UVM Faculty and Staff,

Following summer brainstorming sessions and in-depth discussions at the August 2025 retreats of the Provost’s Executive Team, Provost’s Integrated Leadership Team, and the Academic Leadership Council, last September I went on a listening tour to gather feedback on an integrated model for student services and support.

The motivation for this was based on feedback from our six-week survey (~15% of our first-year students did not know where to go for help) and other evidence that highlighted students’ frustration with the need to visit multiple offices when seeking support. Meanwhile, offices may not have all the information they need to help resolve student support needs quickly. Other barriers, such as cross-unit differences in scheduling and lack of case management capacity for students needing multi-step support, also quickly became clear. As we looked to our peer institutions, we found that integrated student services models were being successfully piloted on many of their campuses.

To launch the process of developing UVM’s own integrated student services support model, I met with the governance groups, the Student Services Collaborative, a number of leadership groups, and a variety of student service providers to gather feedback on how we might design a “one-stop shop”— a central hub, or helpdesk, for students to get connected, promoting academic success, involvement, health, and career readiness information while identifying other supports they may need. The goal was to run a small spring 2026 pilot with full implementation in fall 2026.

After the listening tour, a broadly representative working group was established and charged with making recommendations on an operational model for the center, a staffing and leadership approach, related roles/responsibilities, space, technology needs, training of students, and a feedback/continuous improvement/assessment plan.

The working group’s recommendations were received in January and were circulated among key constituents for review and feedback. The assessment subcommittee of the working group gathered data on what students wanted from a one stop shop in surveys and focus groups. Since then, the working group has started building our one-stop shop, which is now known as Ask UVM, in collaboration with departments and programs across the university.

I am now writing to provide some important updates about Ask UVM, and to let you know what we can all look forward to this fall.

  • J. Dickinson will provide strategic and infrastructure oversight from the Provost’s Office in line with her responsibilities as the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Student Success.
  • Jennifer Fath, Associate Registrar for Student Success and Retention, will lead the Ask UVM team, working closely with RJ Sweeney, Andrew Stoops, Caleb Brasington, and William Burkert from the Office of the Registrar to build out the Navigate360 platform for campus partners.
  • Ask UVM will be staffed by two full-time professional staff members along with Student Guides trained to provide information at the appropriate level.
  • A position in the Registrar’s Office, Assistant Registrar for Student Success, will work closely with the Ask UVM staff through the Navigate360 implementation and training processes. Campus partners and services linked to Ask UVM will also move to Navigate360 for scheduling and coordinated care.
  • Ask UVM will be located in Suite 301 of the Davis Center (just off the oval, and across from the bookstore). This space currently serves as the Unity Lounge. As announced earlier this month, FirstGen@UVM and the Unity Lounge will be moving into a new, larger shared space, where there will be greater access to staffing, services, and enhanced opportunities for collaborative engagement. Prayer and meditation currently held in the Unity lounge will take place in new locations that offer more convenience and privacy.
  • The next few months will be spent building the rest of the infrastructure, preparing the physical space, hiring two professional staff members and Student Guides, and training campus partners on the Navigate360 platform.

It is important to note that Ask UVM is intended to supplement, not replace, the excellent advising, services, and support provided by student services professionals in our colleges/schools and student-facing offices across campus. Ask UVM provides us with an opportunity to reach more students, lower barriers, encourage help-seeking behavior, and connect students with all that UVM has to offer.

I want to thank Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Student Success J. Dickinson for co-leading this initiative, Jennifer Fath for her willingness to lead Ask UVM, the Student Services Collaborative for their thoughtful insights and participation, and the working group and all of the Ask UVM partners for the enthusiasm and expertise they have shared. This collaborative effort reflects the talent, skill, and can-do attitude of our staff.

I’m looking forward to Ask UVM’s debut in the fall!

Linda Schadler
Interim Provost and Senior Vice President