is probably a situation many others can relate to. So I've had to be very creative about finding free efforts that we could do, things that we could partner with. And thankfully, we've had services on campus, including our Office of Student Engagement, who do have a budget, and they are willing to partner with that. So I think probably the first piece of advice I have is to try to maximize free events when possible. So the pet therapy, the Ozarks, that's a charitable organization volunteer based, they don't charge for anything. So if you have a similar organization in your area, very easy collaboration, free. Usually they're willing to make that happen. I also have to get creative about partnering with outside organizations. So Dunkin Donuts has volunteered their time and donated things as well for us in the past. So has Hy Vee, one of our grocery chains, Chick fil A, so just kind of reaching out to other organizations in the area to see if they would be willing to donate food or resources or anything like that, you will hear no. I do hear no quite a bit, and that's okay. You just have to respect that, because I don't have the resources to donate anything either through my office, so I completely understand, but really just kind of partnering with those organizations on your campus who do have money, I think it's really important, if you are going to ask them for money, to really articulate the vision behind it, why it matters, what the goal is, and help them understand how this could benefit students, rather than just asking them for money or time or anything that they might have without kind of giving that explanation or providing that context. So I've been really fortunate to have partners like our student engagement or a counseling center who are willing to work with me and to make that happen. So it's been really nice to have the support from them, but it is hard. I will not pretend like any of it is easy. You have to work. I plan six months in advance for all of these things, and ask a lot of individuals for their time and help and money. And thankfully, it's worked out, but you will hear no quite a bit, especially in the beginning,

Matt Markin  
And kind of connected this you've also presented right on engaging with little or no budget, and kind of connected that to Taylor Swift, right?

Campbell Keele  
Yes. So I am a huge Taylor Swift Fan. That is probably my number one personality trait, and I've been fortunate to be involved in mukata, which is our state version of NACADA in the state of Missouri. I was on the board for two years, just stepped down a couple of days ago as of the timing of this recording here, but we had our annual conference in September, and that was called the eras in advising. So I actually did not come up with the theme, but once I heard about it, immediately went with it, of course. So this was kind of focused on the past, present and future of advising. Charlie Nutt was our keynote speaker, and we all love Charlie. So he, of course, was fantastic. And our presenters leaned into the Taylor Swift themed too. We had friendship bracelets. We had the whole nine yards. So it was a really great time. And I presented to some of my colleagues and mikada, kind of talking with them about resources that I had at Missouri State, how I made this happen with no budget, and the events that we've done in the past, and what we have planned for this year is national. Thanks for student week, and hopefully they had some ideas they could take with them as well.

Matt Markin  
Right? Is it difficult to say, or question I shouldn't even be asking, is like, is there a favorite song, or is it just like, it's everything?

Campbell Keele  
Favorite song is really hard. I will say the reputation album is my favorite. So it would probably be something from that. But my favorite song probably changes day to day, for sure.

Matt Markin  
But at least, if anything, she has so many songs out there.

Campbell Keele  
It's so true, there are so many songs and genres and albums, I never get bored. 

Matt Markin  
Have you gone to a concert of hers? 

Campbell Keele  
I have so I've seen her five times. I went to the heiress tour three times last summer, and that was spectacular. So I saw her twice in Kansas City and once in Chicago, and had the absolute. Best time. So if you can make it to a concert while it's still happening, you totally should.

Matt Markin  
Five times. I'm just thinking like all her concerts that sell out, so congrats on making it.

Campbell Keele  
It's kind of challenging to get tickets to them, but you make it work. One of one of my friends in Admissions makes a joke that I spend money on Taylor Swift like I don't work in higher education, which is very true.

Matt Markin  
As long as you're enjoying life.

Campbell Keele  
There are worse things to do, for sure.

Matt Markin  
So this is more of a general question, so take it how you want. But you know, let's say advisors. Okay, we're working with transfers that we know we have different student populations, one of them being our transfer students. Is there anything you can tell listeners, or, you know, especially advisors? Any tips you have with working with with the transfer student population?

