How College Advisers Impact the Next Generation of Students | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

“We have hundreds of kids that wouldn’t have gone to college, wouldn’t have reached their fullest potential without [MCAC],” says Bob Zwiers, a teacher at Holland High School.

For the 2023-2024 school year, the Michigan College Advising Corps (MCAC)—a college outreach program—placed 17 recent University of Michigan graduates as full-time, paid college advisers at 17 under-resourced high schools across the state, serving more than 2,200 students.

The program’s mission is clear: inform students of their options for post-secondary education, actively engage families as they navigate the college application and financial aid processes, and inspire communities to continue fortifying their college-bound ethos.

An **MCAC adviser gives a tour of U-M to high school students.**

This work is needed now more than ever.

“Fewer students are going to college. It’s not a good thing for the economy or the state,” says Celina Flegal, LSA ‘15, a former MCAC adviser and current admissions and enrollment coordinator & international admissions recruiter at Grand Rapids Community College.

Flegal is not exaggerating. Today, the state’s Sixty by 30 goal—that 60% of working-age adults will have a college degree or skill certificate by 2030—is not attainable. Michigan ranks 41st in college enrollment, with only 53% of high school graduates attending college, down from 66% just 10 years ago, mirroring a nationwide trend. Meanwhile, the workforce needs college-educated workers more than ever. According to the Detroit Regional Chamber and the U.S. Department of Education, by 2027, 70% of jobs will require education beyond high school. To help navigate complex college applications and secure scholarships and financial aid, schools and families rely on their MCAC adviser.

What is MCAC?

In 2009, the Michigan College Advising Corps began as a direct-service program at the Center for Educational Outreach. In 2010, it launched in eight schools with eight advisers. Since its inception, more than 115 advisers have served more than 25,000 students.

**MCAC advisers, including Greta Kruse, during a training at U-M.**

Part of AmeriCorps, MCAC advisers make a one- to two-year commitment to work at underserved schools across the state—from Ypsilanti to Southfield, Southwest Detroit to Pontiac, Flint to Battle Creek, Grand Rapids to Jackson—often as the only college or guidance counselor in the building. In addition to a mandatory four-week training on the U-M Ann Arbor campus prior to the start of the school year, advisors have weekly remote training sessions, professional development, and an opportunity to attend national conferences with fellow outreach professionals. Upon completing 1,700 hours of service—one year as an adviser—they also receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $7,395 to help pay for college, graduate school, vocational training, or to repay student loans.

By operating on a near-peer model, advisers share their recent experiences as college students with high school students who may not come from a community with a strong college-going culture, encouraging students to consider the myriad educational options available after high school.

“One of the core elements of the college advising corps program that makes this program unique is that our advisers are tasked with developing and executing an individualized post-secondary plan with each high school senior enrolled at their high school site placement. This provides an opportunity for our college advising team to provide the necessary information and access to these pathways while also centering the student’s and family’s voice throughout the process,” describes Michael Turner, CEO’s associate director of K-12 partnerships and MCAC program director.

Adviser Impact

“There didn’t seem to be much conversation or focus around what happened after high school,” recalls former adviser Alexa Lynch, and current project manager for U-M’s Intend to Attend, when she arrived at Lansing’s J.W. Sexton High School in 2015.

During her second year as an adviser, every member of Sexton’s senior class applied to college, which, she recounts, “hadn’t really been a thing at Sexton before.” The class also received nearly $2 million in institutional aid scholarships.

Lynch describes much of her work as “demystifying” the preconceptions around what college was. “A lot of students only viewed college as a four-year [option]…sharing knowledge about community college, vocational, tech and trade [schools], in addition to four-year colleges, [and] financial support,” occupied much of the initial conversations between advisers and students.

The near-peer model has additional benefits, says Amber Williams, LSA ‘10, MSW ’16, PhD candidate School of Education, who worked as an MCAC adviser at Benton Harbor High School from 2010-2012, a school that she says was “committed to black student college access.”

As a recent U-M grad with a background similar to many Benton Harbor students, “I was able to communicate in an [authentic] way, beyond the material, tangible things, the real benefits of college. And I can share that from a place of experience, leadership, connecting with others, and having a variety of experiences that add to my life. That felt like the real message: ‘Who do you want to be?’”

“I was able to communicate in an [authentic] way, beyond the material, tangible things, the real benefits of college.

Amber Williams

Within the school setting, MCAC advisers complement professional counseling staff, serving as students’ advocates, mentors and liaisons. Advisers facilitate programming throughout the year to guide students through college-going processes—such as college applications, FAFSA submission, and scholarships—and one-on-one meetings with students and families to ensure that post-secondary decisions are made with all parties in mind.

