Abstract
While the realities of transfer shock are known, this workshop focuses on redefining the term. Highlighting the transfer(able) skills students already possess from past experience, presenters will discuss current UCLA programming that helps students utilize their skills for success and guide other institutions to promote this redefinition of transfer shock.
Speaker Biography
Melissa Sinclair
Melissa Sinclair has over ten years of professional experience in a variety of higher education institutions (two-year, four-year, public, private) with roles focusing on student development and success. She has experience working in many student affairs disciplines including student programing, academic advising, admissions, and first year experience. She received her M.Ed. from University of Washington, and focused her graduate thesis on supporting transfer student success. She currently serves as the Program Director for the Transfer Program and Students with Dependents Program in the Bruin Resource Center at UCLA. Throughout her professional experience, she has maintained a strong commitment to educational equity and social justice, and has a passion for researching best practices that streamline the transfer process for community college students.
Heather Adams
With over twenty years of experience in public speaking, fundraising, multimedia marketing, public relations, and career coaching in the Entertainment Industry, Heather Adams currently focuses on overseeing the development of the Transfer Program in the Bruin Resource Center at UCLA. A non-traditional transfer student herself, Heather has been an advocate for students from diverse academic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds since enrolling at Santa Monica Community College and transferring to UCLA, where she graduated with honors. Heather’s primary research has focused on the non-traditional and transfer student experience, institutional shifts that best serve this growing and diverse population, and ways in which to strengthen career development opportunities for college students and promote fluid collaborations between universities and the workforce.
Presentation Handouts