Campbell Keele  
Yeah, my number one tip for not only our advisors on campus, but advisors everywhere, is to not assume that they know everything. It's really easy to think, oh, this student has already been at college for 123, however, many years. They kind of have a good idea of how it works. And the important thing to remember is that they knew how it worked at their old institution, but they don't know how it works at this new institution, wherever it might be. So one of the key differences that I always point out when talking with our advisors is that a lot of our transfer students will come from OTC, which is a two year institution in Springfield, but even just you know, coming to a new school that's a couple blocks down the road presents a lot of logistical hurdles, so they use Canvas there. We use bright space. So our transfer students don't even know how to navigate finding their classes, and especially if they're an online student, that learning management platform is crucial for them, and that's one thing that they don't know how to work and is very confusing for them. And financial aid works differently at different institutions. Advising requirements work differently at different institutions. So at Missouri State, we do require a lot for our students. In terms of meeting with an advisor, they have to meet with an advisor until they have 75 credit hours completed. Or if they're a transfer student, they have to meet with us their first three semesters. So whatever comes last there so a lot of mandatory advising. And many two year institutions have no mandatory advising requirements whatsoever. I didn't meet with an advisor until I came to Missouri State, so sometimes they don't even know what an advisor does or what your role is. So understand that they may have some of the things like study skills or time management, perhaps under wraps there, which is great, but are a new student, just like a freshman is they don't know how your institution works, so making sure that you communicate that with them is really the biggest thing that will set them up for success.

Matt Markin  
Let's say you have students come in and transfer student and, you know, they're formally listed as one particular major, and then you meet with them. And, like, I don't know if I want to continue with this, you know, I'm sure you have some transfer students in that situation, that there might have a lot of that stress of like, well, I've already completed all these units. I have these general education requirements done now, am I going to be delayed in graduation? Should I stick out with the major I'm in? Should I change it? How do you have those conversations with students?

Campbell Keele  
Yeah, I have those conversations more than you might think, and I do feel for them that is a very challenging situation to be in, but I try to give them a few pieces of advice to help them ultimately make that decision, because I will tell them, if you decide to stick with your current path, that's wonderful, I'm here to help. If you decide to switch, that's wonderful. I'm here to help, but ultimately, it's your academic career, your journey. I'm here to help you and give you the resources for whatever decision you make, but I won't make that decision for you, because it is a tough challenge, tough challenge for them to be looking at, and a lot of hurdles to overcome. So I will talk with them a little bit about what they're still hoping to do after graduation, and I explained to them, just because you have a bachelor's degree in a particular subject does not mean you're stuck with that particular career path for the rest of your life. And I share that. I was a finance major. I'm an academic advising now, when I started out, I had no idea that that's what I wanted to do, but I've never been blocked from a job opportunity because of what my bachelor's degree was in so helping them understand that having a bachelor's degree means that they have a skill set a particular subject. But there's so many of those transferable skills that they earn while they're getting their bachelor's degree that will help them no matter what avenue they pursue, but if the thought of sticking with that current path is complete. Completely miserable for them. If they cannot put themselves through three more semesters, four more semesters, however long it might be in that particular major, then it's good to go ahead and switch now, rather than put yourself through that misery for the next few years. And so we have a really great partnership with our Career Center and their career center here at Missouri State helps students with that career exploration process. And so I kind of explained to them that my job is to help them graduate the Career Center's job is to help them find that job when they're done. And so sometimes our students will go talk with the Career Center and say, hey, if I do switch to this other degree, what will my career opportunities look like. What salary can I expect? Do I need to move to make this happen? That type of thing too. So I think it's important to help students realize that the end goal is getting a bachelor's degree. But just because you have a bachelor's degree in psychology or marketing or communication doesn't mean you're stuck with one career path for the rest of your life if you don't want to be.

Matt Markin  
And question, when students actually apply to Missouri State University, let's say their transfer student. Are they able to mark like undecided or undeclared, or do they have to actually pick a major when they apply?

