Chancellor Mauli Agrawal announced the initiative earlier this year as an example of the Culture of Care within the UMKC community. The program will provide students an engaging and comprehensive advising experience to help them create a successful pathway from admission to graduation and into their chosen career.
Tammy Welchert, Ph.D., UMKC director of Academic Advising, is leading this effort. She has incorporated the input of deans, advisors, staff and students to implement an exciting new vision for centralized advising. Welchert has been working with an advisory council to assist in the development and transition to the new system.
“The centralized advising model will streamline and personalize advising for students,” Welchert said. “It will provide information and enable connections to Academic Support and Career Services, as well as faculty mentors, who will continue to guide our students. Other universities that have adopted centralized advising report increased persistence and graduation rates as a result.”
The Major Academic Path managers will be responsible for oversight and assessment of an advising team comprised of student employees, graduate assistants, office support staff, academic advisors and senior academic advisors. The MAP managers will be assigned responsibilities in four primary areas: maintaining a small advising load, serving in a liaison role to an academic unit(s) with their assigned Major Academic Path, functioning as a primary point person to a designated student support service area and assuming responsibilities for essential aspects that support student success.
Learn more about the MAP managers:
Arts and Cultural Studies: Wayne Nagy
Nagy has 13 years of experience in student services at UMKC. With a background as a musician and teacher, he has a passion for lifelong learning and the arts. Nagy is energized by helping students cross the finish line to complete their degree and pursue their dreams.
Human Behavior, Education and Justice: Rebecca Bergman
Bergman has worked in the College of Arts and Sciences at UMKC for more than 20 years, the last 13 as the director of CAS Student Services. Bergman’s passion is helping students reach their academic goals (and supporting her staff in doing so) and lives that passion each and every day at UMKC.
Business and Management: Rosa Nataraj
Nataraj joined the UMKC Student Success staff in 2021. She graduated from UMKC with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration. She has been at UMKC since 2004 in various roles, including the Admissions Office, in Advising in the College of Arts and Sciences, in the Office of Testing Services and in Student Auxiliaries. She is bilingual in Spanish and English.
Numbers, Engineering, Technology and the Cosmos: Jason Foster
Foster began his career at UMKC in 2014 in the International Student Affairs Office admitting and recruiting international students. He then served five years as academic advisor in the UMKC School of Computing and Engineering. Foster graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Arts in History, then later received his Master of Public Administration from UMKC.
Natural and Health Sciences: Loretta Sanderson Klamm
Sanderson Klamm attended Creighton University for her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Biology. She has been an instructor and advisor for Biology at UMKC since 1994. UMKC students’ resilience, tenacity and poise inspire Klamm. She is particularly interested in the high school to college transition, pre-health professions advising and the development of critical thinking skills.