"Reimagining Academic Advising Through a Human-Centered Design Thinking Sprint While Helping to Prepare Students for the Future of Work"

Abstract: This session will show how Lehman designed and facilitated a human-centered 'design thinking sprint' for academic advisors to attend to the non-linear and evolving needs of Lehman College students. Participants in this session will engage in a brief applied activity and leave with practical tools to adapt for advising, teaching, and student support. Participants will also gain insight into how advisors worked across units, taking on the perspective of various core stakeholder groups to develop an empathy focused problem statement and ultimately co-create a prototype for an actionable solution. Rather than focusing on theory, the sprint emphasized practical tools such as empathy mapping, problem framing, rapid ideation, and simple prototyping. The process led to shared problem statements, clearer identification of friction points in advising, and early prototype ideas focused on more proactive advising conversations, stronger career signaling, and greater student ownership of academic decisions.