Campbell Keele  
Yeah, they can pick undesired if they would like to. So that is an option within the entire list of majors there. If they do pick undeclared, they'll come and see me. And those conversations kind of vary depending on what their goals are. Sometimes students will pick undeclared because they didn't see the name of the major that they wanted. So they knew what they wanted, they just couldn't find it on there. A great example of that is Business Administration. We call it general business at Missouri State. So sometimes the students don't see Business Administration, they'll pick undeclared just to try to get that help to find what they were looking for. Other times, students have no clue what they want, and that's why they picked undeclared, and that's fantastic. So we'll talk with them a little bit about what they are hoping to do during their first semester of Missouri State. Some students want to have a major declared before they even take their first class here, which is perfect. So I'll spend some time with them, whether it's a few weeks or few months, depending on how much time we have, helping them through the major exploration process, so just talking to them about what they're interested in, helping find that right major, and, of course, letting them know how long it'll take for them to graduate with that program. But we also have students who want to use their first semester as an exploratory semester, and they can do that students at Missouri State can stay undeclared until they've completed that 75 credit hours, and then they have to have a major declared by that point. But our goal is to try to get them to declare a major sooner than that, of course, because you know 75 credit hours is halfway through your junior year, that's a long time to not feel like you have an academic home, and we want them to have that home as quickly as possible. So we'll typically spend that first semester as a transfer student, if they want to stay undeclared, working with me in my office and also working with the Career Center. They get assigned a career resource specialist who they don't have to meet with, but we encourage them to meet with, and that individual helps them through that career exploration process. It's been a really successful partnership. Every student that we've done this partnership with has declared a major, either within their first or second semester here, and they have gone on to do great things. So yeah, they have the opportunity to stay undeclared if they want to, but we do try to let them know that while that is an option in the end, it's best for them to get to their academic home as quickly as they can if they feel comfortable going to that path, because we never want to force someone to pick a major because they feel like to right.

Matt Markin  
No, absolutely. And does Missouri State have like, pre majors or impacted majors?

Campbell Keele  
We do not. So the closest we have to that would be our pre professional areas that we have. So that's the pre law, pre med, pre dentistry, things like that. So students can mark that on their application to say, hey, I want to do this type of professional schooling after I have my bachelor's degree. But it ends up just being an indicator for them. They can't get a bachelor's degree in those codes. And so what we'll do they'll work with our office to help figure out the right bachelor's degree for them, and then we have a series of advisors in those areas within the different colleges. So pre law is a great example of that. We have some excellent pre law advisors in criminology, political science, economics, kind of the common feeders for law school. So they'll start in our office. They'll figure out what bachelor's degree is the right fit for them. Then they'll have their academic advisor that helps them till they graduate. And then they have that pre law advisor who can help them get connected with tutors for the LSAT or review their resume, or kind of just talk with them about their law school experience, so that way they know what to expect when the time comes. 

Matt Markin  
Wonderful. Now, do you have some transfer students that will come to you, and you know they're interested in maybe doing some sort of like education or study abroad, and wondering, should I do it? Should I not? Is this going to impact graduation? What? How do those conversations go?

Campbell Keele  
Yeah, so I always get really excited. First of all, that they want to do that so we, as part of National transfer student week, will have conversations with the office of education abroad as well, because I feel like I missed out on that opportunity. I didn't know until probably my last semester, I think at Missouri State that I could participate in education abroad. So I feel like sometimes transfer students feel like because they didn't get there during their first year, that they're not able to participate in things like Fraternity and Sorority Life or education abroad. They just feel like they kind of missed the boat on that and thankfully at Missouri State, they didn't miss the boat. We just have to help them get there and find out that they can. So our Office of Education Abroad offers short term experiences, and so those are typically with a faculty member that will take a group for one to two weeks all throughout the year. So those are always a great way to kind of fit that in. If you're in a program where you maybe can't spend a semester abroad during your last year. A really great example of one where you couldn't do that is accounting, just because accounting laws and regulations are so different everywhere you go that it's really hard to get that kind of formalized training in the US accounting system somewhere else. So for those students, that short term trip might be the best way to go, or perhaps an internship abroad, if they can make that happen. But most of our majors are pretty flexible with education abroad, thankfully. So we have a fantastic office there that will meet with students and help them figure out how they can make that work if they're able to, and they have the interest in doing it. So we try to raise awareness for those kinds of opportunities, just because we don't want them to feel the way I felt that like, Oh, I totally would have done that if I had known that I could. So we want to make sure that they know that opportunities available for them. 

Matt Markin  
I felt I was the same way when I when I was an undergrad, yeah, it was like my senior year when I was like, oh, there's this education abroad, or at that time, they call it study abroad. Oh, no, I think I'm too late in doing it all. If I had just known maybe the year before, you know, then maybe I would have taken advantage of maybe one of those, like, shorter ones, or even, like, just doing one during the summer.

