Mykel Beorchia
Mykel Beorchia | May 5, 2026, 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
Embracing the Pivot: Appreciative Advising Strategies for Humanizing Difficult Conversations
Presenter: Mykel Beorchia uses Appreciative Education as a framework for cultivating spaces centered on possibilities for students and educators. Mykel started as the Director of the Office of Appreciative Education at Florida Atlantic University in 2024. As Executive Director of University and Exploratory Advising at Utah State University (2016-2024), Mykel infused Appreciative Education practices throughout the advising system. She is dedicated to building connections and empowering others to amplify their strengths to create advising relationships with students and achieve personal, unit, and institutional goals. She served as chair of the NACADA Appreciative Advising Community from 2021-2023.
Description: Appreciative Advising is a theory-to-practice framework to build relationships with students (Bloom, 2008). Through the six phases of Disarm, Discover, Dream, Design, Deliver, and Don’t Settle, advisors can integrate strategies that help students maximize their educational experiences and achieve their dreams, goals, and potentials. Every student’s unique journey brings moments of decision when a pivot is required. Maybe they don’t meet the requirements to continue in the program, or their academic performance places them on academic probation, or they realize they are in a program that is not aligned with their goals for the future. Using student success research as a foundation, we will explore how Appreciative Advising strategies can humanize these difficult conversations.