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In a recent Beyond Transfer blog post, transfer champions Heather Adams and Seth Marc Kamen highlighted the lack of training and support for transfer professionals. As transfer professionals who have navigated transfer advising with little formal training, we felt seen and inspired to respond.
Many transfer advisers are self-taught, and unfortunately, many still struggle with determining what the most important information is, how to find it and where to even begin. At the core, we understand the value of professional development and collaboration, but seeking out these opportunities can prove daunting due to lack of time and funding. These concerns are not unique to transfer or even higher education, but the needs are especially prominent. We hope that we can inspire and guide transfer professionals to be creative and confident in creating their own opportunities.
Creativity is often called upon by advisers, as they must be resourceful at getting the information they need, but what about information they don’t know that they need? Furthermore, piecemealing information together can be overwhelming and time-consuming. Having readily available transfer-related resources would be optimal so that advisers can adequately do their jobs and ultimately help students succeed. What can advisers do to advocate for themselves and make transfer-related professional development a priority when there are so many other initiatives and priorities in higher education?
As part of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS; a system of 23 community colleges) and after years of working in our respective colleges’ transfer silos, this question kept presenting itself, prompting us to have countless discussions about the state of transfer and how we could work together in addressing the challenges we and our students were facing. We connected as members of a state-level transfer-related committee primarily composed of administrators from approximately 40 two- and four-year colleges and universities across the state.
As two of the few transfer advisers on the committee, we longed to connect with our community college colleagues who were fully immersed in all things transfer advising. In collaboration with a third transfer colleague from another community college, we used each other as sounding boards for transfer and advising concerns and how to help students (and ourselves) navigate the transfer process. We connected this way for a few years and realized that there were likely many other advisers out there who would benefit from this internal work we were doing and the relationships we were building.
Out of this, the VCCS Transfer Advising Peer Group was born. We reached out to others in the VCCS who identified as being “in the transfer weeds” to see if they wanted to join us and were met with a resounding yes. It quickly became apparent that this was something advisers desperately needed. They needed a platform to learn more from their peers, they needed others to brainstorm with and they needed community. The Transfer Advising Peer Group was established in 2021, and as of today, there are over 100 transfer or transfer-related community college advisers across the state who participate in the group. We meet virtually twice each fall and spring semester and supplement those meetings with a semesterly newsletter that includes important dates and information.
Coordinating the peer group’s efforts is voluntary; we do it because we are passionate about our mission. For the most part, the work we do does not require a budget; however, the desire to connect in person soon became apparent. Starting in 2023, we began holding an annual summer retreat with support from our four-year public and private partners across the state.
The opportunity to host the peer group retreat allows the four-year college to showcase their institution and programs and the ability to connect with community college advisers. At each of our meetings, we prioritize topics that are important to members and are relevant at the time. Additionally, we have been facilitating transfer advising information sessions for advisers to learn more from our four-year partners and an annual virtual transfer fair for all Virginia community college students to showcase popular transfer majors such as cybersecurity and health care–related fields.
We have grown a lot since the peer group was established, and during that time, a lot of change has taken place. What started with the three co-founders/co-chairs has evolved as our professional roles have changed. Each of us has taken on new opportunities within education, some that still allow for involvement in the peer group. We recognized the challenges, and regardless of the circumstances, we took what we had and made something better. Our desire to pay it forward was the impetus of the peer group and will be what continues to sustain it. Despite these transitions, we have witnessed a shift in transfer advising culture in Virginia, and with new leadership and dedicated members, the peer group is stronger than ever, and we look forward to all that is to come.