Julie Nelson

What is your advising philosophy?
My personal advising philosophy grows out of the love and respect I have for students and the responsibility I feel as an educator. My approach focuses on developing relationships with students and colleagues that are based on openness, trust, and communication. I believe every encounter with students is an opportunity for engagement. Therefore, I take a holistic approach to advising and seek opportunities to interact with students in their spaces by attending campus events, facilitating clubs, offering workshops, and giving presentations.

Being a holistic advisor means creating a safe, challenging, and supportive learning environment for students and colleagues.

Being holistic means embracing and supporting diversity, equity and inclusion. Students bring diverse identities and beliefs that enrich our campus community and may impact their experience as a student and as a member of our college community. In my interactions with students, I acknowledge and respect their identities and beliefs and strive to meet the individual needs of each student even as I celebrate cultural experiences and identities through my professional work and community involvement. Being holistic means helping students to identify and leverage their strengths in service of moving toward the kind of life they hope to live or the difference they hope to make in the world. Each student seeks an education for a reason, and each one brings a unique set of gifts and goals. As an advisor, I seek to help students reflect on where education fits within the wider arc of their lives by helping them find the resources, opportunities, and experiences which help them thrive personally and academically.

Being holistic means helping students find learning opportunities both in and outside of the classroom. It is so important for students to experience high-impact learning opportunities such as job shadowing, volunteering, traveling abroad, exploring careers, joining student organizations, researching, and/or participating in service learning projects. As an advisor, I talk with students about how such experiences enrich their intellectual development and refer students to appropriate campus offices to find great opportunities.

Being holistic means embracing the physical and mental well being of students. As an advisor, as appropriate, I refer students to campus resources focused on health and wellness, and I help students see the connection between wellness and academic and personal success. Being holistic means continuing to grow as a person, and I am 100% committed to ongoing training and professional development. Throughout my advising career I have sought out opportunities to present at professional conferences, attend workshops, earn CEUs, contribute to advising literature, and collaborate with my colleagues on projects and programs. Keeping an open heart and mind, and embracing my own growth and development, helps me feel connected to my colleagues and students.

Finally, being holistic means believing in students, especially their desire to learn, thrive, share, and grow, and I feel privileged and humbled to be part of their process.

What was your path to Newnan? 
I come to Newnan after 22 years of professional academic advising experience. Prior to Newnan, I served as an academic advisor at the George Washington University, North Carolina State University, and, most recently, the University of Iowa, where I served as a pre-health advisor for nine years. In addition to my professional path, the pandemic helped me see I am too far from my elderly parents and family in Michigan, and I sought an advising position closer to home so I can do the work I love, at a place I love (UM/Ann Arbor), while living close to people I love. I was so excited to find an open pre-health position at the University of Michigan and now am so grateful the stars aligned for me to be here! I followed my heart.

Why did you join Newnan? 
I felt an immediate connection to the people who interviewed me for the advising position, and I perceive Newnan as a wonderful community full of colleagues who are kind, collaborative, fun, friendly, and thoughtful. Newnan is a place where I look forward to making a contribution. So proud to join you!

Class you loved and why? 
Creative Writing is/was my favorite class. I love making things up! I love listening to and telling stories. I like the liminal feeling of creating something and when writing I lose track of time. Also, I enjoy being transported somewhere else and imagining lives other than my own.

Interests and hobbies
Creative writing is something I still love and do; I belong to a writing group in Iowa City, IA, where I lived these past nine years, and I hope to find a fiction writing group here in Ann Arbor, as well. Movies! I love movies. Also, I love cooking with my partner, Diane, as well as spending our time together outdoors hiking and walking our dogs, Star and Aja. Family time and creative time are really important to me.