Effective student advising is more than checking boxes on a worksheet. To honor the significance of advising students, the Missouri Academic Advising Association (MACADA) recognizes achievements in the field. This year, the association honored Tammy Welchert, associate teaching professor, director of academic advising, with the Outstanding Academic Advising Award for Academic Advising Administrator.

“Dr. Welchert has been a long-time champion of advising and the MACADA organization, including serving on our MACADA Executive Board as our Liaison Coordinator from 2006-2008, and our Kansas City Representative from 2005-2006,” says Bethany Jordan, MACADA president-elect. Welchert also served as President of MACADA from 2009-2010.

Jordan says the nominations and awards serve as a recognition from colleagues who have identified these individuals as champions of advising who strives to make an impact in the field.

"Advisors make a difference in the lives of their students every single day.  We empower them to be independent, confident professionals." – Tammy Welchert

“Her letters of support spoke volumes about the role she continues to play to improve academic advising on the UMKC campus.”

Welchert is living what she learned. She is the product of strong academic advising.

“I didn’t start college until five years after I graduated from high school,” Welchert says. “I was married and had a young daughter. In my first term my biology professor, Dr. Albert Gordon, might have recognized me as a non-traditional student and perhaps that caught his eye.  It was a fairly small class and I did well. He would stay in the lab and talk to students before and after class and we got to know each other. He took me under his wing and guided me throughout my undergraduate degree. We still stay in touch and trade Christmas cards to update each other on our lives every year.”

Welchert has carried that model of mentoring forward. She sees advisors as students’ success coaches, cheerleaders and parents away from home.

“Advisors make a difference in the lives of their students every single day,” she says. “We empower them to be independent, confident professionals.”

But beyond being willing to listen, laugh and advise, Welchert aims to inspire students to be happy, confident and prepared for the next steps of their journey.

“Our students inspire me every day with the incredible talent they bring,” she says. “Some of them just need someone to believe in them to tip the scale that allows them to bloom.”

That someone is often Welchert, who has a box filled with students notes of gratitude that she refers to as her “sunshine file.”

“It’s filled with cards and letters from students over the years thanking me for being there for them, for believing in them when they couldn’t believe in themselves. Advisors make a difference in the lives of their students every single day. We empower them to be independent, confident professionals.”

Welchert is looking forward to connecting with her colleagues at this year’s MACADA virtual conference.

“In my new position as director for academic advising at UMKC there will be more reasons than ever for us to find ways to partner to support our advisors.”

“Dr. Welchert has been a long-time champion of advising and the MACADA organization,” Jordan says. “We thank her for all her hard work, and congratulate her on a well-deserved recognition.”