Campbell Keele  
Yeah, but maybe, maybe we wouldn't have if we had known earlier. You never know, but I don't. I never want them to feel the way that we felt like we missed out on something. 

Matt Markin  
And I want to go back to your mentioned one of one of your responsibilities is to also do some of the trainings with faculty and staff, especially regarding transfer students. How did that come about? Something that was specific for this role, or that been something that someone had done prior to you starting in this role?

Campbell Keele  
Yeah. So kind of a mixture of both. So my office, the academic advising and Transfer Center, we oversee a training and development program for advisors called the master advisor program. So my boss, Ross the director of the program, oversees that and offers a series of different topics throughout the year, we have three master advisor workshops per year, so in May, August and December, and that's an opportunity for anybody on campus to come and learn about not only advising, but financial aid, residence, life, things like that as well. And just really learn a lot of information about advising in about a day and a half. So it is kind of information overload there, but at the end of that, you are master advisor certified, and the way to keep that certification is to attend three hours of professional development every year. So our office will partner with others on campus who are doing really great things and help them share information that would be relevant for those who work either in advising specific roles or in those adjacent to advising. So we'll have a lot of administrative specialists from advising centers attend our forums, because while they may not be directly advising students, they're kind of the front line for some of those questions that will be asked to so we have various topics all throughout the year. But when I started in this role, I was asked to ensure that we have something for transfer advising once a semester, no matter what. So we've had this, I guess will be my sixth semester. Now, I think in this role, so we've had something every single semester, which has been really helpful during the fall semester. We always have it during National transfer student week, just as kind of a, you know, shameless plug there to spread the word and to have something for our faculty and staff advisors. So one year, we did a conversation with community college advisors. So we had some of our community college advisor calls. Leave on Zoom and answer some questions about what the advising and student experience looks like at their two year institution. So that way, when those students come here to Missouri State, we have a better idea of whether or not they've met with an advisor before, or whether or not they could have lived on campus, or those types of things. So we just have a better understanding of what their experience looked like. And this fall, during National transfer student week, our forum is going to be focused on what's new in transfer advising, because we've worked with the Office of Admissions and computer services to really revamp our transfer credit evaluation and re evaluation process. So it's a lot of exciting changes that we're going to debut during National transfer student week. And we're also going to share a little bit about what's new with transfer advising in each of the various advising centers on campus, because we don't have a centralized advising model, and so every college has their own Advising Center. So they're going to share some relevant updates for transfer students there. And so that's just kind of a way for the word to be spread about transfer advising make sure that people have that information regularly communicated to them. And we typically record those as well and put them on YouTube, so if you miss out on that hour, you still have access to that information, which has been really helpful.

Matt Markin  
And it was mentioned in your bio that you were honored with the transfer champion, Rising Star Award from the National Institute for the Study of transfer students. So this award recognizes individuals who are making important contributions but are relatively new to the transfer field. Can tell us more about receiving this award.

Campbell Keele  
Yeah, that was crazy, very unexpected, very thankful and grateful for that. I got to know Emily and the team and the National Institute for the Study of transfer students at NACADA. So my first Nakata experience was the Portland conference, and that was a lot of fun. And she was there, so she knew my boss, Ross, from previous conferences, and we got to chat a little bit, and she has been so helpful and instrumental in bringing national transfer student week to Missouri State. And then Ross and a couple other people in my office decided to nominate me for that award, which was very kind and generous of them. And flash forward to November of last year. I found out I won the award, so they had the annual conference in St Louis in February. So I got to pick that up with three other transfer champion, rising stars, and those three individuals are doing fantastic work at their institutions across the country. So it was really humbling to be in their company and to see the work that they do. So yeah, that was a really unexpected, delightful honor. So shout out to Emily for that. Thank you.

Matt Markin  
Well very well deserved. So congratulations on that award, and camel we've talked about quite a few different things, especially a lot on transfer students. A very interesting conversation, a lot of great tips that that you gave, and so I hope listeners were able to pick up on a lot of that, and might be using that and adapting it to their institutions. But Campbell, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.

Campbell Keele  
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.