“A student can go into your office and fill out forms to appease you, but if you take the time to get to know them and cultivate a genuine relationship, they’ll come to you for help and [you’ll] be someone the students can turn to,” says Greta Kruse, LSA ‘22, who was an adviser at J.W. Sexton High School from 2022-2024.

Success Rates

The model is clearly working. At MCAC schools, 92% of students met with an advisor, 81% submitted at least one college application, and 59% completed their FAFSA, far outpacing national College Advising Corps averages (32%, 27%, and 13%, respectively). Each of these successes represents a student who may not have considered college as an option but now has the guidance and resources to pursue it. Since 2017, students at MCAC schools have earned approximately 10,000 college acceptances.

“The work we embarked upon was simple yet groundbreaking in Michigan. The recipe was simple—give counselors the support they need to help students plan for their future. Over the 14 years that the program has existed, U-M graduates have helped thousands of high school students go to college and pursue great careers,” says MCAC inaugural director Christopher Rutherford.

This is Michigan | Inspiring College Plans

Integrity. Respect. Inclusion. Equity. Diversity. Innovation.

These six words represent the values that the University of Michigan adopted in 2023 as the foundation of its culture. These values are more than just words—they are a commitment to creating an environment of trust, where everyone can strive toward their fullest potential. As highlighted on the Culture Journey website, these core values define who we are, shape our purpose, and serve as our guide for decisions, actions and relationships within the University.

What is perhaps most notable about those six guiding values is that three of them overlap with pivotal work that the University has prioritized since 2016, when it created the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and implemented the DEI Strategic Plan.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are intrinsically linked to the University of Michigan’s core values, and it has never been more apparent than in how it aligns with the Culture Journey.

“We wanted to make sure the values reflected what the community thought as a whole,” says Krista Stelmaszek, a performance consultant for Organizational Learning (OL) and a member of the Culture Journey team. “[They utilized] polling, town halls, community forums and focus groups to gauge what people felt U-M should be valuing. Diversity, equity and inclusion rose to the top.”

“DEI kept coming up. Should DEI be a single value, or should they be separate entities?” notes Lynn Carruthers, senior marketing communications specialist for Organizational Learning and the Culture Journey. “The response was they should be separated and looked at individually.”

Both Carruthers and Stelmaszek credit the foundation and infrastructure from the first DEI Strategic Plan—DEI 1.0 (which ran from 2016-2022)—as creating the groundwork upon which these values can live.

DEI 1.0 gives us this roadmap—we’ve created an infrastructure for change…I think it says a lot about the organization’s commitment that [DEI] showed up as our values.

Krista Stelmaszek

“Would people have been so insistent about having those three words as our values? I think it says a lot about the organization’s commitment [to DEI] that those showed up as our values,” says Stelmaszek. “DEI 1.0 gives us this roadmap—we’ve created an infrastructure for change. How can we either model that or partner with that to make this culture change effort stick?”

Like the commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, the Culture Journey began as a presidential initiative (with presidents Schlissel and Ono, respectively), signaling a long-term commitment to imbuing the entire U-M ecosystem with these values. Additionally, Vision 2034, another presidential initiative, uses these values in its framing, and Student Life has had a set of values in place that are closely related. Culture Journey has since been absorbed by Organizational Living, “weaving it into the fabric of everything we do here,” says Carruthers.

Currently in the socialization phase, the team recognizes that ingraining these values across the vast U-M network will take time. This effort is about more than just awareness—it’s about fostering a deep, shared understanding that transforms the university culture over time. Lightpole banners across campus that list the Culture Journey values on one side and DEI 2.0’s goals on the other are one example and one that continues to show the interconnectedness and synergy of DEI initiatives and the Culture Journey. These banners serve as a daily reminder of the university’s commitment to these principles, ensuring they remain at the forefront of the community’s minds.

Additional tools include educational resources on the Organizational Learning website, leadership development programs, a series of regular podcasts, a Culture Journey listserv, and the upcoming implementation of quarterly values, which is scheduled to begin in early 2025.

Reflects Stelmaszek about the work ahead, “a vision is somewhere you want to be. The values are the compass to get you there.”

To learn more about the impact of U-M’s culture journey, visit culturejourney.umich.edu.

“No one in the world knows exactly how much OAMI does,” says Rachel Dawson, the Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives’ (OAMI) executive director, attempting to detail the organization’s vast impact. “OAMI’s menu of programs is significant. People participate in our programs all the time, not realizing it’s OAMI work.”

Dawson began her tenure as Director in October 2023 as the organization celebrates its 35th anniversary. She is just the third leader of the organization, a testament to its strength in serving students from a variety of backgrounds across the University of Michigan. In its early days, OAMI focused on supporting prospective students with pre-college programming. Today, OAMI works directly with current U-M students by providing mentorship and tutoring, hosting the annual cultural graduation ceremonies and Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium, providing a space where students can gather among peers, and so much more, including a renewed focus on developing student leaders. OAMI also employs approximately 80 students each year.

