ABOUT

The Advising Communities of Excellence (ACE) Professional Development Program was created and implemented in July 2016 in order to help foster a more cohesive and collaborative advising culture at UCLA. ACE offers programs and interactive workshops that bring together campus professionals to engage critically with advising scholarship, and with the relationship between both its theory and practice. The ACE Director leads a committee of 20 extremely dedicated campus advisors, representing the Schools, the College of Letters and Science, academic departments, and the Student Affairs division.

ACE VISION

BUILDING COMMUNITY. PRACTICING THEORY. THEORIZING PRACTICE

The Advising Communities of Excellence (ACE) Professional Development Program is an intellectual and inclusive community for academic advisors that fosters lifelong learning. Through ACE, advisors create a shared language for both academic advising and student support within the campus community at every level, and beyond UCLA.  ACE recognizes advisors as experts on the student experience and in supporting faculty and students as they navigate the complex structures and policies of UCLA.  Through programs, initiatives, and strategic partnerships, ACE creates innovative spaces for advisors to connect, collaborate, and grow more intentionally, and promotes engagement with theory, data, and assessment in advising practice.  ACE invests in academic advisors to foster inclusion in decision making spaces on campus and to create more effective partnerships in a thriving campus community. ACE aspires for UCLA advisors to contribute to the advising profession by articulating our innovative advising practices, by engaging in conferences, and in developing publication opportunities.

ACE MISSION STATEMENT

The Advising Communities of Excellence (ACE) Professional Development Program is  a collaborative learning community that nurtures the professional growth of UCLA advisors. Through purposeful programming and initiatives, we provide tangible resources, strategies, and intellectual spaces for staff to cultivate innovation and to support each other within a community of care. ACE partners with staff, faculty, and students to foster intentional advising practices; we believe strongly that an investment in advisors promotes learning, empowerment, and a thriving campus culture for all.

ACE OBJECTIVES

Motivated by core values of collaboration, integrity, accountability, compassion, and respect, we are committed to the following:

• elevating the role of advising through professional enrichment, personal development, and community-care
• cultivating a campus culture that values the expertise of advisors and the critical contributions advisors make to the University’s mission
• growing from and teaching each other through collaboration at all levels of the campus community
• exploring, reexamining, and creating advising scholarship and practice to advance the field of academic advising
• empowering staff to become active agents in their own development
• promoting a culture of lifelong learning in a dynamic and ever changing environment