First and foremost, though, is a focus on student—and academic—success across all OAMI initiatives. It’s also Dawson’s passion that brought her to the role. Retaining students from underrepresented backgrounds and supporting them through graduation is integral to all current programming.

Dawson, an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan in the early 1990s studying biology and political science, described that the “campus energy was vibrant. There was a strong presence of Black people being very active and visible.” She acknowledges that she reaped the benefits of the student activism of BAM III, which occurred in 1987, as well as the energy and attention that came to campus life with U-M basketball’s famous Fab Five.

“The year I graduated was the highest percentage of Black students [to date]. We had a small Black community; it was very close-knit. It was the pre-technology age. We didn’t have cell phones. We didn’t own computers—we went to the computer lab. So we all knew each other, we supported each other and built authentic, close-knit relationships. I felt included. I felt welcomed.”

Although she did not know of OAMI during her tenure as a student, Dawson said she was very aware of the MLK Symposium, and was a student volunteer for its annual Unity March.

Dawson thinks it’s more difficult now to be a student of color at U-M, with “dwindling enrollment numbers,” and “the divisive times in which we live,” citing “anti-DEI” and “anti-Blackness” in particular. That’s where OAMI comes in. Even though “Michigan has committed so many resources to create a campus climate of inclusion and belonging,” Dawson knows that students of all backgrounds struggle to find these comfortable spaces across a vast and decentralized campus. “We need to make the students feel that they’re caught in a web, a network of resources, and not lost in a circle of confusion. My hope is that the staff and faculty can make this less confusing for them and help them find the resources that are here to benefit them.”

Despite this focus, Dawson notes that the first-generation student population is the largest group of students for whom OAMI provides support. These students, she says, are “mainly white and from rural Michigan,” dispelling the notion that OAMI is only a place for students of color. Those who are Hispanic, Native American, Middle Eastern and North African (MENA), Asian and Pacific Islander, and Undocumented, all have dedicated programs in OAMI. But as a Black woman leading OAMI, Dawson said that Black students are “a population I have concerns about. They are probably the population least engaged by OAMI. I intend to dedicate focused attention to reaching out to our Black students.”

I’m here. I care. I see you. I hear you. I’m here for you. I was once one of you. Let’s build a relationship in OAMI for you.

She says specifically to them: “I’m here. I care. I see you. I hear you. I’m here for you. I was once one of you. Let’s build a relationship in OAMI for you.”

At a time when campus support is needed more than ever for students from a multiplicity of backgrounds, Dawson could not be more energized about the work she has ahead. “OAMI is going to help students be successful at Michigan. We’re going to retain them at Michigan, and improve the graduation rates for students at Michigan. I am very excited to be able to be the voice fighting for our students, for this work, and for programs such as ours.”

To learn more about OAMI, including programs and events, visit oami.umich.edu.

For 35 years, the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives (OAMI) has nurtured students and staff, developing leaders across the University of Michigan. While the organization’s mission is broadly to serve and foster an intellectually and culturally diverse community, cultivating future generations of leaders is embedded in its DNA, with many former participants now leading programs and offices throughout the campus and beyond.

“There was a lot of attention brought to how to do things right, how to develop as a leader, and also how to develop others in their leadership roles,” recalls University of Michigan Athletics Director Warde Manuel, who directed the Wade H. McCree Junior Incentive Scholars Program in the early 1990s for OAMI.

Developing leaders cannot be done without robust leadership in place, and OAMI has benefited from transformative leadership throughout its history.

Founded in 1988, OAMI was created as a result of the Black Action Movement and the United Coalition Against Racism. Dr. John Matlock, who passed away earlier this year, served as OAMI’s inaugural director and assistant vice provost for the University; his influence in developing these future leaders is still widely recognized. He worked alongside the University’s first vice provost for minority affairs, Dr. Charles Moody, in developing many of OAMI’s early outreach initiatives. Gloria Taylor, OAMI’s second director, joined OAMI in 1997 and became executive director in 2013; she retired this fall after a decade at the helm.

For its first 25 years, OAMI focused on community outreach, with a particular emphasis on connecting with future college students in underserved communities. Signature programs included the King Chavez Parks Program (KCP), which today is part of the GEAR UP program through the Center for Educational Outreach, and the annual MLK Symposium. KCP, an outreach program for Detroit high school students that, for many, presented the first introduction to the University of Michigan, as well as to the possibility of attending college, simultaneously served as the introduction to OAMI for many future leaders.

[Panel discussion at the 2023 MLK Symposium, a featured program of OAMI]

“I got involved with OAMI before I even knew about the office,” reflects Ayanna McConnell, president and CEO of the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan. McConnell participated in the King-Chavéz Parks program when she was a student at Detroit’s Renaissance High School. As a U-M undergrad in 1993, she applied to become a student counselor for KCP as a way to “help out the next generation of students.” But what she gained, she says, was “access to the staff who worked [at OAMI] at the time,” as well as a “home away from home on campus, and a community that offered not only employment, but community and resources.”

Dr. Marie Ting, assistant vice provost for equity, inclusion & academic affairs, also got her start with OAMI through KCP. During her undergrad, Ting welcomed participating high school students to the University of Michigan campus. She notes that there were very few Asian-American student leaders in the program, which was particularly notable when a bus arrived on the Ann Arbor campus with Hmong students, a population that, from her understanding, did not send many to college. Connecting with these potential first-generation college students was critical for Ting, as a key element of bringing high school students to the U-M campus was so they could see others like themselves in a college setting.

She noticed this discrepancy, realizing that there was an opportunity to connect Asian-American students. She says she “pitched this idea,” to Dr. Matlock. “He gave me money for a bus and some food, which was amazing and blew my mind. … this was my first exposure to this director changing the course of my life by saying, ‘yes, you have a great idea, and I’ll give you some resources to make this happen.’” Ultimately, Ting created a program for Hmong students from Detroit to visit the University of Michigan, which, she says, “is how I started as a student leader.”

Over time, She went on to become a full-time OAMI employee, eventually designing the Student Academic Multicultural Initiatives (SAMI) program with Matlock, honing her own Asian-American identity and the perception of Asian Americans within diversity work.

What is the students’ role? How can they become more engaged in the design of these programs?

Gloria Taylor

Former Director, OAMI

When Gloria Taylor joined OAMI after working in U-M’s Detroit Admissions Office, she too, was connected with KCP as the director of the King Chavez College Day program. In this position, she hosted over 2,000 middle and high schools annually that attended day and week-long visits in an effort to promote higher education to underrepresented students in southeastern Michigan.

When Taylor became OAMI’s director, the organization pivoted from focusing on the pre-college experience to engaging with students and “student development” once they had matriculated to the University of Michigan. However, the support for students within OAMI never wavered.

“What is the students’ role? How can they become more engaged in the design of these programs?” she recalls asking, echoing her predecessor’s commitment to encouraging students to guide programming.

These undergraduate and graduate students who joined OAMI were often given responsibilities that transcended their experience. Noted Manuel, “At a young age for me, at 22-years-old, they allowed a lot of flexibility in terms of how to develop the programs, how to support the high school students to develop and matriculate and be successful academically,” he said of Drs. Moody and Matlock.

“You give people guidance, you let them develop the programming to how they see it, and then help tweak it. They weren’t micromanaging,” which he notes is something he tries to emulate with his staff today. “I give them a set of expectations and what we’re trying to do, and I ask them how to best solve this issue, as opposed to me as a leader always trying to solve the problem for people.”

One way in which these student leaders were empowered to establish their own initiatives was by leadership, with Matlock providing them with the financial resources and capital to be successful.

“He really loved new ideas,” says Ting. “He nurtured an environment where if you have a great idea, he will find the resources. I think I took that with me working with student leaders. He understood that money should not be the source of suppressing good ideas.”

Dr. Matlock would allow you the space to be creative and to propose new ideas.

Katrina Wade-Golden

Associate Vice Provost, Deputy Chief Diversity Officer, & Director of Implementation for the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategic Plan

Dr. Katrina Wade-Golden, associate vice provost, deputy chief diversity officer, and director of implementation for the diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plan, worked in OAMI’s research arm from 1990 to 2015. It was there, she says, that at the age of 18 she attended her first national conference, gaining access to resources and networks unheard of for young scholars.

Working on the nationally recognized Michigan Student Study, Wade-Golden worked closely with Dr. Gerald Gurin and Dr. Matlock to examine the factors that both foster and inhibit making the educational experience at Michigan diverse, equitable and inclusive. As a first-year student, she was hired to do data entry. By the time she left OAMI, she was the research director. “Jerry [Gurin] taught me everything I know about the ins and outs of research,” she says, while “John [Matlock] would set you up with the resources you needed and would allow you the space to be creative and to propose new ideas.”

In October 2023, OAMI began its next chapter with Dr. Rachel Dawson as its director. Although leadership has changed over time, a legacy of unwavering support for students remains deeply ingrained in the culture.

My hope for OAMI moving forward is that we continue to evolve and grow in our delivery of holistic success services in support of our students during their time at U-M and beyond with a keen focus on high academic achievement, true multicultural inclusion that centers and amplifies the voices of our diverse community, and the fostering of leadership on campus and in the community.

Rachel Dawson

Director, OAMI